The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-09-22
PUGET SOUND.

In the September number of the Overland
Mr.. JOHN S. Hitlell has an important article
on a subject which is of considerable interest
10 Cali{orniaus-the growth of Puget Sound.
1t is no secret that for three or four years
Northwestern Washington has absorbed The
bulk of the immigration which would. but
for its attractions, have settled in this State.
The growth of the northwestern corner of
the new State has been even more rapid than
that Of our southern counties; ii is reckoned
at 40 per cent for the year ending June,
1890, ard the new settlers in Washington are
staying where they first located.
Tie secret of the growth of this new coun-
try, and of its rival cities, Seattle and Ia
coma, is TO be found in its natural resources.
1t is not fine agricultural country, nor a
fruit country The soil is generally gravelly.
But its facilities for a system of inland
navigation are unequaled elsewhere on the
globe. and it has the largest known body of
timber IN the world. OF The former some
idea may be formed from the fact that in a
tractof land 200 miles long by $50 miles wide
1t has 100 miles of shore line, 800 miles of
inlet. with deep water, and an average
width of three miles, 1000 miles Of safe
anchorage. and so miles square on fifty
Islands, the largest of which is thirty-tiye
miles long and three miles wide. The climate
of this region is similar to that If Great
Britain. II has mild winters ard not very
hot summers. It's average rainfall Is fifty
inches. Add to its timber its coal resources,
which are as yet undeveloped. and its eX-
haustless fisheries of cod, halibut, salmon
and herring and it is easily seen why young
men from the East have chosen il as their
new home in prelerence to California. There
is no such archipelago anywhere in the
word
The future of this region is thoroughly
appreciated bv the owners Of the northern
transcOntineutal railroads. The Canadian
Pacific is about to build 10 Whatcom, OPP
posite Victoria, on Vancouver Island, and
Is grading for line running south from that
point. Both the Northern and the Union
Pacific are building branches or extensions
to connect their main lines with Seattle aud
Tacoma. What the Southern Pacific is doing
is not so well known, but rumor has it that
the line of the Oregon and California will be
extended north from Portland TO Puget
Sound with branches TO the coal fields The
extension will be necessary to preserve to
California its trade with the Sound and it
is probable that it will be prosecuted with
ont delay.
MI HlttelI draws an unpleasant contrast
between the fertile country which is drained
by the Columbia, aud which will naturally
be tributary to Puget Sound, and the barren
alkal plains Of Nevada and Titan and the
arid deserts Of Arizona which constitute
the back country Of San Francisco outside
of the State. As to this, it may be observed
that this is pretty large State and eOnst-
tuteS considerable back ground Of itself.
fY,-5rr &c
lands embraced in neighboring States may
be reclaimed nd converted into productive
farms. But it will probably prove that
Puget Sound itself, when it grows in wealth
and productiyeness, win find itself tributary
| to san Francisco. There is not room for
more than one leading seaport on this
coast, and it is a law that commerce always
graviJates to existing ceut-rs. Shippers
send goods to the largest markets, not to
small markets which are struggling for
existence Ships clear for ports where they
| are sure of getting carg0es and run no risk
of having to Fill up with ballast, For OBJ
| yious reasons the lumber of Puget Sound
will be loaded in ships on the waters of the
Sound; but the coal Of Northwestern Wash
ington. the fish caught on the banks which
stretch from the 47th parallel to the trend in
the coast of Alaska, will come here for a
| market, and the people OF Puget Sound,
when they want to buy goods, will come here
! to get them instead of sending East. The
| more prosperous the Puget Sound country
becomes tie more san Francisco will
flourish, and when the tide of immigration
which is now flowing toward the Sound
reaches the full, the drift Of population will
again be toward the State of the largest pos
siDili ties in the future