The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-01-01

/ her record bids fair To be 81 6n The tax
/ able value Of property in tne city. which
was bat $ssS 90 in Isss had risen 20 81 81
SIS in lSS9. before the Ere. and that. too.
when considerable property was omitted.
I through fnadyerfence. from the tax rolls.
AT the same time it rauSt be remembered
that this represents probzhly not more than
one-fourth of the fun value of al city prop
erty. The increase in the business of the
| local postafiee, as also the much larger
/ volume Of real estate business are in har~
mony with the shove facts Before the
FIRE the city had brick buildings with 5
frontage Of ! ,46S feet. All Of those build
ings, with bnt two or three exceptions.
were swept away by the conHagration.
Now there are thirty-tiYe new and sHhstan-
tial brick blocks. with frontage OF 1850
feet and nearly every one of these build
ings IS completed and occupied.
| The city. always 3 handsome one. in Sd
far as the site is level. the streets wide and
straight, has been vastly improved by It's
renaissance. Ii is extremely doubtful
whether better-bnilt town OF 5000 inhah-
itants can be found on the entire Pacific
coast Not content with the wonders it
1 has achieved during the last five months,
/ it proposes 20 keep its pace. The brick
I blocks hereinbefore mentioned comprise
ninety-two stores and several hundred
/ offices and rooms. Besides these there
have been erected outside Of the FIRE limits
| about fifty dwellings and two handsome
/ and imposing church edifices. What with
new mammoth brick hotel. new city hail,
new enginehoase and new electrie-light
/ building. il wonid seem that the energy of
| Eilenshurg's fnanciers had been taxed 10
the utmost. But such is not the case.
/ Among the eertaintes os the near fu-
ture, as the reporters love to express it,
| are another new bank with banking re-
sources equal TO bali million; large new
and elegant pnblic-school building: a new
| operahouse 10 cost $50 900 to $50 600, and
new Odd Fellows hall The brick founda-
l ton for the new operahouse, 50xl20 feet.
has already been laid. st cost of over
| 81 600. Several other building projects are
talked of. many Of which will undoubtedly
materialiEe. bat the foregoing may be said
to have assumed tangible shape. The city
has 81 present very excellent paid FIRE de-
partment, comprising among its properties
! steam and hand engines. telephone sys-
tenn and an electric-Iight plant. The pres
ent capacity OF the latter being found total
" inadequate TO the demands, new l0lA
horsepower engine is 10 be provided, and
that, too, with duplicate dynamos, so that
/ II from any cause one ses OF machinery
should become unavailable its place could
be Immediately supplied. Propositions
have also been made TO the city council
looking to the construction of two other
notable and necessary, though totally dis
tinct, enterprises. One Is for the providing
street-car accommodations, the other for
These will in all probability be among the
first great local enterprises of the coming
year.
Now the question will naturally occur to
people not familiar with Ellensburg and lis
history, What are the advantages such
town offers? What is there to cause this
phenomenal growth? The answer is that
the'city occupies a peculiarly favorable POI
sition geographically and every other way,
being almost in the very center of the state.
on the main line of the Northern Pacific
railroad. in the midst OF large and fertile
valley fifteen to twenty miles wide and
thirty miles long, and within twenty miles
OF the richest and most extensive coal and
iron mines of the state.
There are $500 square miles of rich level
land. all easily irrigated and brought into
cultivation, only one-sighth OF which has
ever been touched BY the plowshare. and
none of which has ever received any water
from the Yakima river. Ii IL now pro-
posed 10 lock aud dam this river and
spread the water over the entire valley,
thus utilizing this vast source of wealth
that flows unohstructed into the mighty
Columbia. When this Is done the founda-
tion will have been laid for the main
tenance OF = population OF $1,000 people, all
Of whom viii be non-producers. SO far at
least as farming is concerned. and who
will furnish a ready market for all the
products OF the valley and make farming
bonanza. At present the small patches are
irrigated from spring creeks that flow from
the foot hills and easily controlled. The
vast wealth that has been produced by
irrigation IS almost unknown TO the East
1t Is q fact that in less desirable locations
than that surrounding Eiiensburg the
price OF land has been increased hundred
fold By the digging of canals and bitches,
for the soil il naturally rich and the
abundant stream Of the YAKIMA river has
only TO be turned into the fields TO make
them blossom as 8 rose" Wheat oats,
barley, potatoes and all kinds OF vegetables
flourish. Fruitg of all kinds abound and
while generally resembling those of Cali
fornia, have a far superior flavor. Your
readers can readily see that for the hus-
handman, for the farmer, this state
furnishes uneqaaled advantages. The
climate Is simply perfection Tor the farmer
The summers are cool while the winters
are always mild. Snow seldom falls be-
fore Christmas. ard The warm Chinook
Winds cause il TO disappear early in
February. Farmers plow until the mid
die OF December ard begin again the FIRST
OF March.
But agriculture is after all. a small por-
ton OF the resources Of Kittitas county.
Plumbag0. copper. silver and gold al
are known to abound within iIs domain.
Seine Of the mines are already being ex-
tensigelg worked. At the Roslyn coal
mines 7o0or so men are constantly en-
pioyed and their output il the greatest %
any Of the numerous coal mine pT0pefties
in Washington. EIiens5urg Is also the
eentrepot Zoe mach Of the trade OF the Big
bend country and the Coneonally gold and
silver mines 20 say nothing OF the great
aud ever increasing cattle business, the
prosperity Of which depends upon tie ex.
tensige ranges 70 the east and northeast Of
this city The mountains furnish an
abundant supply OF timber Suitable for all
purposes and many logging camps and
lumber mills are husily employed IN laying
tribufe npon the neh8s forests Moreover,
there Is considerable activity in the matter
y developing certain mines % the so-cAlled
precious minerals. la the Peshastia dis
tyct. forty miles ueTsh Of here. there Is con
sgsssf5sslr s~ssfrssy