The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-09-11
THE WESTERN RUSTLERS.
AN EXPLANATION AND A DEFENSE.
After Which Follows Much Information
About Washington Territory-vast Tim
Der suppiies-Property at Hoquiam-
Gray's Harbor.

ness methods" or painting our western
''rustlers" in so grotesque q form, as to
arouse a suspicion of their business In
tegrity, that l feel justified in interposing
a defense. Before passing judgment, peo-
pie should study the conditions.
An Arabian philosopher once said:
"After long experience l have observed
that people are more like the times in
which they live than like their ancestors"
So /, after considerable travel in many
lands conclude, that people are more like
their immediate surroundings than even
like the times in which they
live" The same man, who in Con-
necticut, with good capital, would make
wooden nutmegs, in Washington. with no
capital, would make wooden ships The
same man who, in Rhode Island, would
waste the lard from his bones, rack his
fevered brain and dwarf his soul in pawn
ing natural desires for lean pennies, that
age might not go down in poverty, in
Washington would clutch health from the
ocean breeze. bear broad breast, open an
Office in borrowed tent, go in debt for n
months board, live on salmon and stale
butter, dress in a straw hat and a grin,
and before gray hair dared invade his
sunburned temple, he would make a "half
million IN timber deals" and corner lots.
The people OF the East have read Of
these rapidly acquired fortunes, and too
often conclude that they are tho fruits OF
chicanery, and that intrigue and hcartless
acheming enrich the few No tho expense
4
result from tho natural inability OF men
TO conceive great enterprises, while
cramped by narrow and arbitrary condi.
tions. The people Of the East accuse us
OF making money by violating business
Methods but we only Violate what they
consider business methods" Our "moth-
ods' differ no more from their meth
ods' than do our surroundings from their
surroundings. Ambition scars or covers
according 30 the opportunities. In the
crampod and narrow East great industries
are products OF long and patient business
care, In the West, with no capital but
"chook," and the credit born OF dauntlcss
pluck, q factory rises In u month, and tho
whirr OF machinery echoes among tho
hills before the wild animals retire beyond
gunahot OF the workingman'a camp. In
the East cities grow In the West they are
| built. In the East IL takes cash 30 im-
prove; In the West 10 takes pluck and
energy, and cash hunts the active man
OF brains, and fills hs purse before pay
| day comes. In deserving the business
methods OF the West, real estate dealers
come In for n full share OF abuse, As
| Cmsar's wife, all should be above auspi.
cion," but they are not, But nowhere has
! the genuine real estate shark" been more
persistent than in the cities of the sound
! yet who has invested ia any of those
places that has not made money by the
| enterprise. This is not a burned desert
! like South California, nor wind-scorched
! Kansas, but n country with fertile soil,
never failing fruits and grains, vast min
eral wealth and n crop of timber which will
take q hundred years TO harvest, and
which is annually increasing in value in
almost geometrical ratio.
There is no "boom" in Washington;
there never has been and never will be,
! Washington Is simply the most inviting
country on earth for the Spectator, tho
manufacturer, the trader, the farmer or
the home-seeker, and this great movement
is simply an inundation or invasion OF the
state by those classes who are coming from
all Gods creation and Kansas. They
come 10 stay. OF course men coming
west must use intelligence and business
sagacity, as we have sharks and Shylocks
among us, and, though most all places will
improve, some will improve more rapidly
! than others. Wherever one goes in this
country he will hear enough about
the "great future" of the place TO
arouse suspicion, but my observation
is that nearly all the so-called
schemes to build towns" in Washington,
are honest efforts TO make money by
building up centers of business, and that
most all who buy build or enter into COM
merce or manufacture almost invariably
make excellent investments.
For the benefit or entertainment of my
eastern readers, permit me brief review
of case that has recently come under my
| immediate observation. ! think | have
gathered the facts from reliable sources.
The Gray's Harbor basin has great re-
sources. On the harbor or It's tide waters
there are several pretty towns. All are
active and promising. Each have eloquent
champions and they are somewhat dis
turbed by local jealousies. At each place
one is reasonably sure to hear the
whole truth-if not more. Montesano,
the county seat of Chehalis county, is
at the head of tide water naviga-
ton, and the converging point of all
roads leading to the harbor Cosmopolis
lies on the south side of the river, twelve
miles below, and the active town of Aber-
deem on the north side, three miles fur
ther down. Below Aberdeen is Cowpoint
bar, which presents great obstacles to
navigation, as it has the shoalest water
between the harbors entrance and Mon
tesano. Below Cowpoint bar is Hoquiam,
at the mouth of the Hoquiam river.
While this town is below all interior bars,
there is not what is termed, in seamen's
phrase, deep water" until you get full
two miles west, or further down the chan
mel. Opposite this deep water, where the
great ships may lie at anchor or ride at
will, it was suggested by some shrewd
business man to build a city. Land was
purchased few months ago, the site To-
Gated and a move for a connection by rail
with the great Northern Pacific system at
Centralia was inaugurated.
The vast timber supply north OF this
point onthe Humptulip and the Hoquiam,
the latter of which is navigable twelve or
fifteen miles and the broad fertile valleys
and prairies also directly tributary to
these points. made this a popular enter
prise. In March and April last the ex-
element wore fever heat, and land in
the dense forests from one TO two miles
away, sold from $50 to $3.50 per acre. The
same gentlemen that were concerned in
the great industries at Hoquaim were
part owners and managers of this so-called
terminus property. They would not