St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-08

rears itself above the clouds with smiE
ing grandeur, as if to signify the delight
the gods experience in witnessing mans
progression. | call him Rainier because
that is the familiar name L knew him
by when | studied geography. Ihey
call him Mount Tacoma now by virtue
of the enterprising spirit OF the Tacoma
people, who succeeded in inducing the
legislature in territorial days to change
the name. A Seattle man remarked to
me the other day: ''Those people at
the head of the sound are going to apply
to congress to change the name OF the
Pacific ocean. They want to call it Ia
coma; and after awhile the Atlantic
ocean will be known as the East Tacoma
addition" In spirit of revengefuE
rivalry the Seattle folks are prefixing
the word Rainier to all their leading
streets and institutions. and it is re-
garded as an act of sacrilege to refer to
the snow-capped mountain by any other
name than the one it bore in the old
Biographies. But to get back to
Tacoma proper, the town, {
mean, and catch birds eye view
of the pretty little city. 1t has a right
to be proud of its rapid growth. No
matter if Northern Pacific Influence
did build the town. 1t made good
u,
beautiful streets. Thrift is written on
every door post. and enterprise is seen
iD every direction. In our Western
parlance they hustle here with wis
dom born of experience. Nor is this
surprising, for Tacoma is very largely
peopled with the overflow of st. Paul
and Minneapolis. You can hardly turn
around without recognizing a familiar
face. A former st. Paul man is mayor
of the city, and names well known in
the Twin Cities figure in all the leading
business establishments. This is meas.
urably true of Seattle and all the other
Sound towns, but more distinctly so i'll
Tacoma than elsewhere. The Tacoma
people tell you that they have a popu,
lation of $4,000. The census enumerat
tors will probably place it at between
1900 and $4,000. But there are
1 una.
is tile largest town, nearly double the
population, and double the business.
But it has not the pretty site of Ia
coma. 1t is built against a hill, big
hill and steep hill at that. Our Selby
avenue grade where the cable line goes
up would be regarded as very level
street in Seattle. 1t makes but little
difference, however, to a people who
don't walk. They don't have to. There
is a cable line or electric line on pretty
much every street, and, as they have
the transfer check system, you can ride
all over the city for nickel. Just here
L want to say that the deepest mOrtifica-
ton have experienced since leaving
home is in witnessing the superiority OF
the street transportation of these Pa
cific coast towns over what we have
in st. Paul. They throw us so far
in the shade in this respect
that sometimes am actually
ashamed to own that hail from a city
where the horse cal is still in vogue.
In Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Victoria,
everywhere, you seelthe perfection Os
street car trans portation, and l am
amazed to find our st. Paul people so
far behind the times. The rebuilding
of the burnt district in Seattle is some
thing phenomenal to me. Taking all
things into consideration, it is a bigger
feat than Chicago accomplished after her
great fire. Fine brick and granite
blocks, from five to seven stories high.
have risen where all was ruin less than
year ago. Some idea of what has
been done here in the work of rebuild-
ing may be had when L say that there is
OuC OtlCCb WulCu lids UCCu
Rebuilt SoiidIy
on both sides for over half mile. and
there is not street in either st. Paul
or Minneapolis to compare with it.
What use they have for all these fine
buildings is matter of conjecture. l
can't tell, for it strikes me that they are
building away ahead of the town. But
with people who have the faith aud
energy of these Seattleites all things
are possible. | only wish their hopes
may be realized, but l can't see it with
my limited vision. They say in Seattle
that Tacoma is dead because of the pro-
posed extension of the Northern Pacific
road to Gray's Harbor. They say here
in Tacoma that Gray'S harbOr is no
good, that it is little bit of an arm OF
the sea, which can't accommodate more
than half dozen ships at time, and
that it is so filled up with sand bars il
will require an expenditure of 100000
600 to clean the harbOr so that single
ship can get in. l don't know how it is,
except that do know that the North
ern Pacific and the Union Pacific are
first. and if Gray'S Harbor should prove
to be good port | can't see why
Seattle shouldn't be as badly damaged
as Tacoma. One thing that puzzles
me in looking to the future of these
two towns is that all ocean steamers
coming into Puget Sound have to be
lowed in. The Straits of Fuca is
rough body of water and very narrow
at points, with rocks and reefs EXTEND
ing too far from land for the safety OF
passing vessels. If good harbor should
be discovered on the coast of the main
ocean, and the railroads build to it,
then the Importance of Puget Soun9
will be diminished.
A Trip to Puget Sound
will not be complete without visit to
Victoria. 1t is just a days run from
Tacoma or Seattle across the lovelieSt
body of water on earth, and it can be
made on as fine steamers as ever walked
the water. Victoria is town worth
visiting because of its quaintneSs. 1t is
English of the olden time, a colonial
relic that has escaped the vandalism of
its purity, no less than for its beauty.
Vancouyer'S Island, of which Vic-
toria is the capital, approaches
more nearly to the ideal natural
flower garden than any spot | ever WIS.,
tied. They take life easy in Victoria
easier even than they do in Portland,
They open their stores at 10 o'clock in
the forenoon and close up everything
at in the afternoon. If there is a
cricket match within five miles of the
town everybody closes shop and the
whole population attends the game.
They live here just for the enjoyment
of living. The country places around
Victoria are all of the old English type
large grounds with driveways, the
houses set back from the main roadway
and generally obscured from view by
surrounding trees, the gatekeeper's
lodge being the only dwelling in sight.
But, with all their slOwnesS and eaSy-gO-
easy methods, the Victorians beat us in
st. Paul on street transportation.
wish my friend Tom Lowry would take
a trip out this way. l am sure he would
go back with a higher ambition and
renewed energy in the matter of street
railway building.
1t is awfully pleasant to be here, and
equally pleasant to talk of the things
am seeing: but there must be a limit 10
even newspaper gossip. With an apOl-
ogy for having wearied the GLOBE