The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-01-01
sEATTLE's GREAT SUBURB.
A Fully Equipped Town Built TO
Order.
west Seattle Lays the Foundation 81 >
Large Residence City. Besides Rail-
road ard shipping Center.

boldly Is = spur from the metropolis OF
Washington. What Brooklyn Is TO New
York, what Oakland is 20 san Francisco.
viii West seattle be 70 the great thriving
city OF the Sound. Nobody acquainted
with these older cities will for \ moment
hesitate 10 declare that, in beauty OF ioca-
ton. healthfulness OF conditions or accessi-
bllity for suburban residence, either Of the
famous sister cities OF the Pacific and At
iantie capitals is far inferior TO the budding
townsite across the bay. In rapidity OF
growth and in the anticipation OF wants Dy
the supply OF every modern convenience.
the comparison between them would be
absurd
Two Christmases ago the beautiful head
land which forms 30 picturesque feature
OF the Sound was peopled only by some
fifty Indians, who we're but little advanced
in civilization beyond the days when they
we're the sole inhabitants OF the pine forests
rom the Case AIDES 20 the 0lympians.
Within twenty-foar months the siwash
wiekiup and wilderness of dense under
brush has disappeared to give place to a
well laid ont townsite with graded streets.
water service. cable car grades and a ferry
system. The feasibility Of such trans
formation in so marvelously short a time
is q tension Of credulity.
Yet the whole process is a natural result
OF practically unlimited capital applied by
skilled hands under the direction of an
individual master-mind possessing the
nervous energy of an electric dynamo.
About July of iSSS. Col. Thomas Ewing.
who has had an extended experience in
developing virgin resources. acquired q
considerable length Of waterfront land
around the promontory and extending
along its inner shore. II was soon re-
ported that the Southern Pacific railroad
with its incessant activity in seeking new
feeders for It's trunk systems had surveyed
a line from Portland 10 the Sound and
intended locating its terminal on the west
shore much In the same way as IL had done
in Oakland.
The inducements were tar greater than
those offering at the now large city east of
San Francisco bay. There the mud fats
necessitafed miles OF jetty and most ex-
pensive piling. At West Seattle nature
has provided the finest port facilities from
Behring Straits TO Cape Horn. Not only
only does the contour of the land afford
snug harbor, bat the gradual slope OF the
shore admits OF the inexpensive construc-
ton of wharves and docks with sufficient
depth OF water TO accommodate the largest
vessels. The railroad project took shape
in the formation of the Seattle a Southern
Railroad Company. IL viii have a COM
piete system of terminal arrangements
at the foot of the bluff, on the extreme
point A handsome depot viii be built
opposite Seattle and the lire viii SKIRT
the shore, cross the mud flats, be con-
tiaued by one OF the finest buiit roads In
the country. and join the system at Port
land, reducing the time of transit bv not
less than six hours.
Those whe had by the logic OF cIrcum-
stances become acquainted with the
secret history of what was regarded as n
mysterious land purchase, seized the OPP
portHnity that exclusive information gave
them and bought the magnificent plateau
which crowns the eminence. Looking
from Seattle il appears steep and altitu-
dinous: hat, as a matter of fact, il Is
reached by a moderate grade--which has
since been more conveniently regulated
and ease d~-and is not so high as the upper
portion of Seattle by as much as loo feet.
Colonel Ewing, whose keen observant eve
has often detected the hidden bonanza be-
meath the jealous and repellant rock, made
the purchase of the water front for the
railroad. With the instinct of enterprise
and with the imagination of q practical
poet who could people the forest with
swarming multitude. conJure up broad.
well paved streets between the obstructing
ssnnps and discern elegant homes in the
uncut timber. he dreamed a daydream
which Was barely conceived before il was
/ being realized.
Inside OF few weeks he had formed the
West Seattle improvement Company, with
a capital of 81 500. 600, subscribed by him
self together with several other large cap
italists. one OF whom, although not nom
inaiIy figuring in il, is believed TO be worth
not less than twenty million OF dollars.
These we're not the men TO buy mudIats
and stake them out in five dollar town lots.
Some 90 men we're Rt once pnt 10 work
clearing the plateau; another small army
OF 'ssppers and miners" started in 10
grade and construct two lines of road
alongside the bluff, one north aud one
south, surveyors laid of fine wide streets.
contractors huis sewers and laid water
mains: estimates were invited for cable
car system. and splendid ferry was built
and Is running.
Fabulous as this seems, the facts are
well known to every resident OF Seattle
! IT MAS q wideiy-knowu event when the first
/ tree was lellea in ISIS; il Is only a ten.
minute ride across the bay, and everv
I statement Is capable OF yarlhoatloa. Last
I New Years day the PosT-I HrEz1fsxycss
t narrated the progress then made and pab-
/ Nshsd the plans laid down By the com
raay. They have been exceeded In every
respect. the promises then made have
/ been more than fulfilled.
Leaving Seattle from one Of the best
piers aioag the water front the resident Of
the nsw sabuvs crosses the bay in from
seven Go ten minutes hy enc of the fastest
ard nest comfortable at ferry boats. III
( cost Sc Haa tfhs "siips" alone with ths}t.
{ lighthouses cost an0zher sseool. and j.
propelled by engines oS - horsepower.
/ capable Of = sFeed % seventeen 10 eighteen
mtles an hour, ard equippea With the
{ latest appliances aad most substantial IT.
tsRez Landing ~ tie deck there il tot =
I moments delay IS the oid-tashioaed
.apFoa al ordinary ferries Is snpplsntsd
by panseon nFon which rests a gently
ssOpsng Ee&eisea a. jGzted 50 As 20 be aiwavx
ca a tss4s level with the deck q the ferry
hoAt. Passing through a .esl-anished
waissug-voom, bulk rarity uroa 8
Z substantial crib q huge * rress
I logs that w5n last thousand
I years sggYgSesi with toilet rooms sags com
togt&8le seAss. he West sSAstse5te fndz
+ himself opposite the railroad ofEsex. =
F u.ose A2nSlsene aa8 better finished sasia-
inE taen sny q ~ kiEa IN slse state. lie
CA sslhtr take a carriage or YAK an the
D. a .ss.. "a.