Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1889-03-22
A New Era.
1.-THE World, Portland, March Il, 1889. ]

Our sister Territory, Washington
soon to be clothed in the habiliments
of Statehood, has passed her days o
dull times. Never in history has there
been such wideawake and evident sig s
of prosperity. And this, too, Is hap
pening mostly in Western Washington
for so many years of laggard growth
as compared with the region East Of
Of the mountains.
The city where the excitement is
ost intense, strange to say, is Olym-
pia. This has been considered the
dryest spot in a cline where there is an
average annual water fall of IS inchas.
MOSsbacks and CLAIMS for the last hall
century have fiourished withunexce.I d
spontaniety. The peopl. in that city
have never been taught the important
! sson of rustling for themselves. In
day when horse-racing ard legisla-
tn es formed the chief amusements for
the people, Olympia was che sen as the
meeting ground for pioneer pastimes.
The Territorial capital and United
States Land Office were located there
and public officers and private citizens,
from his Exellency, the Governor, to
the county sheriff, and from the cap
tain of the steamboat to the humble
maker of saw logs, all met at a beer
saloon, told yarns and passed the long
winter evenings away in the most JOY.
GUS hilarity. Years rolled on and the
spirit OF progress smiled upon the
North Pacific coast. Cities sprang up
Ike magic on Puget Sound and in
other parts of the Territory, but Olym-
pia still held fast to her land Office and
capital, and beer saloons were still the
delight Of the populace. But changes
must come. The Olympia land Office
was removed to Seattle, and the last
legislature came nearly moving the
capital to North Yakima, and it then
dawned upon the good natured Olym-
plans that if they lost these sources of
public patronage most of their delights
and prosperity would also vanish.
Capitalists Qor Olympia has them) be.
began at once to erect handsome and
costly brick buildings. Clam shells
were swept out of the back yards, new
picket fences again enclosed the yards,
the moss was scraped off the roofs of
the houses, and dwellings were treated
to new coats of paint, and Olympia
wore the look of modern city. Lo-
cal newspaper editors, also, were
touched with the magical inspiration
and they faithfully noted the signs of
progress. And r. ligion, which never
did strike very deep in the soul of the
average Olympian, was changed from
the birthstone theery to the modern
school of thought, and so it is that
Olympia, in this year of our Lord,
1889, enjoys the biggest boom that has
struck the Pacific coast. Eastern
thrift and enterprise are settling by
hundreds in Olympia and vicinity.
Town lots which W, re once given away
are now placed at the highest market
value, and they sell more rapidly than
newspapers after an election. That,
however, is not the greatest surprise,
Capt. s. G. Woodruff, few DAYS ago,
placed large tract Of land upon the
market, surveyed the plat into town
lots. And places Of business were all
closed In the morning. The people
formed a line IS buyers, and they so
remained without a morsel to eat or
drink, and without sleep, all day
and night. Each man waited his op-
porunity to purchase town LOT. And
they sold at from $3.50 to $275 each, and
in almost no time the sales ran ND to
$27 900.
So this is Olympia's greatest year of
prosperity, and long may it continue,
and may the new State Of Washington
ever keep the capital at Olympia. and
may this city never again Ego to seed"
Necessity compelled the Olympians to
work for themselves and by their own
efforts they are making most beauti-
ful and prosperous city.