Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-11-10

/ Mrs. 1. L. Diven. tor Some Years Resident o
Our Town, Gives Her Impressions Of OIym
pia and Environments Which Cannot Fail to
Interest Our Own People. as well as Instruct
Those Who Have Not Seen What Nature Has
Done for Us.
ST. Paul Pioneer Press
Admiral Dewey's flagship is associ.
ated in name with very interesting
place. In 1S45 Kentuckian led a
small band OF emigrants to Budd's in
let and established the first American
settlement in the present State OF
Washington. The next year, Olym-
pia was founded one and one-half
miles further down the inlet, at the
head OF Puget Sound. The location is
a fine one, in the midst of scenery
that presents interesting phenomena
OF The drift period and of former vol
canic activity.
The pride OF the old settler is prob
ably Mount Rainier. The ancient
volcano has looked down upon him in
all his activities, and it would be diff
ficult to say just how much influence
it has exercised upon his life. Sum-
mer afternoons when the sky is q
heavenly blue he has seen Rainier
take off veil after veil OF soft, neecy
clouds and send them with royal gen.
erosity to the valleys below, dispens-
ing showers OF blessings. When
weary and discouraged he has turned
his face toward this giant OF the Cas-
cade range and gathered anew courage
from the imperturbable calmness and
strength shown in that perpetually
snow-crowned summit guarding the
stretches of fir, spruce and hemlock.
What vision of beauty, too. when
Rainier responds with bushes to the
greetings of the rising and setting sun
and how celestial when marking a
point in the journey of the shining
company of moon, and stars! Well
does old Mount Rainier justify tie ex-
alted position of the highest peak in
the range until Mount Fairweather, in
Alaska, is reached.
: The Black hills rise iu blue undula-
tions in the west and dispute. in a
puny way, with Rainier. Gauzy
clouds creep up and down their sides
and in and out OF their defiles, as if
unable to decide upon a final journey
across the intervening country to the
Sound, but when they do set forth,
one would better not forsake the
friendly umbrella. Being used to
grander things, the old settler looks
upon these really beautiful hills in a
somewhat patronizing way. He goes
periodically into their Businesses to
fish, and many tempting catch has
he brought down from Summit lake,
which nestles in their midst.
The Cascade range has, however, a
genuine rival. To the north, beyond
the ever-changing bosom of the Sound.
beyond the deep blue line of the forest
which borders the Sound, beyond the
mist OF Hoods canal, are the magnif-
icent peaks Of the unexplored Olym-
pics of the Coast range. 1t is hardly
possible to convey an adequate idea OF
the grandeur of the view of this pic
taresque wall of mountains, which
shelters this part of the country from
the winter winds of the Pacific ocean
and cools with its fields OF snow the
summer air, helping, thus, to make for
Olympia one of the finest climates in
the world.
Puget Sound registers here differ
ence of twenty-four feet in its highest
and lowest tides. Standing on the
long bridge which spans an arm of the
Sound, watching these great tides, is
to be in the presence of most incom-
prehensible influence. They come
freighted with the mystery of their
distant journey. and taking up mes
sage from the earth, air and sky about
the city roll outward through various
waterways, far to the north, only to
hurry back again at the command of
some subtle law which seems to the
onlooker to be poorly explained by sun
and moon attraction.
The naturalist will find much to en-
gage his attention in and above the
city. A few miles away are the
strange McAllister lakes. Bottomless
pools of crystal-clear water, growing
the most ouriously variegated plant
life, iridescent with the colors of the
rainbow, as far down as the eye can
penetrate. The separating walls Of
these pools are under water, and not
visible from the shore.
Nearer the city is prairie bordered
with pot-holes and covered with
mounds OF gravel, which give to it the
appearance OF ocean billows. Another
object Of interest 10 cropherry
swamp, where not a particle Of soil
can be found, but acres of moss, of an
unexplorable depth, nourish the
bushes. An apparently uninteresting
mudhole is within the city limits.
The trained eye of the entomologist
has discovered there insect life un.
known in other parts of the world,
and the insect-eating drosera grows
within the spongy border. A chain of