Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1900-01-05

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Olympia is situated on Budd's Inlet,
at the head of Puget Sound, the high
way for commerce of the world, on
whose shores are even now found sew
eral cities which will in a short time
rival the larger emporiums of the
East.
Olympia is practically located at
the commercial, if not the geographic
cal, center OF the State, and as regards
settlement she is absolutely at the
center of population. With a radius
Of 100 miles from the State capital
there is a population estimated at
100000 people, which is rapidly in
creasing. The city is easy of access,
there being two railroads, running
daily passenger and freight trains, and
q number of fine passenger steamers
ply daily between Olympia and Ia
coma, Seattls, Shelton, Kamilchie and
other cities and towns.
The surroundings of Olympia are
surprisingly fine, and she is designated
by visitors very generally as Olympia,
the Beautiful" The city is situated
on Q peninsula, gently rising from
tidewater until an elevation OF nearly
hundred feet is reached at Capitol
hill, on which the people OF the State
have declared, and two Legislatures
have directed that, q million dollar
State edifice shall be erected. The
basement story, already complete for
the superstructure, at cost of $780,
600, is a massive foundation OF stone
and brick walls and arches. A delay
has been encountered in the construc-
tion of the building from condition
of circumstances which has enabled
an adverse State executive, by use OF
the veto, to fustrate both the will OF
the people, as overwhelmingly ex-
pressed at the ballot-box, and the
command Of their constitutional rep
resentatives, the State Legislature. A
Hand graut Of LBS, 900 acres of land,
most of which has been located and
the selections approved by the general
government, is available for funds
necessary to prosecute the work to
completion, with . surplus left for
beautifying the grounds and supplying
all the adjuncts of q modern State
House. The capitol grounds consist
OF 20 acres donated the State for that
purpose. They are situated on an
eminence in the rear of the peninsula,
from which q sweep of IS miles of
the majestic waters of Puget Sound
may be enjoyed. The capitol from
the decks of incoming steamers, when
completed will present . majestic ap-
pearance, with the city in the fore
ground and verdant hills, with; snow
fiecked mountains in the distance.
The view from the site of the state
house is grand beyond description.
From where the rear portico, with its
majestic scmi-circle Of columns will
adorn the edifice when completed, one
may overlook the city at his feet, his
glance resting upon Mount Rainier,
on the right, with its peak lost per-
haps in the clouds, and its sides spark
ling in its garb Of perpetual snow; in
front the graceful contour of the
Sound affords a splendid picture for
the framework of the Olympic Range
in the far distance and the Black
Hills on the left with their mighty
forests of evergreen. The blue sky,
with its fieecy clouds, and its reflected
splendor in the broad expanse of water,
constitute the finishing touches OF the
Masters pencil in this grand display
of his handiwork. It is view once
seen will never be forgotten.
Two miles from the center of the
Capital city, is its suburb Tumwater,
connected by an elegant outfit of cleo
trio cars with the city proper. Here
is where will in time be gathered the
manufactures Of the Upper Sound.
for here are the mighty cascades of
the Deschutes river, which make their
leaps of 81 feet in all, before reaching
tide water, affording manufacturing
energy estimated at 10. 600 horse power.
Here, too. the landscape affords pic
turesque scene that fingers on the
cherished leaves Of memory.
The eligibility of Olympia as a
commercial point is shown by the fact
that the eminent minds which inaug-
urated and wrought out the great
scheme of transcontinental traffic by
railroad, after thorough examination
OF the reports of the best civil engi-
neers, based upon a careful personal
examination in detail of all rival
points on the Sound, unquali6edly &C.
cepted Olympia as embracing more
and better facilities for managing the
great current of trade that must pass
through the entrepot of the commerce
of q great continent with the re-
mainder of the world. The location
of the Western terminus was made at
Olympia, with a full understanding
and ample consideration of all the
adjuncts and factors entering into the
momentous proposition, but it so hap.
pened that large proportion OF the
stock Of the Nor thern Pacific Railroad
Company was owned by the Puget
Sound and Lake Superior Land
Company, and the selfshness OF
human nature became apparent in a
scheme for relocation simply to en-
large the scope of the land grant from
the government and the donations OF a
rival city which, after the location had
been made, was ready to yield up
everything to the rapacious cormorants.
Although the terminus was changed
to Tacoma, the young city of Olympia
stands to-day, as she did in 1870, when
she was chosen under the dictates of