The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-05-17
THE PASSING THRONG.'

Colonel william F. Prosser, OF North Yakima,
chairman of the state harbor line commission,
arrived st the Northern hotel yesterday. Colonel
Prosser, who is one Of the pioneers of the Pacific
coast, is native OF Pennsylvania. where he was
born in 1884 When he was 20 years old he came
across the plains to California and engaged in
mining in Trinity county. In 1850 he was
one Of the "Trinity Rangers" q COM
pany organized to assist the regular
troops in the Indian fights about Humboldt
Bay. In 1850 he was the first Republican candi-
date OF his county for the California legislature;
but at the breaking out of the civil war few
months later he went East Throughout the
conflict he served in the Army Of the Cumber-
land, and having enlisted az private In tho
Anderson Troop" he rose to the full rank OF
colonel in the Second Tennessee cav
airy. After the war he settled at
state Legislature and afterward to congress- For
three years he was postmaster ct Nashville and
then he was one of the commissioners from
Tennessee to the centennial exposition. In
1879 he came to this state as q special agent OF
the land Office and three years later he located
homestead claim at the present site of the town
OF Prosser. After q term as the YAKIMA county
editor he was member Of the state constitu-
tional convention In the summer OF 1890 Gov
state harbor line commission.
Among the guests at the Rainier hotel II W.
w. Rich, of st. Paul, chief engineer of the $500
Line" In speaking of the company's extern
sions in Dakota, Mr. Rich said: "More care il
now expended in building railroads across the
pfairies than there was . few years ago. The
time was when an engineer thought that II he
could get his rails down on q level bed he had
done his work well. But now $4,000 yards of
embankment will be put into mile of prairie
roadbed, whereas only half of that amount OF
earth used to go in. The difference is shown in
winter, for the snow will be blown clean OF of
an embankmsnt and the track kept much freer
from drifts than according to the old
method. We have q rotary snowplow
for which we have had no use
during the last three years A good part
of our line runs through forests, and there the
snow does not drift When the snow lies as 1t
falls on the track it Is light and can be thrown
of without the least difficulty, even though 1t
be deep. We find that a line through forest
even with sparse settlement gets moro local
traffic than a line through . fairly Pc pulous
prairie country. In the latter the roads are
usually passable, and man who wants to 60 any
distance within twenty miles will hitch up his
horse. In the forest the roads are bad, and
every man travels Is much by train as he can"
Hon. D. W. Higgins, of Victoria, arrived at
the Occidental hotel yesterday. Mr. Higgins.
who is one OF the most prominent men of the
Pacific Northwest, is q Nova Scotian by birth,
but he came to California in the early fifties.
He was practical printer, and with two others
in 1855 he started the CdN When the Fraser
river gold fever broke out, in 1853, he sold out
his interest in the Cdu and came north.
Finally he settled at Victoria, where he bought
the Colonist, which he conducted for more
than q score of years. Some time ago he sold
out and took an active interest in the manage
ment OF the street railway lines at Victoria and
Esquimalt For seven years he has been mem.
Der of the lower branch OF the British Columbia
legislature. and during four terms he has filed
the high office of speaker. 81 met Henry L.
Yesier on the street today" he said last night,
sand 1t was the first time / had seen him to
know him for thirty years In the early sixties
came to Seattle on the Eliza Anderson, arriy.
ing here about O'Clock in the morning. Mr..
Yesler came out with q lantern to help us make
q landing"
D. N. Taylor, . FAN City merchant, is In the
city on business. He Is q cousin of w. H Tay.
Tor, the county commissioner, and IL brother
Of James Taylor, who has been a resident on
the Snoqualmie river, near where Fall City now
stands, for the past twenty-three years Twenty
years ago, in 1872. D. N. Taylor and W. Il. Taylor
left the East to join James Taylor, who had
come to King county three years before The
cousins reached San Francisco and then came
by water to Victoria. They took the steamer
North Pacific, which had only been built the
year before, and were put ashore at Seattle, then
very small and Insignificant place. OF course
there were no railway lines here then, and the
boys reached James faylors farm on the sno-
qualmie after q tedious tourney by wagon.
Both W. II. and D. N. Taylor have ever since re-
sided on the snoqualmie and, aside from the
store at Fall City, D. N. Taylor owns one of the
finest and best cultivated farms In the state
Mrs. N. j. Pontius yesterday paid several
thousand dollars into the city treasury on ac-
count of grade taxes Mrs. Pontius manages
her extensive estate herself. and she remarked
that while it is . heavy tax sometimes she
always willingly incurs 1t and az promptly pays
it. "The money does good" she said, "because
1t employs labor and calls for supplies Then il
improves the property and yields higher tax
to the city, OF course, in the end It benefits the
property owner. too"
G. B. Reynolds. OF Charleston, ". Va, is at
the Rainier hotel. having come here from
Southern California. Mr. Reynolds, who has
until recently been in the coal mining business
may settle at some place in the Pacific North.
west. Coal mining and numbering are the
principal industries of his Eastern home, for
much OF the wood used in the manufacture of
A1AAAsNAS AoW NOElcb iEOiu west virginia
p B. Johnson, of Walla Walla, was at the
Northern hotel yesterday, having come to the
city to attend meeting of the regents OF the
State university. Mr.. johnson, who is one of
the well-known men OF Washington, has been
in active politics for years. Several times he
was member of the territorial legislature At
present he il editor of the Walla Walla Union
Journal
Snohomish party OF the Uniformed Rank of
the Knights OF Pythias was at the Grand hotel
yesterday, on their way to the conclave at Ia
coma The members were: W. H Kennedy.
John W. Miller, ]. J. Fclstad, w. T. ElwelI, Tom.
lin Elwell. w. F. Hill, +. c. Warner. J. A. Thur.
rer. c. H. Thomas, 8. C. Carter and A. Hogarty.
Mr. and Mrs. Linus L. Post, OF Tacoma, were
at the Northern hotel yesterday. Mr.. Post 10 q
well-known capitalist and yachtsman, owner of
the Tacoma theater. He has many friends in
Seattle, where he has considerable interests
The new theater here is an enterprise in which
he has taken an active part.
George s Brown, of Everett, president of the
Everett & Monte Cristo railroad, 4. at thu
Northern hotel. He says that the father of
Everett, Henry s. Hewitt, has returned from
his trip TO the East and the citizens of Everett.
his happy family, will give him 4 dinner 10