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


iLuurinlIcd from First Pa-r.
have II state University at Seattle and
the Whitman Institute at W alia
Walll, institutions of high grade.
These cities and Tacoma and Olympia
have graded schools, and the common
school system Will compare favorably
with that OF any new country and
some vi the Older States. There are
likewise excellent schools, conducted
by the Sisters q. Charity, At Scattlei
OLYMPIA. Vancouver and Walla Walla.
The State has spent enormous amounts
of money in establishing Normal col
lrgcs at Cheney, Ellcnshurg and What
com, and also to bring the State Uni
versity at Seattle up to very high
standard among similar institutions III
other States. Besides these, our State
has a splendid Agricultural College at
Pullman, in Whitman county. There
is Congregational Academyat Coupe
Vile, in Island county, and the Mctho-
dist University at Tacoma, are among
our leading educational institutions.
The Annie Wright Seminary at Ia
coma and Cheney high school are
worthy of mention in this connection,
What is the pay OF teachers:
The principal of our graded school
receives 800 per month, and his as
sistants from $50 to $75. In the
" country" districts the pay ranges
from $50 to $50 and board. The
wages OF women teachers is about one
third less than that OF men.
What is the length of terms:
From three to ten months.
Please give me all the Information You can
re gariing your lands.
PUBLIC LANDS.
Probably nine-tenths of the i'll
quirics coming i'll from intending I'M
migrants relate to lands. All sorts of
questions are asked; generally the in
quirer wants to know where the best
public lands open to settlement or en-
try are located, what their character
and value are, what would be the cost
of clearing timbered land, how far
they would be from market, etc. To
answer all such in detail would re-
quire too much space. We can
merely generalizc, knowing that the
conditions are so different in different
localities that any description truth
full and appropriate to one locality,
would have to be modified in order to
fit another. Generally speaking, the
eastern part OF the State is open
prairie, portion of which, in the arid
belt, is comparatively worthless and is
termed "scab" land. Large areas Of
these prairie lands, however, particu-
larry along the valleys OF Walla
Walla, Palousc, Yakima, kittitas,
Klickitat and Wcnatchee, and i'll the
Big Bend of the Columbia river, as
well as along the Okanogan and
Snake rivers, are Of the highest grade
of fertility. Enormous crops of wheat
and other cereals are produced, while
on the lighter soils adjacent, sheep
and general live stock raising is car
ried on extensively. In the western
part of the State, in what is known as
the great Puget Sound basin, and in
the counties bordering along the Co.
lumbia river at the south, and i'll the
valleys of the Chehalis river empty
ing into the ocean at Gray's Harbor,
and of the Quinault, Queets, Hob,
Bogachiel, Solduck, Quileute, Dickey
and Ozette rivers emptying into the
ocean from the southwestern slope OF
the Olympic mountains, the country
is generally heavily timbered. Only II
small per cent. of the aggregate area is
natural prairie. Large areas are still
unsurveyed, both in eastern and west
ern portions of the State. In many
places very valuable lands are still
dormant and unsettled because OF the
hardness of government surveys.
This is particularly true of the heavily
timbered localities, because the cost OF
surveys is proportionately so great
that u given appropriation covers q
much smaller area than in the open
and generally prairie country of the
interior. The State of Washington
owns over six hundred thousand acres
of lands granted to it by the federal
government, nearly all of which has
been selected, within its own borders,
for charitable, educational, penal and
reformatory institutions, and for State
capitol buildings. None of these
lands have as yet been disposed of, or
even placed on the market. They are
for the most part of the most valuable
to be had, and are largely located in
the timbered legion west of the Cas-
cade mountains, as here the greatest
values are to be had in any given
number of acres. The State also owns
every sixteenth and thirty-sixth Sec
ton of the public domain as common
school land These lands are not sold,
and only small proportion has thus
far been leased. The State also owns
all the tide lands within her borders,
and all the swamp and overlooked
lands. Some idea of the extent OF
such lands may be gained from the
fact that Puget Sound and the trbu-
taries alone have an aggregate shore
line over 1000 miles in length, and
tiidt tilc Iluc iuuuS dlOllS IllS sIlole
line are i'll many places from quarter
to half Il mile in width. Of course the
tide lands are not so great in value
except for commercial purposes in
front of cities and towns, and wher.
ever oyster beds and fish traps may be
located. Good cultivated oyster lands
in the vicinity of Olympia possess q
high market value, as much as 81 ,OOQ
an acre having been refused for some
Millions of acres of our public lands
were included in the Northern Pacific
Railroad grant. These have been par
TALLY sold, and have passed into pri
vate ownership; but some idea of the
unsold portions may be gained from
the fact that the Weyerhauser syndi
cate recently purchased a million
acres of Puget Sound timber land.
from the great railway corporation
This purchase is likely to slightly en-
nance the values of other timber
lands, as the syndicate purchasing il
presumed to be intending to hold fol
speculative purposes. Notwithstand
ing the enormous amounts Of mer
charitable timber (mostly Douglas Fir