The Butler weekly times., 1890-09-17
NATURES GIGANTIC WORK
A Region Where She Does Every Thing on
Big Scale.


AResion Where She Does Every Thing on
Big Scale.
There must have been . time In the
remote past when the Puget Sound basin
was covered with a growth which for
rank luxuriance would put to blush any
thing that grows here now. The old
mossbackers of the present day, the ao-
venturous spirits of the last three de-
cades who pushed their way through al
most impenetrable wilds to settle here,
point with pride to the giant frs, tower
ing 300 feet high, and from TO l0 feet
through at the stumps, to the masses OF
ferns and feet high, to hop vines ~
feet in length, to oats that yield 100
bushels per acre, and ask what other
country on earth can show equal pro-
ductiveness. And yet this growth OF
to-day must be as nothing compared with
that which grew here ages ago, and
formed the coal fields which are now be-
ginning TO be prospected.
These fields are OF enormous extent.
In the basin of the Cowlitz river, which
rises in Mount st. Helens, which Win
throp saws was still an active volcano
when he was writing "Canoe and Sad
die" there are over 10000 acres, so far
untouched. In the Chehalis valley there
are vast deposits still unexplored. In
the Carbon river region there is one
vast bed underlying three whole town
ships, one vein in which Is "a feet thick,
and in it seam, sK feet thick, Of per-
fectly pure coal.
In the Raging River, Snoqualmie,
Skagit, Nooksac and Wenatchie basins
there are other vast deposits-how vast
nobody yet knows. The railroad COM
pany now has eighteen men in the field
prospecting these regions This work
in most cases is easy, as the beds crop
out along the river banks and in the
walls Of gulches and canons in many
places, and in some instances can be
traced for miles without break.
General Alger, of Michigan, and his
partners have q tract OF 5000 acres Of
timber in Skagit County, which there is
reason TO believe is generally underlaid
with six-foot vein of coal Of fairly good
quality. These deposits extend on
into British Columbia, and are particu-
larly rich in Vancouver Island, a large
part Of which is underlaid by them.
Nature seems always to have been at
her most wonderful work hereabouts.
Not many centuries ago she maintained
row of lighthouses on this coast, the
equal of which was never seen else
where. Their lights shine no more,
however, and they now stand solemn
pinnacles Of ice piercing the clouds.
They are Mounts Shasta, Hood, St.
Helens, Adams, Tacoma, Baker, and st.
Elias, and range in height from II, ,225
to 1850 feet. All these are true
mountain peaks rising abruptly
almost from the sea level. Most
of them still emit hot steam
from their SUBMITS, and some older
residents of the coast claim to have seen
an occasional jet OF fame from Mount
Baker, but most people believe that
while allwere once active volcanoes they
are now practically extinct They un.
doubtedly made things lively when they
we're In the full blaze of business
The characteristics Of Puget Sound in.
dictate that it was created by earth.
quakes or volcanic action. It's primitive
feature is extreme depth. Its shores
are very abrupt. Standing anywhere
along the shore the visitor may easily
toss . pebble into 100 fathoms Of water
The immense inlet with its numerous
arms, making shore line Of 1000 miles,
seems to have been rent open by a
Titanic force which only the imagina.
tion Of Milton might describe. Com.
pared with 1t, that which
Tore up by the roots Thessallan pines
And Lichas from the top OF Oeta threw
Into the Euboic sea
was the mere play Of child. In view
OF the wonders which have happened
here 1t is surprising that the doom
sealers have set apart no special calam-
tty for our exclusive use. They seem to
have overlooked an opportunity.-Ta-
coma Wash. Cor. N. Y. Sun.