The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-03-15
A WORLDS WONDER.
In the Rapid March of Events In thu
Great Northwest.

In the Doftil west everything SeelHS -
have happened within the last ten
years. Events which would be IF cp-
och making Importance in any country
at any time have here crowded one UP.
on another with wnnton pTodigHlity. 50
that the northwesterncr pumped down
In the whirl of great things can him
self hardly grasp their full significance,
contenting himself with confused SD
perlatives.
Think of this march Of events! 1t
was barely eight years ago that the
goldfields of the Klondike weTc brought
to the knowledge of the world, causing
rush of Americans to the northwest
and building up suddenly new and
important business for the Puget sound
ports. where the miners Quilted ana
took ship. Following the k1Ondikc cX-
element came the various Alaska dis
coveries. and Seattle and Tacoma were
and are the natural headquarters for
most of the supplies shipped northward
as well as the entry point for the re-
turning miners with their treasure, not
n little of which is left to enrich the
people of the ,orts.
Hardly had the gold excitement calm
ed to the PAGES of a steady business
enterprise when the Spanish war broke
out, and these Pacific cities were
thrown into the turmoil of visiting bat
tleshfps and Of provisioning and trans
porting the army of the Philippines.
Then came the opening trade with our
new insular Possessions in the Pacific,
the Chinese war and its call for equip
ment and its stir of soldiery and trans
ports, followed by the recent CONNER
cial expansion of Japan, with its trade
demands. And now an element has
just entered into the calculations Of the
coast-the construction of the Panama
canal-which will revolutionize whole
departments of the worlds trade and
exercise a profound influence for good
or evil on the cities of the northwest
ern coast.
Many of the events, it Is true, nota-
bly, the opening of the door to the far
east, are mostly promissory assets. and
yet their prophecy of golden future
has not been without its effect on the
growth of the Pacific cities and the at
traction of energetic men and money.
To the Pacific ports will ultimately
come most Of the trade of the Philip
pines, worth $6o,o00,OoO annually. and
growing share of the $1,000,000,000
or more of the annual business of
China, Japan, Siberia and the Dutch
East Indies, to say nothing of the large
foreign trade of Australia and New
Zealand. Alaska, once regarded as
hopelessly distant and irreclaimable
waste of mountains and snow, is also
progressing with wonderful rapidly,
not only in its mines, but In the de-
utilization Of Its forests and its agri-
cultural resources, SO that today the
Alaskan trade Is of much Importance.
While these world events were
crowding upon one another the devel-
opment Of the country tributary to the
coast upon which the solid progress of
the cities must ultimately rest, was go
ing forward with unprecedented rapid
ity. Western Canada was opening to
settlement, is opening now in mar
velous manner; railroads were build
ing, schemes for irrigating the arid
lands were in course of development.
crop production was increasing, timber
was being cut from an almost mex
haustible supply to supplement the
waning forests of Maine and Michigan,
coal mines were being opened and
salmon caught, all the forces Of indus
try working together with a rapidity
which must always remain worlds
wonderfully Stannard Baker in Cen
fury.