The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-01-01

IN ientn, and. extending inland for q dis
tance OF seventeen miles, forms veritable
lacustrine paradise, whose existence in
TINS portion of the growing state of WASH
ington Is one of natures most delightful
miracles.
surf bathing on its broad and beautiful
beaches affords fashionable and delight
fui pastime, INDUCED in every season by
thousands of people from California. Ore
gon and Washington. The opening of the
harbor into the Pacific is broad and deep,
while only few miles inside the bar the
harbor is iandlocked. At low tide there
are twenty-three feet of water over the bar,
which renders 1t unnecessary to beg con-
gress for an appropriation or to suffer the
mental agony and pecuniary loss of being
refused it.
Ire harbor is deep and wholly unob-
strlcted by rocks or shoals, which to-
gether with its many other advantages Sc
cures for 1t the deserved reputation of be-
ing the second best harbor on the Pacific
coast, being surpassed only by that of San
Francisco. 1t has many large and beauti-
ful tributaries, among them the rivers
Bear, Nasel, Nema, Palix, Cedar, North
and Willapa, the last named of which is
by far the most important
Oyster culture constitutes one of the
chief industries of the harbor and bay.
Since the discovery Of oyster beds in 1853
the business had steadily increased, until
IN 1870 ii was worth S300, 600 annually to
shoaiwater bay. Owing to the successful
culture of oysters in California, the trade
has somewhat diminished from the above
figures, but still the industry yields inn
mense and growing profits, and furnishes
renumerative employment to a large num-
Der of people.
Upon the harbor and its tributaries are
many salmon canneries which are counted
among the best in the West. During this
year several salmon canning establish
ments have been erected which are doing
a lucrative bnsiness-most of the new ones
have been located on the Willapa river.
Upon the tide lands of the bay and tidal
rivers that flow into it, there are no trees
or stumps, which renders the land easy of
reclamation TO agriculture. In the last
twelve months hundreds of acres have
been dyked at a small cost, and the crops
raised have been something enormous, es-
pecially of hay, of which every acre has
yielded from three and one-haif to four
and one-half tons. This itself is sufficient
to attract the attention of farmers when
they remember that hay is selling at $40
per ton int the stack.
Every tributary to the harbor has a
broad and fertile valley which, with small
labor in clearing, can be made to produce
large crops of cereals, vegetables, fruits
and berries, while the islands and hills
have a soil rich and fertile, are covered
with fine farms and dotted with costly and
commodious farmhouses and large barns.
On the bottom lands grass and heritage are
green the year round, which makes dairy
farming and stock raising profitable.
Like most other parts of the state, South
west Washington, around the harbor, is
largely covered with a growth of fine fir,
cedar and spruce, which in themselves are
mines Of great wealth.
The manufacture of lumber is large in
dustry, there being six large lumber mills
ON the Willapa alone which give constant
employment at remunerative wages TO
large numbers of men. All of the mills
have planning mills attached, and some
have sash and door factories. All but two
of these establishments have been put in
operation within the past year. With little
investigation one can obtain reliable and
credible information that no part of Wash
ington has made greater strides in 1890 in
industries, both farming and urban, as
Southwest Washington about this beauti-
full harbor.
The population of Pacific county is about
4, 500 by the last census report. Owing to
the inaccessibility of other parts of the
county the greater part of the population
is about Willapa harbor; but this incon-
venience in travel is fast disappearing and
now twelve vessels are plying between
points on the harbor and the cities of Port
land, San Francisco and Tacoma. There
is regular daily mail service to all points.
The Yakima e. Pacific Coast division of
the Northern Pacific railway, beginning at
North Yakima, is being pushed to COM
pIetion, and trains are expected to be run
ming by June, 1891, connecting Chehalis
by rail with the harbor, with South Bend
as the deep water terminus. The laying of
rails on the road has been already begun
from Chehalis toward South Bend, a dis
lance of forty miles; bridges are now in
the course of construction and several
forces of men now engaged on other lines
are to be placed on this road to complete it
with all possible dispatch.
TOWNS OF THE HARBoR.
Situated upon the harbor are quite a
number of beautiful and thriving towns.
oysterville on the north end of the penin-
sula, is busy town with fine natural
scenery. Tt is the county seat of Pacihc
county and has large and substantial
county buildings; it carries on an extern
sive trade in oysters and other products of
the sea. A dozen or more buildings have
been built the last year at an average cost
of 81 900. and a large amount of money has
been expended in identifying homes by
planting shrubbery and shade trees.
Sealand, also on the peninsula, is the
northern terminus of the Ilwaco & Shoal-
water Bay railroad, which runs from Il
waco. The past year it has grown from
almost nothing to town of 400 popula-
ton, and has many fine business places
and dwellings, good hotels and large
printing office.
Sunshine is milling town at the mouth
of the Nasel river, and has kept pace with
the rapid development of the surrounding
country.
Willapa City, situated in the center of a
numbering and farming district, at the
head of navigation on the Willapa. has
Ifattf uttilAs- ttiS past year. SOiHe OF the
finest dwelling houses in the country erect
ed within its limits. 1t has an immense
trade in farm products. The country about
this city is thickly settled and has some of
the finest roads in the state; 10 these has
been added the county road 10 South Bend.
which was laid ont and graded at cost of
many thousand dollars. The natural and
beautiful scenery of the Willapa, which
can be seen from this highway, makes it