The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-09-16
THE PASSING THRONG.

ana MI Irvine, who 10 disciple OF Izaak Wal
ton. Will try the trout near Snoqualmie falls for
aiew days. Mr.. Irvine il the owner of the
somewhat celebrated San Joaquin ranch near
Los Angeles, comprising something like 10000
acres, most of it fine fruit land a great deal OF
money has been spent in litigation ever this
valuable tract of land. and now that the cues
ton OF title has been finally decided Mr.. Irvine's
plans contemplate making ii one Of the greatest
producing ranches in the world. A large part
OF IL ne Is planting with olive, Grange. lemon
ana walnut trees. Besides these ne raises sew
erai IONS OF barley every year anu grazes large
number OF sheep He tried grapes, but accord.
ing to him there IL very little money in that
business. Said he: at costs money to establisha
winery. The business Is largely in the hands OF q
lew san francisco merchants. VITO practically
dictate prices, and while the small wineries
may store one years CROP. very few are able to
store more, and when the new crop 10 about
ready to market they have 70 sell 1t or the old
one, and taxa what is offered, ~ to oranges,
the productive area 10 so limited that do not
mink there viii ever be any overproduction.
Lemons are valuable crop, and will always be
In this country. There are very few olive
groves In this country, and their salue may be
seen from the sale Of one OF loo acres recently
for $l15.t00" Mr.. Irvine has hsd eu interesting
experience with tho Southern Pacific railway.
and 10 one Of . very few in California who have
successfully fought that corporation. OF course
he was aided In his fight by the Sante Fe road.
The Southern Pacific wanted from him dona.
ton OF 1000 acres of land for building the road
through his ranch. He refused, and they told
MIN they would take his entire ranch, and In.
stigated litigation attacking his title to the
grant After relating several instances OF ex-
tortion by the railroad, ME Irvine said he heard
the following about il: "a man wanted . rate
to San Francisco on some eastor-oil beans.
There being no rate for that commodity on the
tariff sheet, the agent wired the officials OF the
road and received the following instruction:
Charge the difference in value between your
place and San Francisco"
A. a. Hill and c. II. Johnson, wholesale lum.
bernnen of Minneapolis, Mimi, were guests OF the
Dilier yesterday They are out here inspecting
the lumber and shingle business Of the Sound
country. and took considerable interest In the
recent meeting of the Shingle Manufacturer
Association III this city. Mr.. Hill esid that the
lumber cut of Minneapolis this year would be
fully 600 feet, 100000 feet more than
last year. Continuing he said: "As our shin
giles are largely made from refuse lumber, you
see that We will also increase our sh4ngle output
Your shingle Is a good shingle, and will always
command good price, but 1t 10 not so much the
value as the price which sells the sangle. Peo-
pie will continue to prefer an inferior single,
IL they can save money by it, and take the risk
OF being obliged to renew them in ten
to fifteen years. Az to lumber. you
can not get into the Eastern markets.
Yeur flooring Is of splendid quality, but you
cannot compete against Georgia pine in price,
which is laid down in Minneapolis at $la Now,
as to shingles, I think you will find hard com.
pettor in the redwood shingle Of California. !
can't see why they are not as good - the cedar,
and they can certainly be made cheaper. There
are no knots In that timber, while there ID con.
siderable waste in making cedar shingles. The
a CxUnO 0t mil
and if the Southern Pacific company takes .
notion to foster that industry, you will find 1t q
dangerous competitor What astonishes me,
however. IL the appreciation OF etumpage in
this country. few years ago when was out
here it was only worth Is cents, bus now it will
average about 81. With so much timber to mar.
ket and restricted market; should think the
price of stumpage should come down"
A. Carstens has just returned from Alaska on
the Alice Blanchard Mr.. Carstens left here for
Alaska on April a. and has travelled 5000 miles.
He went into the interior by way O. the Chilcat
trail to the head waters of the Yukon river, and
prospected down the river to its mouth. and
then took passage on the Alice Blanchard for
this city. Mr.. Carstens says there are about 800
men in the interior of Alaska this year. and
most OF them are doing we'll He saw
one chunk of gold taken from Frank
lin guleh, on Forty-mile creek, which
of gold in Alaska, but the seasons for work are
so short and supplies 80 dear that mining il not
very profitable. He saw Mrs. Beaumont who
went to Alaska with her husband last spring.
Che was we'll and seemed to enjoy the wild life
as well as the men. Mr.. Carstens reports hav.
ing had a very pleasant trip. with the exception
of his experience with mosquitoes. which he
says would kill a naked man inside 81 an hour
In the interior of Alaska during the summer he
says person is compelled to wear gloves and
mosquito bar or veil tied about the head. He
will go to his home at Portland this evening
C. E. Wilson, president OF tho NATION Ma
tional bank, of Nation, Ill, came over from
Tacoma with Manager Hanna, OF the opera
house, both gentlemen being the guests of Capt
Jenkins, of the steamer keweenaw. Mr. Wilson
has come to the Sound on his way home from
the bankers convention at San Francisco, and
has stopped to see the sound country. OF tho
convention he said last night: at was not as
large As we had hoped: we expected about 400
members, but there were only about 200. There
were very few from the extreme East, the Buffalo
strike aud the cholera scare having detained
many. We had a very pleasant meeting and
wero given an excursion on q steamer around
the bay. but very few of the san Francisco
bankers were there and We had no opportunity
of meeting them and making their acquaintance
We should have been pleased to lave met on
the Sound, for our meeting with the bankers
of Seattle and Tacoma was very pleasant Mr..
H. W. Wheeler, Of your CITY. introduced some
resolutions adopted by the Washington bankers
in favor of the delegate system, and they were
referred to the executive council to pc reported
on"
T. J. Kendall, of San Jose, Cal, was at the
Grand yesterday. He has been liz the fruit
business there. but has come to Puget sound to
look for an Investment Said he: "Not only in
California. but everywhere else 1t, the West,
there has been a perfect craze to raise prunes.
Now. in my opinion, they are sure to overdo the
business, and in q short time there will be q
glut Of prunes on the market This year,
though, the fruit raisers getting good prices
in Ca,ifornia--as high a. SEQ a ton for prunes.
But what disgusts me with California Is the
railroad situation there. The producers OF that
country are entirely at the mercy of Hunting
ton, and whether they can obtain ans profit de-
ponds not alone on natural and economic con-
dIiions, but on the mercy of this giant monop-
oily. What leads me to think highly OF the future
of this region. without having seen rauch of it,
Is the fact that you have here plenty of compe-
tition IS to transportation
Capt aud Mrs. J. A. Plum, accompanied BY
Sheriff and Mrs. r. DsLanty, OF Port townsend
are AZ the Grand on their way home from the
Tacoma exposition. Capt Plum is q retired sea
captain and is the owner OF beautiful uaphtbs
launch, on which the party are masking their
cruise. Mr.. DeLauty says that JeEerson and
Clallsm counties are fast settling up, especially
On the coast side OF the Olympics. - that Sec
ton there IL some OF the finest botto.n land In
the state. Speaking of politics he said: 1.-THE
Democratic convention in our county will be
hald Saturday and the Republican Convention 4
week later. Our county may be callad a close
county. but think we VIII have a coed Repuh-