The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1889-05-02
From Washingasa Fsrritory.


For the benefit of our readers we
copy the following letter to the Repub-
lican written by H. e. Fox from Seat
tie, Washington Territory:
DEAR REPUBLICAN,: I have wished
many times that / had the gift TO
describe something of the beauty of
this Puget Sound country. l may
never be able to describe it, but
know shall never forget the impress
sion made upon my mind when l first
saw the sound, from a high point of
ground north of the city. I felt as
though the proper thing to do, was to
keep silence and feel admiration
thankfuIness and praise. A great
traveller who was here a short time
ago has left this on record. He says:
I'VE have seen the sun rise on the
Alps, and have revelled in the beauties
of Lucerne from the summit of Rige,
we have felt the soft influence of the
Mediterranean. and have delighted in
the castle-fringed banks OF the glor-
ious Rhine. We have sought out and
admired the finest scenery of the old
world and the new, but from no one
point have we ever been so impressed
with the beauty of the landscape as
with that viewed from the table land
near Seattle The sound Itself
stretches out before me as I write,
broken here and there with high wood
ed points and islands while l count on
its smooth waters three large ocean
steamers, four smaller ones and
numerous little sail boats and small
steam tugs. Out beyond the sound
stretches the Olympic range, with here
and there snow capped peaks. Mes
tied in the valley in the north part of
tho nifry 10 aEn h IN
east of US, and only two miles at Its
closest point, we have beautiful body
of fresh water, about three to six miles
wide, by twenty-five or thirty long
called Lake Washington, and for a
background on the east, we have the
Cascade mountains, with Mount Ba-
ker about one hundred miles to the
northeast. But how shall l describe
the crowHing beauty of this scenery
which is all beauty-Mount Rainier
sixty miles southp He seems to be
standing in eternal-white-grand-
majestic-like a very god-aione, from
the plain he rises in grandeur 14.44a
feet. caught my first glimpse of this
mountain from a point forty miles
south OF Seattle, and not more than
thirty miles away from the mount it.
self. The sun was just going down in
the west and - seemed to LEND
tingo of pink to the
otherwise dazzling wilderness.
have seen it since from several differ
ent points, and its grandeur grows OF
one. / cannot become accustomed tt
it. After spending nearly two week:
in visiting points of interest neal
Seattle, took the steamer George ii
Starr" April 10Th, up the sound
through the grand islands and wonder
full and treacherous Deception Pass
across the open water of Juan De Fuc;
straits to another booming town, o.
rather two of them, only mile apart
WhatcOme and Lehome. These towns
are building very rapidly and mus
come together and be one. al
they are too close together to be rivals
A year ago, am told, there was only ;
half a dozen houses here, while from
the boat l counted over an hundred
new and unfinished bouSes. We art
here only sixty miles from the extreme
northwest corner of the United State
territory. On our return trip in cross
ing the open water of the straits we en-
cOuntered heavy rolling sea, and m.
experiences were made complete
by couple of hours of sea
sickness. Our little steame
rolled and pitched until it wa
impossible to stand or walk withOu
hanging on to something secure. Th
time was about l O'Clock at night ant
in the light of a full moon the sigh
from the open deck was grand, and
"teLderfOot' fearful-and l comics
to feeling of relief and thankfulness
when we again sailed into the smoot
waters of the sound. Seattle impreSse
! a Kansas man as being about VIVA
Kansas City was ten years ago. Th
same business push and enterprise an
the same unlimited faith in the futur
development and growth of the city
And this faith seems to be epidemi
| and strikes the great ma ority of tn
| crowds who are pouring into its boz
ders. The amount of agricultural Ian
on the west side of the mountains
seems to De quite limited, but its won
derful prOductlVeneSs, and the absolut
| certainty OF its crops in large meas
ure makes up for its limited quantity
Emporia is well represented in Seat
| tie, and my visit has been made pleas
ant by meeting the familiar faces c
DR.. Filkins and family, Mr.. and MIR:
| George Fowler. Dave Jones, Mr., Ricf
ards and DR.. Pomeroy, former pres
dent of our Normal school. shall nC
soon forget this visit-made delightfu
| by the beauty of landscape and perfeC
tion of climate. Nor shall | ever FOL
get the genuine kindness and hospita
| ity of the good people of Seattle, S
many of whom it was my pleasure an
| good fortune to meet and know. ~