The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-07-13
sEArnE AND IT'S xEIcnBoRs.
How the state Has Recently Made
Great Progress.

treat Progress.
Providence (R- - Journal
Seattle. the metropolis Of the North
west" as i. likes % call Itself, has had
q big loom in the las, few months. The
discovery OF gold in the Yukon country
has made ii the distributing center for
q large and important mining trade. and
this. added 10 i,s former industries. has
revived the hopes Of Its enthusiastic cifi-
xens that /. iss destined 10 become rot
only the greatest town in the Northwess-
il IS now neck snd neck with Portland,
Ore. IT'S only rival for that destruction
bur the greasest on our entire Pacific
coast San Francisco. 70 be sure, has $50
0H inhabitants, but the prophetic Scatter
Ands 10 difficulty in believing that the
Washington city will some day outstrip
the California metropolis. Il certainly has
q wonderfully rich country back OF Il. 20
say nothing OF It's Alaskan and foreign
trade. and with population approxsrnating
So 90 is well in the lead OF its old rival.
Tacoma. for numerical honors-
According TO statistics in a special eti-
ton OF the Seattle Poss-Tntelligeneer.; The
city has an area OF twenty-eight square
miles. or much more than Providence
which comprises perhaps eighteen. nox
that the compact portion Of the town OF
Johnston has been annexed. Its electric
and cable roads aggregate 6Si4 miles. with
q total OF ninety-two miles OF track. ana
there are over a hundred miles OF graded
streets OF which about twenty-five are
pla1ked and 5o,0So square yards paved WITH
brick and cedar blocks. It's steamers run
70 almost every irnportan, point on Puget
sound and 10 San Francisco. Victoria ami
Alaska. Three transcontinental railroads
connect IT with the East. and there are
two other roads 10 local places. And, per-
haps the most significant OF all, the trans
pacific steamers Of the Nippon fusen
Kaisha now connect Ii regularly with ia
pan and the Asiatic market. We have
great deal TO do with abroad these stir
ring days, and this Western trade OF ours
is going 10 be- increasingly important.
Tacoma which used 10 run close race
with Seattle for population honors. seems
TO be left hopelessly behind. The Post-ln-
telhgencer credits it with only 10000 in
habitants, and this Is not far from the
estimate made last January for the World
almanac by the Tacoma authorities them
selves. 1t is a fine town. however, and
a growing one the trade reports for 1897
showing a marked increase over 1896. The
volume Of business Of the I'll more Inn
portant establishments OF the city reached
more than ten millions last year, and the
average monthly pay roll of the factories
amounted to S205.0o0. No street within
the city limits il less than eighty feet IN
width and the avenues are twenty feet
wider The town has seventy-one church
buildings ard six thousand children are en-
rolled in its schools.
Spokane the metropolis of the north
eastern section of the state. has also N,-
900 inhabitants. 1t is the heart of great
cereal country. nearly twenty million
bushels of wheat being harvested in 1877
In the tributary region. Fruits are raised
In abundance and the Spokane apple trade
extends eastward TO St. Paul and Min
neapolis Until last fall the place had no
street pavement5 Brick has TOW been
laid on a portion Of one of the principal
thoroughfares, and a contract Is being ne
gotiated for ten blocks Of fine asphalt on
a concrete foundation on the main BUSH
ness avenue. These are three OF the grow
ing young cities Of Washington. and there
are several more of less size. but no less
aspirations The state, though admitted TO
the Union only nine years ago, has now
425 900 inhabitants. and as yet its vast re-
sources. agricultural, horticultural and
mineral. have scarcely been touched. 1t is
destined to. become a great commercial
state too with the wonderful natural har-
hors afforded by Puget sound. making
maritime trade profitable and easy. No
Western commonwealth has better
ground for bright hopes and none deserves
our interest or study more. for II Is
new New England planted on the shores
OF the Pacific. with New England institu-
lions. ideals and ambitions