Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-01-17
PUGET SOUNDSHACKS
NoTURESoUE. DWELLINGS THAT
FRINGE TACOMA BAY.

NoTuRESouE. DWELLINGS THAT
FRINGE TACOMA BAY.
Homes AcroaS Whose Thrsshold the Rent
Collector Never Passes-Where Il IL
Easy For Each Man to Rear and Main
tain His Own Castle.
Tho Arab has his TENT the Kaf1r hi
kraal and the red man his wigwam, but
no one Of these primitive habitations is
more distinctive and characteristic Of the
conditions of life than the
ssshack" Of the laborer in the Puget sound
region. This lucky unmarried laboring
man Of the northwest has no tmplacable
boarding master to satisfy weekly. He
paws no rent for furnished room. His mar
rled mate does not anticipate with fear
and trembling the monthly visit Of the
landlord, who wants large percentage of
his earnings down on the nail. No. He
lives in his own shack, and rent, that bug
bear to the poor in eastern cities, Is un-
known to him.
The shack in itself, q temporary, in
complete, or makeshift residence, is simple
and comprehensive. The conditions that
gave it birth and make its existence posi-
Bile require calculation to be seen clearly by
the turbid vision Of those who live among
less favorable circumstances. Tomake it in
telligible one must contrast the conditions
Of the commonwealth in the northwest
and those on the Atlantic seaboard. In
the latter case the broad difference in
classes and the perjury stricken condition
of the lower masses exhibit striking con-
trasts, painful in the highest degree to the
altruistic observer. .-
Perhaps there is no section of country
in the world more free from these distress
ing dissimilarities than the Puget sound
basin, in the western half of the compare
lively new state of Washington. This
happy condition Of affairs arises from vari-
GUS causes, the main mes being naturally
that She country is as yet undeveloped,
and that the lines between the rich and
the poor, the competent and the incompe-
tent, are still underlined, and that the re-
.gion is singularly rich in resources, and
of O most salubrious and healthful eli
mate.
Secondly, Puget sound has shore line
Of /, 700 miles and is densely wooded to
tho very edge of the water with the finest
timber remaining on the North American
continent At intervals of few miles all
along this vast boundary are sawmills,
gradually gnawing their way into the
primeval forest, and the broad waters Of
the sound are constantly covered with i'm
mense booms, or RATS, Of great sawlogs
being towed from the logging camps to
the mills, or ships bearing away to all
parts of the globe the manufactured prod
uct
Is 1t any wonder, the above state Of
things existing, and the price of sawed
lumber being only 81 per thousand feet,
and sometimes less, with slabs to be had
for the taking, that the laborer who finds
1t desirable to build him one of those tenn.
porary residences called shacks finds the
lumber involved in the proposition no
great impeachment to the fulfillment of his
Wishes If he cannot find it adrift, or
strewn along the shore by the tide, a day 8
work will supply the cash necessary for
its purchase. Then, with hammer and
a pound or SO of nails, the shack goes mer-
rily up, and at nightfall the builder is no
longer homeless man.
Again, in all tho northwestern cities,
more land is 'platted" than will be built
upon for 80 or 100 years to come, Seattle,
for instance incorporates slightly less area
than Chicago, and the bare places, which,
1t must be acknowledged, are usually the
least desirable from q residential point OF
view, are utilized by the shack builder,
for such a thing as ground rent is I'M
known except on business streets. Then,
again, there Is the water in the bays, full
Of building possibilities, with the best Of
foundations eligible, with no more trou-
bic than the rolling together and fastening
Of few of the great logs which lie un-
claimed in prodigal variety along the
beach. Enough unclaimed and rejected
timber lies cast up on the shores Of Puget
sound to build shacks for tho whole army
of unemployed.
The bustling city Of Tacoma on Com
mencement bay contains rather moro than
the usual proportion of shack jewellers, and
they have become a common phase Of the
life Of that city Most of the shacks here
are occupied by mill laborers-Tacoma
being largo lumber shipping point
while unmarried workingmen generally do
not disdain to live in them, and thus save
board and lodging-frequently, more is
the pity-to squander the amount in some
other way.
Often tho shacks are unsightly to the
eye, and rude and primitive in the highest
degree, but more frequently they are pic
turesque and form an attractive feature in
the landscape. Occasionally one is seen
that is an ideal residence. The writer has
come across several in Old Town, North
Tacoma, that are charming to look at ant
as convenient and comfortable to inhabit
as much more pretentious abodes. One il
particular has latticed porch overgrowr
with honeysuckle, and rose sprinklet
dooryard that is very jungle Of sweetness
On the tide flats at the head of Com
mencement bay there is a mammoth saw
mill, and near 1t the walk skirts a canal
or rather lagoon-that is, narrow arm o
the bay penetrating deep into the land
Some one with poetic soul has aptly bap
tiled this place "Little Venice" and herr
shack habitations begin. Along this la
COON are some of the queerest looking
most bizarre and picturesque DWELLING
imaginable. They arc one story shacks
built on massive log RATS and moored t.
the bank with huge rusty iron cables
Some are more pretentious, and instead o
raft they use great substantial squar,
scows to build on, and occasionally TIN
houses are painted with an eye to effec
that would paralyze Turner or make hin
sunset green with envy.
One of them is tinted with q combina