The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-01-21

90 0Oe0AC % al = aCOlu1s DS4s tuSO 4aCOLu1
was not blessed with ire, and is still
III the grip Of cheap shacks and the
"hold for a rise ciass-that chief
curse of new towns. The residences,
too, on the terraced hills of Seattle are
varied in architecture, chiefly Queen
Anne or continental, many cS them very
elaborate and ambitious He-lesign and
built at points that commHld specially
fine stretches of the perpetual panorama
of mountain and sound.
In facilities for getting about the
people OF Seattle have so far improved
their historic record that no city of the
country east or west is better supplied
with car service. 1t is conceded that
the present cable service, which now
honeycombs all the cities of the land,
was born in Seattle. Its hills presented
obstacles which the horse car could not
overcome. Gables solved the problem.
The hills of San Francisco applied the
same remedy, and now 1t seems a well
known fact that cables will work as
we'll on level ground. Today we have
over so miles of cable and electric car
service, the latter, too. having had near
" it's virgin development in this city OF
the sound. In the street car business we
took no points from the effete east.
The resources of this scenic paradise
and of the entire Cascade country are
beyond computation. From Seattle to
Fairhaven the earth is full of coal and
iron ore. and in such immense quantities
that it is readily mined. Until these de-
posits had been found the coal problem
was very serious in this region. Trans
portation rates from the east would have
been out of the question: Today the en-
DooiGa 10
We can't mine it fast enough to meet
the demand. It is soft and dirty. admi-
rably adapted for steamers, foundries
and factories, but rather nasty for home
use. Coal is the chief wealth of the Pm
get sound region.
Mineral Treasures.
But this is only one feature of the
wealth. Silver has been found IN large
quantities. The upper Skagit, lying
along the Cascades for 40 miles, is
continuous belt of silver bearing ore.
We don't know what we have The sur
face of the earth has hardly been scratch
ed, and what Ell Dorados lie concealed
In its bowels no man can even guess.
Across the sound and between its
western shore and the Pacific extends o
vast region-wild, unknown, much of
1t unseen, even at short range, by any
white mans eye. Here stretches the
Olympic chain, known to be loaded in
some parts with mineral wealth, but so
insignificant is the fraction explored
that the mineral treasures of that range
are all conjecture. Pines, towering to a
height of 200 feet stand locked together
SO closely in the forests of those Pacific
counties of Washington that you can
stand in a grove at midday, with the
sun at its zenith, and not catch ray Of
his beams-all clothed in "dim, reli-
gious Light
It has been estimated that this Cas-
cade country has timber enough to sup
ply the world for a hundred years. A
heavy trade in this branch of wealth
has already opened up with the orient.
Manufactures Of all kinds are heavily
on the increase. Day by day Seattle is
getting more independent of the eastern
states in all lines of industry and nurs-
ing the germ of heavy commerce with
China and Japan and Australia.
In fact. the Cascade region is a pecul-
lar kingdom of its own. Its products
and interests are sharply in contrast
with the segment of Washington that
lies east of the mountain range. Its
natural trade is along the Pacific belt of
states and with the orient, while the
eastern end of Washington is naturally
allied with the middle western states.
In fact, like California, with its
fruits, the sound country has an exclu-
sive personality about it.