The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-03-30


sublimity ii the lowering storms Of vim
ter. If the tide Be high, at every swell.
the breakers dash up under the stage
until the timid passengers are fearful
IL being caught In the undertoNs
This stage route has been established over
thirty years. No other roadway or trail
exists along the solitary coast The beach
was utilized for military road In going TO
old Fort Chehalis, which stood on Peter
sons point in the early days Great ply
steal changes have been wrought In the
coast since this road was first travelled.
Twenty years ago there was an extensive
range Of grazing land along near
the Shoalwater light, upon which were
kept hundreds Of cattle. Now the range
and its fences have been covered to .
depth Of many feet by the cver-shifting
sands. Only the tops Of what wero once
respectable trees now protrude above
round sand ridges back of the Shoalwatef
life station.
The interest of the passengers constantly
feeds on something new during the two
hours drive. demonstrating skates,
killed in some submarine tragedy and cast
mp by the waves, huge crawling crabs and
fimy jelly-fsh, left by the receding waves.
excite the wonder of the prairie-reared.
Last fall young whale lay upon the
beach until consumed by gulls and ravens.
Near the lighthouse the stage leaves the
beach and turns heavily inland over the
loose sand across narrow peninsula and
soon arrives at North Cove. ON Willapa
harbor, better known as Shoalwater bay.
This is another delightful summer resort
with many seaside cottages.
Passengers for Astoria continue their
journey by steamer across the harbor to
Sealand, where they take the narrow
gauge railroad and proceed down the
ocean beach to Ilwaco and thence by
steamer to Astoria. Those going to South
Bend and Willapa take steamer up the
harbor.
The prospect of railroad from Chehalis,
now in process Of construction, Is making
lively times at South Bend, which is To-
Gated at the mouth Of the W;Ilapa river,
about fifteen miles from the sea. The
town Is oyerrun with real estate men, adj
vertising fakirs and spectators. The
hotels overflow every night, and all games
are lively. At present the town has q
population Of about LOO
Ten miles up the river from South Bend
Is the prosperous town of Wiilapa. Here
the tourist will be astonished to find in
the heart of the widest. and, not long ago,
the most inaccessible solitude of Western
Washington, one of the most prosperous
and oldest agricultural communities of the
state. The farms are cleared and well i'm
proved, lying on the fiat bottom lands of
the Willapa valley. The ranchers have
beautiful homes and fine and spacious
barns and outbuildings. The Bullard,
Wood, Giesey, Ellis, Stauffer, Stratton,
Malls and Paulding ranches, and others,
are as fine as any in the state.
The settlement was originally made in
the early ,50s by the colony from Missouri
led By Dr.. Kyle, who attempted to form
community.
Sebastian Gissey, who stin lives here on
his donation, arrived in 1854, with cousin
now deceased. They belonged. to the
. community in Missouri, and were instru-
mental in bringing the colony to the
Wiliapa valley the following year. The
colonists secured large tract Of land, but
being unable to secure q land
ing on the river at the head
Of navigation, where is now the
town of WiIlapa, DR.. Kyle and his colony
moved to Aurora, Or, in 1855. Several
members of the community remained in
the Willapa valley. The oyster industry,
one Of the earliest to be developed
in the state, made ready market
at good prices for the produce
ranches of the pioneers. willapa harbor
is surrounded by dense forest of mer-
chantable timber that is practically un..
touched by the logger's ak There are,
three large mills on the harbor that cut
for export. and have for years shipped
large quantities of lumber to San Fran
cisco. The oyster industry on the harbor
is still carried on extensively, and many
fortunes have been made by it.
This region, the last in Western Wash
ington to attack the food of immigration
that has been pouring in for the past few
years, has finally received an impetus, and
viii undoubtedly witness remarkable
development of its great resources.