Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-10-31
AWAY WEST.
FAIR HAVEN, WASH, Oct. 10, 1890.

MY correspondence has been Interrupt
ted by a reconnaissance which has taken
me beyond mails and close to the bosom
of primitive nature. | last wrote you
from here and am now back to this point
after a circuit somewhat as follows:
Palmer and | went to Samish first. Sam
ish is an island, and, on paper, a town.
You car buy lots on its wooded top for
as much as you choose to pay. At this
present fall of 1890, it consists of a dock
with a saloon on the end, a hotel Gf you
believe the proprietor) and a store. The
resources of the island are a few thou
and acres of immensely rich delta land
rescued from the sea by dikes, and ducks
to the number, | should say, of 99,000,-
000, 900 ,000; brant in the same number a
little later, and salmon vying with the
water as to which can fill the channel.
We were bent on studying the duck re-
sources. The weather was so bright and
calm that the usual flight at night and
morning was light. | did not regret
this, for | was much more interested in
tlC ptoPlC3 tiC SSCICly dht nv
history of the spot than in Staying birds
of which we got enough. | got some
beautiful photographs; among them a
Jumping salmon in mid-air. These royal
fish play by the hundred during the few
hours on either side of flood tide. They
are to be had for the asking. An Irish
neighbor on the island got such a mons
ter the day we were there hat he could
MT get it in with the help at hand. [
took a trip across the flats with the mail
man who carries the mail to a town
across the bay from Samish. This route
crossed the feeding grounds of the ducks.
AS we approached the black area which
the countless number of ducks formed
on the surface of the water, the noise of
their tapping and squawking rose to a din
which eliminated in a deafening roar as
our cut into their lines. 1t was
an impressive sight, that of hundreds of
thousands of water fowl, all fine table
ducks, rising simultaneously in startled
fight. | learned much around the even
ing log fire listening to the old settlers
and their tales of this coast, its resOur-
ces, its history and its future. | find
that more facts are to be learned from
such a gathering than in any other way.
So impressed was | with the fact that |
went from Samish up into the valley of
the Skagit, and this brings me to the
second chapter of my wanderings.
The Skagit valley is referred to by
every one in this region as a land of I'M
told resources. Here lie the Hamilton
and Bennett coal mines here is the Won
derful iron mountain; here is the center
and heart of the tabled timber of Puget
Sound; here is the soil which yields $50
bushels of oats to the acre and 1000 bus
hels of potatoes. and which sells at $50
an acre, cleared. and uncleared for S25 to
$50. These stories | determined to cor
roborate, whatever discomfort | had tC
undergo. Well, | got the discomfort.
My pictures will show you why. But
, also got information at first hand and
J was more than repaid. There is a road
it is called a railroad-which runs to
Setro, % miles from this place. a train
is advertised TO start from here at S 40 in
the morning. This train comprises the
: rolling-stock of the road, save the log
t ging cars, namely, n engine and one
l passenger car. We got of at 9:30. My
companions consisted of every style OF
, man known to these parts. Most OF
l them carried their blankets, and these
l were their worldly possessions. They
, belonged to that restless class who are
always pushing to the end and who have
laid the foundations all over the West OF
l which civilization pushes to the fast
vanishing frontier. We were two and d
= half hours in getting to Setro. At on6
point in the forest our engine left us tC
( plunge down a wood trail with SOM
logging cars for a camp in the vicinity
\ dozen times or more we stopped tC
take on a bundle of blankets or to leave
a quarter of beef. These stops were
made apparently at random-no plat
( form, no station, perhaps not even
a tent, nothing but the colossal forest. 4
. quar,er of beef dropped to the grount
and left looks lonesome and out of place
/ Setro would excite your %profoundest
r emotions. 1t consists of one finished anC
five rapidly finishing saloons (whert
V licensed gambling whites away the time
) between drinks, one saw-mill, two pig
g styes, a board ON which is a petition fol
Il public school, and Il dozen or NOR,
shanties. The town % is in the mids
e of the monstrous Skagit valley forest
: Two hundred men have been cutting
- burning and blasting all summer to cleal
/ of the trees. The result is the mos
4 blackened, dismal waste of stumps evel
4 seen. These stumps are cedar, spruce
/. hemlock and fir, many of them lG to l.
Foot T., l;o,,nt.c fnl,n ,,,.,-- e .lnnr