The San Francisco call., 1896-03-09
QUEEN CITY Of
PUGET SOUND,
Rapid Growth of Seattle,
the Metropolis Of the
Northwest.
IN A VERY RICH REGION.
The Resources of a Varied and
Almost Inexhaustible
Nature.
VALUABLE LUMBER AND COAL.
VALUABLE LUMBER AND COAL.
Manufacturing Interests That Will
Boom During the March of
Improvement.

SEATTLE, WASH, March 6, 1885,
Among the youthful cities of the North
west of prospective greatness, three or
four stand out with brighter hopes than
the others; but none, perhaps, with better
prospects than Seattle. The Queen City
was first settled by whites in the year 1852,
and since that time her growth has been
rapid and substantial. The steady in
crease in her population during the last
sixteen years is shown by the following
figures; In 1880 her population was, ac-
cording to the United States census, 1888;
in 1885, 9683; in 1889, 26,740; in 1890,
United States census, 42,837; in June, 1892,
State census, 57,542; her present popula-
tion is upward of 5000, the directory esti-
mate for 1886 placing 1t at 81 900.
AS commercial center Seattle's situa-
tion is unequaled on the Pacific Coast !;
she has every natural facility for the max
ing of great city, and her friends expect
within few years, to see her ranking with
Detroit, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Toledo and
the other cities of commercial importance
around the Great Lakes. Her citizens re-
alize that her future largely depends upon
her own exertions and her natural advan-
tages.
Seattle has already realized this, and
her citizens are turning their attention to
manufacturing. The Seattle Chamber of
Commerce is alert to the need OF manu-
featuring, and all applicants for locations
find ready and earnest cooperation from
that energetic body.
Like most Western cities Seattle must
depend largely upon outside capital to de-
velop her natural resources. Too little is
generally known of the advantages which
the Puget Sound country offers to Eastern
capital. This, however. seems likely to be
remedied within the next few years. East
ern people who have wintered in Southern
California are returning to their homes in
great numbers by the northern routes for
the express purpose of iookiny over the
situation in this fertile and rich section of
the country.
All visitors seemed surprised to find
Seattle the well-built city she is. The
great fire of 1889 destroyed all the business
portion of the city, causing damage to the
extent of $15,000,000. Her citizens, how
ever, have rebuilt the city with modern.
weIl-equlpped buildings, making her the
best built city of her size in the United
States. No sooner had Seattle been re-
built than the panic came and retarded her
growth somewhat. These vicissitudes,
however, have called out the energies of
attention to manufacturing and legitimate
commercial business.
Within the last few years Seattle's manu-
factures have made satisfactory progress.
The chief products of Puget Sound, OF
which Seattle is the largest ard most i'm
portant city and natural distributing point,
are lumber, shingles, coal, marble, hops,
fruit, potatoes, field roots, dairy products.
cattle, hogs, poultry, orchard and small
fruits, and edible fish of a numerous var
iety. None of these products are developed
to their full extent, and they present
large field for the capitalist. Considering,
however, the natural advantages which
the country has over, the Eastern sections
OF America, and considering the extent
of the growth of the East, the
West may hope some day to outstrip the
has been truly said that had the Pacific
seaboard been first discovered, the bleak
hills of New England would have to this
day remained uninhabited.
LAUNDERING and coal mining are the
chief industries of this section. The
amount of coal shipped from Seattle dur
ing the year 1894 was 10000 tons, and the
output for 1895 much greater.
The lumber manufacturing is a prom
inent industry. The number of acres of
timber land in King County is about
$4,000. The average nun ber of feet of
standing timber per acre is about % ,0OO
The average stumpage per 1000 feet is 20
cents. The number OF feet of standing
timber, 20, ,23O, SOC. 900. Stumpage value,
$14, ,161, $50. Many other counties on
Puget Sound are equally rich in timber.
summit of the Cascade Mountains, is a
rich deposit of magnetic iron ore. This
deposit is well-nigh inexhaustibe, and its
great value is shown by the following
average analysis of ore:
Metallic iron, 6s.31; silica, 24S; phospho-
rus, .O34; sulphur, .023.
Overlying this ore is large quantity of
white marble, and adjoining the iron ore
claims are rich veins of copper and silver