The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-09-15

.a "a. pine. ceosr, ash etc: fhs, Shs,e s.ias
| which Is non ANS ans near said lakes, some of
try aa;.o oW under cultivation: that the coun
~ aaiacent 10 these lakes is . u,ine ~ 1917
hand ~ alone, aud needs but the tostersru
commerce. tSs ss to make IL available to
this soc,io. .nas settiers would seek homes in
had 81 9I r u any reasonable method could 10
| crops and ts,nts market wiz their produce
nat Cedar rive. also, which take. n. .or,o.
Washinr, a mountains, flows into Lake
and a. the is -. certain period of the year.
srsrh. WIG ieAe mas small outlet IL becones
suIcnarged and frequently oveysso,rs - c,
arr,h aes'E uctioa OF property; also White liver
inata.s iarse river 10 the south of Lake wash
sso.a' aiso frequently oyerflows and turn. The
waters OF Black river a trihutsrv 80 so W,a.
ias PACK aud forces them to emnty into sad
ger =, suereny increasing the ever-recurring dan
fh,onoL properly; that said Cedar river runs
'nrrougn telt OF almost mate ,esa tim ter Iand.
oe,.-en ~ necessary that the powerful and
STnnsh., 1id o, the government should be
fanSs 70 Dear Tor the purpose of opening these
, ,hus 10 settlement and ct,Itiyation. thst IsIe
,assniiston can DC appropriately called An in
tIon Ire gnu on account Of its sheltered posi-
shipping IA hafoof ior
INA. government engineers land we hereby re-
49, ..auiy REFER te the report OF GEN Alexander
Gs.> VI ME IN the departments at ashiugtou
SssI nave reported upon the feasibility of max.
il incom,uap 70 ships and commerce.; that 1t
1rucomparanie as a naval station.
.hons w. s newcastle coal mines, which ship
81 ~, iVV tons OF coal per day, are in two miles
That for these purposes it is necessary to con-
smuct TWO ship canals one l,sO0 feet in length
e son zen LAKES Washington aud Union and one
o,oVo ieet III length between Lake Union and the
waters OF PUGET sound; that such canals would
uI h. LAKE Washington about four feet, and.
, VINE adding to is advantage as a harbor,
CLASS agricultural land
.hat large immigration hiss already begun
~ ~ .ns ruget SOUND country, and it is believed
increased.
That incalcnlabie benefits would be derived 10
sae whole Puget sound country by the con-
.Iiaists earnestly urge the attention of congress
" lne Importance OF the construction of said
, .anais anu the improvement of Sammamish
river, ana zeaiously advocate liberal govern
Mehe appropriation in securing the coustrue-
uou Oh SAID canals and improvement OF said
iirvsrs, anu that such aid be given and pended
~ ~ sucn manner and under such direction as in
Tue judgment OF congress is deemed advisable,
ana your memorialists Will ever pray, etc.
The first legislature of the state adopted
similar memorial. The second legisa-
lure IN another memorial asked for an ap-
preparation to provide for expert SURVEYS
and specific estimates on which congress
might act. Congress answered this appeal
by appropriating $4,000. The work was
uohe by the moss competent engineers in
the service. and it was on their report,
supported by the antecedents related, that
the Washington senators secured the ia
OF 500 COO Ii King county or Seattle in
vented the ship canal as "locai JOB" or
steal, the record does not show it.
Third-That federal appropriation for the
construction OF the canal would initiate against
securing appropriations for river and haroor
improvements in the state in general, aud for
the improvements necessary to open the Column
oia In particular.
Ii this statement contains any truth, it
must have equal application to Oregon.
tntp
Washington first: When the river and
harbor bill, with the railway and canal
cluses rejected, was reported back to the
senate from the conferees, Senator Frye
the chairman of the conference committee,
explained that it was thought the Column
bia already had received more than her
share OF appropriations in the bill. This
was a finai declaration, coming from the
representative of She managers of the con-
fereeS from the senate, that no Columbia
appropriations, other than those provided
for outside of the railway bill, would be
Considered just or allowable. 1t was an
emphatic declaration that the Columbia
could get no more. In the recommended
tions of the Washington representatives,
which were adopted, there were appro-
priations to the extent of sos, 600, which
included $50, 200 for Gray's harbor and the
Chenalis river, $4,000 for Olympia har-
Dor, $33, 600 for Vancouver, $l5. 900 Tor Up
$4,000 for the Nooksack, Skagt and other
rivers, So 900 for the Swinomish slough,
$751; for Willapa river, 81 500 for the
Nasel river and $4,000 for the upper
Columbia surveys. These appropriations
were made. Provisions were likewise
made for preliminary surveys on the Sno-
homish river to Lowell, on Lewis river, in
Everett harbor. and on the Nooksack.
The house committee had set the limit for
the state at 500, 600 Let it be asked. then,
were the demands of any locality sacri-
feed to the canal project.
In recapituiation OF the appropriations
for the rivers and harbors on the Pacific
coast, We shall find that a little more than
100000 have been expended on the CO.
lumbia river in Washington, and less than
500 900 on the Pacific coast and Puget
sound in this state, total of about $780,
COO, as against several millions expended
in Oregon on estimates for work which
will require an outlay verging on to 500
900. Ii an appropriation for the ship canal
now means a deduction from future APP
preparations for the Columbia why has
not this rule held good in the past? In
other words, II the opening OF the Column
bia was of paramount Importance 10 the
North Pacific coast, why should Oregon
have persuaded congress to leave the OBJ
structed Columbia and TO accept estimates
for the mpi ovement of bays and rivers on
the coast to the sum of nearly s.. COO coo, of
81, 1913, $50 have been already appropriated?
In one of these cases, that of aquina bay,
for which more than SJp,0OO have been
appropriated and for which $75o.0Jo is
asked the work is OF a nature not greatly
dissimilar to that of the proposed canal,
being nothing more nor less than an eX
pensive channel to the sea through
a fiat coast, and. as Mr.. f. q.
Graves has shown, the commerce TO be
benefited by this enormous outlay Is re-
presented in u hamlet containing one
nftieth OF the population OF the city of
Seattle. Does 1t not follow that II nifty
odd thousand people III Seattle should
abandon q local public work III order to
hasten the opening of the Columbia
community of l,uu0 souls IN Oregon might
have set the example, This relative prop
osItion becomes all the more absurd in
view of the fact that the total annual ex-
ports and imports OF all the improved bays
and waterways OF Oregon, outside OF the
Columbia, Is less than one-halt OF the
possible commerce Of single coal mine
on Lake Sammamish and only one-third
of the product of the coal mines along
Lakes Washington and Sammamish.
Again. in the case OF Coos bay, whose
population does not equal the registered
vote OF Seattle, three hundred and odd
thousand dollars were appropriated
in the very bill from which the
canal and railway appropriations were
excluded. Ii il were a virtue on the part
of the Washington senators 10 withdraw
the ship canal appropriation in favor OF
The nalies proposition, why would IL not
have been ylrtuous likewise on the part OF
the Oregon senators I'D have suspended the
improvement of Coos bay ana to have
asked ,hat The amount to be appropriated
IL -. fs.,e. "A he far