The Dickinson press., 1890-07-19
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
The Puget Sound Country and Portland.
PORTLAND, Or, july IA, 1890.
Boarding the west bound train at
| Spokane Falls, where we were joined
by C. N. Wallace, almost the first
person we met from North Dakota
was NJ. H. Jewell Of the Bismarck
Tribune, and together the three OF
us journeyed to Tacoma, where we
saw the sights of that city, after
which we visited Seattle, Fairhayen,
Whatcom and other Sound towns, &c
companied by Geo. Hanscom, former
ly of Dickinson, now Il prosperous
hardware merchant in Tacoma. At
the latter place W. met Mat Frame,
who is conductor on a train from
Tacoma to Ellensburg. We also met
j. L. Gates, formerly of Mandan, r.
| M. Laughlin and James Collister. AT
Seattle we met John A. Rea, former
ly of Bismarck, and Mr.. Clock who
was in business in Dickinson for a
short time. L. N. Griffin, another
| Bismarker, is at Fairhaven. In fact,
the Dakotas are well represented in
all the towns of the Coast country.
We stopped three days i'll Centralia,
which is a growing town of 5000 peo-
pie and here we were Hospitality enter.
tanned by II. +. Beckett and DR..
j. b. Mcdonald, we'll known in Dick
inson and were pleased to find them
prospecting in their new home. Cen
tralia might be called a Dakota
town, as there are a large number of
Dakotans there.
The country, especially after cross
ing the Cascade range, is IL vast
forest of timber, with only a small
portion of cleared land, and the latter
at high prices, ranging from 500 to
500 an acre, according to location
and quality of soil; but it is very pro.
ductive and is destined to become the
great fruit producing section of the
country, and will in time be capable
of sustaining a dense population. 1t
costs 800 to clear an acre of ground
ready for cultivation. Most of the
railroad land is >held by spectators
and large saw mill firms and the
government land near towns is all
taken s. that a Dakota farmer coming
here to open a farm will find difficult
ties to overcome that he don't dream
of while tilling the prairie sod. The
timber is almost impenetrable, as we
found out in a vain attempt to look
over a quarter section near Centralia.
With the assistance of Il guide, MI.
Wallace and Mr.. Beckett succeeded
in getting onto one corner of the land,
while l tarried by the wayside, OF
rather trail, until their return. The
trail is a small foot path cut through
the underbrush, and l was not long
in deciding that Il government timber
claim had no charms for me. While
money can be made here off OF the
land, it takes the very hardest and
u~nceasing toll to do it, and the Da-
kota farmers had better stay where
they are until they have money to
buy cleared land.
Tacoma and Seattle are growing
cities of about $4,000 inhabitants each.
Real estate is high enough for a
place like Chicago, and the people
admit this, yet claim they will keep
on growing in population. Fairhaven
is a new town Of 5000 and expects to
be the terminus Of the Great North
ern railroad. Corner lots can now be
purchased for $500. In Centralia
property is not so high and for a safe
real estate investment it is the best
town we have visited. The Northern
racific is building from there to
Grays Harbor, and the Union Pacific
is also grading a road to the same
point. In Portland we were very
much disappointed, as we expected to
find a fine city with large granite and
stone business blocks; but instead it
is a city Of common brick and frame
buildings. OF course there are some
good buildings here, but in general
appearance the place reminds me Of a
sleepy old eastern town. Yet it is
quite a wholesale point and supplies
goods to most of the towns for quite
a distance around and will improve
with the development Of the country.
The of this country, IL
timber md minerals, are undoubtedly
very great; but it will take years to
develop them. S.
"S."must have the Washington mad
ness the worst way to write so dis
paragingly (after visiting the COM
paratively unimportant boom towns
of that state) about Portland, Oregon,
the most beautiful, well built and
greatest commercial city Of the Pa.
ciic slope and coast outside of San
Francisco.
NEW ENGLAND CITY NOTES.
VIM. Gay is the successful searcher
for lost sheep.
A, II, Keene visited Dickinson this