The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1902-03-26
Breezy Letter From Jim Shoemaker.


there was a man got TO talking to me abou
work, and he ask me what / worked a
and told him painting and paperhaug
ing. lie ask me where | was from,
told him Pa. He said, I am from Pa
myself, and / want you to work for me
so | have just finished up barn for him
l got $3.50 day, s hours, aud 75c al
hour for overtime. The smallest wage,
paid for laborers is $500 a day. Seattle
is fine rushing city. 1t is said that in
1901 Seattle grew in pop. $1,000, and it i:
sight to see how many people come in
the city in one day. There are three dit
ierent r. RS. in the city, from the East
South and North. There are two trains
ON each road called the overland trains
They haul home seekers, pleasure seek.
ers, and so on. Each train has on an av-
erage of ii cars and they are all loaded.
There are on an average of 5000 people
come to Seattle every day, some go south
some go north, and some stay in and
around Seattle. come as far as Seattle
with l.. j. Osgood, of Endeavor, and
James Ross, of Hydetown. L. j. Osgood
Jr. met us there and bid them good bye
and started south to paint the town called
Kent, red, but when l sized it up |
thought | had better leave good enough
alone, and went to putting on the green.
Well the things are here about the same
in price as they are in Pa. with but few
exceptions. Clothing is thild higher
here, milk is l2c gal., potatoes Sl.25 per
sack Of 100 lbs, apples are Sl,OO per box
OF one bushel, floor, the best, Soc per so
lbs, ranch butter zoe h., creamery 25c
per lb., eggs &c per doz. Every one
burns wood and coal here except few in
the cities who burn manufactured gas.
suppose some of the readers would
like to know something about the lum-
Der here. There is pine, hemlock,
spruce, fir, cottonwood, maple, ard they
have tree, or several of them, here
called alder, the same kind of alder that
grows in the East, only there are trees
here feet in diameter. There are a few
cedar trees in Vancouver, BIC, right near
the line, which are very large. The
largest one is in a garden there in the
city park. 1t measures % feet in diam
eter. The average cedar trees here are
from and 10 feet in diameter. They run
from ? to II feet through as whole all
over. There was one tree cut near here
the other day which, when cut into lum-
be-, measured 100000, feet. OF course
that is big tree a little above the aver
age, but it is a common thing to cut co.
900 and 10000 out ofa cedar tree.
Now will tell you little about hunt
ing and fishing in the State as far as I can
find out. U suppose Jim Landers and
VIII Hunter will think, when they read
this, of the time when was on Little III
onesta fighting wild cats.) There are
times when you can go up the small
streams, about the size of Tubbs run
when high, and kick salmon out of the
water with your feet. They are salt
water fish about u or II inches long, and
ia sporting season they 90 up the small
fresh water streams in schools of mill
lions. Now that sounds big, but it is
true. am working for a man who came
out here 4 years ago, and took upa claim.
He tells me that 1t is nothing for a man
to go out in the morning and catch enough
In In Nl.l oil
streams in the East, for three meals in 20
minutes. Bear and deer are very plenty.
He tells me that the bears and cou-
gars come around his shanty on the ranch
and chew at the corners and get under
the shanty and lay on their backs and
scratch the floor, and he says make the
worst noises imaginable. He wants me
to go up with him when he goes and take
up claim beside his. But don't you
know, | haven't the heart to go, for 1
never could stand it. The smell of the
bear and cougar tracks make me sick.
So think l will try painting for living
for a while yet. But there is lots of fine
timber and farm land out from the rail-
road about 10 miles which can be home
steaded. This is the place for man who
is not afraid to work.
You can sit in the house here on a clear
day and zee Mt. Rainier, Mt. Cook and
the Cascade mountains. Oh, say! the
scenery is just beautiful. All around
here you can see snow capped mountains
the year around.
Well, now about the country as far as
health goes, can tell you allabout 1t in a
few words. An old pioneer told me that
they had to kill an old man long ago to
start graveyard.
There are not many insects here. Moth
ing but fleas. They say they grow about
the size of turkeys and that five of them
will carry man Off OF course / have
not seen any fleas yet, but you can see
their tracks in the sand along the coast.
Well, | think l have told all l have
seen and heard so far, only that this is
the country for poor man. Tradesmen's
wages 90 from $500 to S6.25 per day.
Labor never under $500 per day. and
hours.
Ifany of your readers should want any
Information on Washington please write.
will do my best to find out just what
they want to know and answer at once.
So long. JAMES II. SHOEMAKER,
Kent, King Co.,
Care of. l.. Case. Wash.
stops the Cough and works of the Cold,