The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-10-10
THE PACIFIC COAST.
An Opal Mine Discovered on a
Farm Near Pullman.
A Colony of Forty Wealthy Nationalists
Formed in San Bernardino
County, Cal.

and San Francisco as a freight boat.
A colony of Nationalists, with forty
members, has been formed at Highlands,
San Bernardino county, Cal. Their in
dividual bank accounts are worth $780,
600.
Another Pete Olsen has been arrested
at Stockton, Cal. 1t is not believed that
he answers fully the description of the
murderer of Mrs. Lyons in Napa few
years ago.
The Bradstreet Mercantile Agency re-
ports fifteen failures in Pacific Coast
States and Territories for last week, as
against nine for the previous week and
five for the corresponding week of 1889.
The Riverside Press saws: 1t is ru-
mored that Lucky" Balwin is talking
of building big hotel at Bear Valley.
If he should, the na-row-gauge road will
have to be built to insure the success OF
the hotel project.
The State Viticultural Commission re-
ports the vintage of California at 12,-
900 900 gallons, or 1000, 900 gallons less
than last year, which was about 16, ,0O0, 900.
The falling off is owing to the great
amount of grape drying in progress.
The first train of Washington hops has
just left Puyallup for Baltimore, to be
shipped thence to London. The train
consists of twenty-five cars, and carries
about 18O tons of hops. At an average
of 20 cents pound the train is worth
about $4,000.
The gross taxable property in Wa'lowa
county, Oregon, is 81, ,3i4, ,520; indebted
ness, $452, ISL; exemptions, S137, 700,
leaving net taxable property amounting
to $724, ,175. The county is in prosper
GUS condition, and with an abundant
harvest has good prospects for the future.
The steamer Rio de Janeiro has sailed
from San Francisco for China and Japan,
carrying back forty Chinese, who arrived
on her week ago, and who were unable
to land on writs of habeas corpus. Four
other Chinese, who were intercepted on
the Mexican border in Arizona recently
while endeavoring to enter the United
States, were also returned on the same
steamer.
A Truckee genius has invented a di-
vining rod which he claims will determine
the locality of gold or silver, and the
firm of A. V. Chillis & Co. of Truckee
has shipped one Of the instruments, to
which the manufactures has given the
name of King Solomon's Magnet" to
Anderson, Tex, in the registered mail
and while the mail clerks were at break
fast it exploded.
An opal mine has been discovered on
the farm of William Leasure, five miles
from Pullman, on Missouri Flat, and
200 mining claims have been staked out.
The opals are found twenty-six feet be-
low the surface of the ground in rock
and gravel, and were first discovered
while digging a well. AS Leasure has
made final proof on the farm, it is not
thought that the locators can hold claims
on his land.
Napa, CAL, is rudely disturbed by
by the news that the order of the Royal
Argosy, a popular endowment insurance
lodge, will dissolve. The membership
in that city is 400, many OF whom are
poor people who have mortgaged their
homes to raise the money wherewith to
pay assessments in this and similar or
ders. There is possibility that invest
ors will get 75 cents on every dollar that
they paid in.
The First National bank of Snohomish
has been victimized by a smooth forger,
who succeeded in obtaining $45 on a
check drawn on the order of G. E Mil
ler & Co., bankers of Seattle. There was
little excuse for the Snohomish bank to
have been swindl-d, as the officers must
have known that the firm of G E. Mil
ler & Co. was no longer in existence as
a firm, it having been superseded by the
King County Bank.
President Woodruff of the Mormon
Church denies the statement made In
the report of the Utah Commission that
plural marriages have been solemnized
during the past year in Utah, and adds
that there has been nothing in the teach
ings of himself or his associates the past
year that can be construed to inculcate
or encourage polygamy. He publicly
advises his following to abstain from any
marriage forbidden by the laws OF the
land.
The new United States cruiser San
Francisco, which made record of 1878
knots in her official trial trip in Santa
Barbara channel a few weeks ago, left
the Union Iron Works and was towed to
Mare Island navy yeard, where she will
be formally turned over to the govern
ment. The cruiser has been thoroughly
cleaned and painted since her trial run,
and it is understood that the work o1
placing her armament aboard and other
wise fitting her for sea will be com.
menced at once.
The Postoffice Department has~let the
contract for the steamboat semi
mail service between Port Townsend
Wash, and Sitka. Alaska, and the foi-
lowing intermediate points: LOring
Fort Wrangel, Douglas, Juneau and Kill
lismoo, Alaska. The distance between
the extreme points is 1.050 miles, and
during the months of November, Decem
Der, January and February it is not te
exceed ten days for the trip each way
nine days each way to be allowed during
the rest of the year.
The British ship Gretna sailed from
London for San Francisco 202 days ago
Nothing was heard of her during that
time, and forty days ago she was giver
up for lost, and 95 per cent. was Offered
and refused for reinsurance. The Othel
evening the Gretna arrived at her desti
nation. The captain reports encounter
ing heavy seas in the South Atlantic
The ship was thrown on her beam ends
and much damaged. She was blown *
far out of her course that the captain
decided to finish the voyage by way o
the Cape of Good Hope and the Pacific
ocean.