The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-08-03


nearly 5000 feet, the most sublime and
beautiful of any mountain in America,
located on the water of the sound with q
setting of large lakes OF fresh water about
it. On the western shore of the Sound rises
the olympic range, always snow-covered
and wonderful in their beauty. / have
tain, sea ano forest as in that country.
have lived all my life in the fat countries
of Indiana and Iowa, and know very little
OF any other. But the instinct born OF
mountain and sea. coming down to me
from my sea-going New England ancestors,
asserted itself when saw this wonderfully
beautiful country, and held me captive"
You speak very enthusiastically of what
you saw while on your Western route"
81 know that, and know with how much
conscience man should speak when he is
liable 10 influence anyone else in the selec-
ton of q home. 1t Is with the conscious
ness of duty to be careful that speak.
have IN my time seen the Western states
settled up, and have seen possibly what
it means to go into new country and
what it is to build state. So / have some
qualifications TO judge of new country or
state in the raw. ! know also that there
are millions of young Americans in the
older states that are looking for homes, and
that there are hundreds of millions of dol
lars of idle capital now earning little or
nothing, looking for the place of profit
able and sure investment, and the new
states on the Pacific slope offer the chances
that these men and money are seeking.
There is no doubt of it, and l sm only
doing good to the whole country when /
say that there is plenty of opportunity
there for both enterprising people and en-
terprising capital. There is larger chance
AZ ~ w,fn hat Y
for any one who is willing to work to make
a living or establish fortune. In the first
place the soil-I am now speaking of
Western Westinghouse as rich as there
is in the land. 1t is generally covered now
with pine and fir forests, the best remain
ing in the United States. The present pop
ulation of Western Washington could
maintain itself and its natural increase for
the next seventy-tve years, living on its
forests alone. Its wealth in pine, fir and
cypress cannot be estimated. There is
enough lumber in her cypress groves to
furnish shingles for every home in the
United States. / saw one train of fourteen
cars loaded with cypress shingles in West
ern Washington on its way to Massachu-
sets. saw. many cars loaded for
SHINGLES sSEs and and the r m timber sa1 TSe with
and pine timber is very excellent. Much
of it rises l50 feet from tie ground to the
first limb, showingSin its immense growth
both the productive power of the soil and
the nutriment drawn from the moist air OF
that region. No soil in the land could pro-
duce such trees without the moisture of
the atmosphere to aid in it. The fir timber
is the best in America and much of it is
being shipped to Iowa and Illinois for
bridge timbers, as it has proved TO have
much greater power of resistance or tensile
strength than the Western oak Even the
Atlantic coast sends to Washington for the
best spars and masts for the building of its
ships. An immense lumber trade is being
developed with China, Japan and Austria
liza. Western Washington is therefore q
country of wealth in its forests alone After
they are cleared good soil of marvellous
productive power that produces ali of the
crops excepting corn, and is particularly
adapted to fruits, will be ready for the farmer
anu fruit-grower. The climate, which is
beautiful, is too cool for corn and grapes.
Everything else is raised in profusion.
Eighty and 100 bushels of oats to
the, acre. Three hundred to $50
Small fruits. both in size and quality,
which are simply remarkable. Then. be-
sides its fruits and agriculture and crops, it
has as great mineral wealth as Pennsyl-
vania. IL has all the mineral wealth of
that state, unless it be natural gas and oil.
In place of that it has copper, lead, gold
and silver. A comparative statement NAV
be safely made in saying that it has greater
mineral wealth than Pennsylvania, more
pine timber than Michigan and Maine
and more FISH than Massachusetts
or any OF the Atlantic states. Therefore |
say that its products, fruits and mineral
wealth afford two or three chances where
the Older states afford one. First the for
ests, next the farm of grain. fruit and
other crops; next the farm under the soil
in minerals; and last, the farm under the
sea. in FISH. With these by the way of
natural fortune, it has market for them
all. There is then great consideration of
the sea on its whole western line, besides,
il has Puget sound, 100 miles long, an in
land sea which is practically all harbor. 1t
can send its products in its own ships to
every country in the world.
Its manufactures are yet to be deyel-
oped. 1t has abundance of raw material:
this VIII give 1t consumption at home for a
vast amount of its agricultural products.
1t has climate. too, without the rigor of
that OF the North or the enervaton OF that
OF the South, insuring to il great energy,
strength, health and activity. 1t will al
ways be place of prosperity.
THE GREAT DEMOCRATIC MISTAKE ON THE
BORDER.
Il judge that you think that the proba-
hilities are that the extreme Northwest is
going to be prosperous country. Has it
agricultural capacity and wealth sufficient
to form large cities7"
II dc. After my visit of two months I
am fully convinced of this. am also able
to feel more keenly now than ever the
great blunder made oy the always timid
and unprogressive Democratic party when
in the test laid upon il in 1889 and 1850 il
fooled away an empire OF power and
wealth on the Northwest border The pa
triotic cry of the American people of that
time. of ''54-40 or fignt," was right. That
should have been made our northern
boundary either before or after a fight with
England. The unwise leadership of James
Buchanan, Lewis Cass, William Alien and
the other Democratic leaders. and the ira
ditional timidity of the Democratic party
allowed England TO bully them down to
the 49tn degree of latitude. If there had
been Republican party then, with its
courage and love OF the acquisition of en-
pire, IL would have resisted the British