Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-31
TRADE DEVELOPMENT
Past and Present Conditions
on the Pacific Coast.
NATURAL RESOURCES
NEW AND SPLENDID oPPoRTUNI-
TIES NOW.
No Part of This Country So Rich in
Possibilities of CONNER
cial Greatness.
NATURAL RESOURCES

Written for The Evening Star by William r.
Lghton
A land which is surprisingly rich in nat
ural resources is very likely to perplex and
confuse the student of economics who
comes to the subject with a mind long used
to the consideration of conditions in less
favored regions, where life and work are a
perpetual struggle against adversely. At
first view he will be apt to mistake riches
for wealth, the apparent for the real ma
lures charity for mans deserts. In the
past. many men who have written of the
Pacific coast have been led into this very
natural error. There is no part of our
national domain that has been so unspar-
ingly furnished with what may be called
the raw materials of commercial and eco
nomic greatness. From the first ii has been
rich.
Climatic conditions have made the western
slope of the continent into a very paradise.
To call California the land of sunshine"
is not a mere figure of speech, but a literal
truth; and Washington and Oregon are al
most equal SharerS in this happy estate.
Physical existence in those states is all
the year round free from those trials which
have beset home makers on the Atlantic
coast and in the great valleys Of the inter-
ior where July is torrid and January arc
tic. Along the Pacific summer is a time of
genial moods, while winter is no more than
a name. January, no less than July, is a
time of abundant fruitage; the whole year
is green and Sweet-scented That comes
almost as near as any part of the earth to
being happy home for the indolent
Another circumstance which contributed
to this deceptive aspect of things was the
discovery of free gold in Californias soil.
That gave the first strong impetus to white
settlement, and for long time was it's
chief if not its only incentive. Fabulous
riches lay just underfoot in the sands of
lie fertile valleys, and the mountain chains
he-,. no man knew what other stores. Men
went there to hunt for gold; every other
activity was then merely incidental.
First Rude System.
This did not induce what could properly
be called a commercial development To
be sure, there was an appearance of indus
trial growth attendant upon the mines;
the. gold seekers had wants which must be
supplied, in the way of clothing, food and
implements, and there grew up a rude sys-
tenn of merchandising. But the little
groups of stores clustered about the min
ing camps We're not to be called towns:
they We're merely set up to serve a present
need. There is no company of men so err
ratio in its humors as placer gold camp.
1t lives In a state of morbid excitement:
its work is not true industry; it does not
tend to anything like solidity or perma-
nence. If there come rumors of greater
discoveries at some place ten or twenty
iiliIeS away, tlllS Colony VIII PICK up It's Ell
fects and move away over night. That
happened countless times in the early days
of California. The supply stores followed
the camps, of course. The spot that one
day held lively settlement of a thousand
souls might on the next day have lapsed
into a voiceless solitude No one could say
no one tried to say-what might happen
on the morrow. Every day sufficed unto
itself.
Even after the first passionate excitement
had passed. that instability of life was
characteristic of California, and of all
parts of the Pacific coast to which white
settlement had penetrated. 1t was in the
air. The men who were attracted there
by the gold craze had no trait so strong
as an instant readiness for any change, an
instant adaptability to new conditions
They were not minded to settle down and
build cities and found permanent nstitu-
tions, after the manner of older places
Only on the very water line of the Pacific
We're there real towns, whose citizens were
largely overweight with the prevailing
excitement. There was nothing to give
them firmness and sound health; their
commerce depended at last upon the mines
In the days before the completion of the
transcontinental railroads there was COM
paratively little overland traffic with the
Pacific coast; the bulk Of CALIFORNIA; sup
plies went around by boat. 1t was remote
from the world, dependent upon it, vet out
of touch with it, and having no certain and
independent existence of it's own.
When Too Many Came.
By and by there was overpopulation
Of gold hunters and a sharp realization of
the necessity for finding other means of
livelihood. There was plenty of opportun-
ity-a confusing abundance Of opportuni-
ties in every direction. A little effort
brought astonishingly rich reward Soon
the Pacific coast was self-supporting, in
the narrower sense; that is, 1t was supply
ing its own physical wants; there were
houses to live in, the new fields gave
enough to eat, the new fiocks yielded plenty
of wool. Still the region suffered from its
isolation. 1t was congested with it's own
plenty-smothered in riches, while having
no true wealth. The measure of the eco
nomc health Of community lies not alone