The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-05-10
S. B. SMITH WRITES
Interesting Letter From Bremerten,
on Pacific Coast, to His rlany
Friends in Northwest.
Gives Description of His Journey to
State of Washington and Short
Sketch of BremertOn.

The following communication from
our good old friend, S. B. Smith, CIV
ing description of his journey to the
Pacific coast, will prove of interest to
his many friends hereabouts and the
I n o n takes pleasure in publishing
the same:
Editor Union: This is written
more in the nature of a letter to
friends than that of news article, but,
if you will excuse me for this, in my
next article I will give my opinion of
what have seen of Washington.
When we left Mile Laos county a
large number Of our friends obtained
a promise from us to write to them all
about Washington and our journey
thitherward, but, in rejecting upon
this promise, find it too great a
task, so 1 have concluded to give a
short sketch of the journey in the
columns of the Union. I was
born near the Atlantic coast and
[ have Travelled across the continent,
including the state of Washington,
and am now near the Pacific coast,
where [ expect to rest from my
tolls and travels. Should I at
tempt to write of all that have seen
that has interested me even in Wash
ington it would weary not only my
friends but all the readers of the
Union. The journey to Spokane
was very pleasant one. The dis
lance is l, APO miles and we were Al
hours travelling it. We arrived in
Spokane at 10 a. m. st. Paul time
and a. m. Spokane time. There was
nothing in the country through
which we passed that was of any great
interest to me until we reached the
Rocky mountains, but I concluded
from the shacks that are to be seen
that there are those who think differ
emily of that country from what do.
Montana, or at least the northern
part OF it, is very uninviting and the
same is true Of northern Idaho. We
arrived near the Rocky mountains
about one hour before sunset, and the
scene OF the snow covered ridges with
their cliffs running up like the steeples
OF cathedral was one never to be
forgotten. We were a little disap-
pointed to find the country from these
mountains to Seattle so uneven, but
when we look at the map and see how
the Rocky and Cascade mountains
traverse the state we see that it can
not be otherwise than rough and
rocky. We stopped three weeks in
Spokane and had an opportunity to
see the country around there for many
miles. We met a number of Mime
sotans, among whom were G.. T.
johnson, wife and daughter, M. Gut
Ter and daughter Inis, now Mrs. Croft.
The above named are very pros
porous farmers and have no desire to
return to Minnesota to live. In a
future communication I will speak
more particularly of Messrs: johnson
and Cutler and their farms and fruit
trees. I will also have more to write
about Spokane and it's surroundings.
The country between Spokane and
the Cascades is, from my point of
view, better farming country than
northern Montana, and, in my opin-
ion, the country west of North Dakota
is not as we'll adapted to farming as it
is east. We were favored with day.
light ride over the Cascade mountains
and it proved to be one of the most
Interesting scenes of the journey. The
Wenatchee river is about as large as
the west branch of the Rum river and
the numerous cascades as the river
Hows down the steep rocky sides of
the mountains are particularly pic
turesque. The deep canyons upon the
top of which the cars pass are
also a sight that cannot fail to make
deep impression upon every lover of
natures wild scenery.
We arrived in Seattle too late to
take boat for Bremerton that night,
so had to content ourselves with a
nights rest in that famous city, and
this did not prove of any disadvant-
age to US, for we had an opportunity
to see part of the city. The ride
across the sound from Seattle to
Bremerton was delightful one, the
time occupied to cross it being one
hour and fifteen minutes. Bremerton
is growing rapidly. Ten years ago
it contained but twenty-five inhabi-
tants and the government had lust
started a navy yard on a small scale.
Now it has 5000 feet of wharf and the
building of several hundred feet more
is under consideration. It has dry
dock that will receive the largest war
ship afoat and population of 5000.