The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1907-04-19
A HARTFORD MAN IN A FAR-A- WAY LAND.

Mr.. ALERT +. Close, one of Bel Airs
bright young men, who recently started
to seek his fortune in the great west,
writes as follows in a private letter to a
friend. Mr. Close is now in Tocoma,
Washington. In speaking of this place,
he says:
Tacoma is in the wet section of the
state and all of this country west of the
Cascades is called the sound country
The sound is larger than the Chesapeake
bay, and the harbor of Tacoma is not
only very large bay, but so deep that
Oriental liners discharge tight up to the
dock. Immense ships come in and grain
is loaded in them with electrical convey
ors. This, with timber, forms the largest
exports. The business is only in its be-
ginning, you might say, for there are
many thousands of acres yet TO be plow-
ed, and fir forests are so dense that quite
a number of people have been lost in them
and never since heard from. Logging is
mainly done with donkey engines con
nected with large wire cable. The
price here for the finished tput is a reve
latiOn of the cheapness of western pro-
ducts. Fir makes a fine finish for inside
work, as it becomes as tough as oak.
people are hocking here every day,
and everybody who stays makes that
much more demand for the recessaries of
life. Just now, good living is cheap
The demand tor men to carry on the great
growing industrial development is more
than the supply Men. that's good men,
who are not afraid to work, can find
plenty of employment.
Seattle, which is termed the Chicago
of the west, is hustling city. The bulk
of the Alaskan trade goes there and its
rapid growth in the last few years has
put real estate values up into the clouds.
The Alaska building, which cost $780, 900
recently, sold for 81 100000. II is not
unusual to hear of Il young man in the
real estate business cleaning up as much
as $1,000 600 a year. 1t strikes me that
land will never sell for any less and that
it will constantly go up. Prairie tracts,
mostly grazing land, can now be bought
from railroads as low as ST. an acre. At
this price. after you get it fenced, you
have a stock raising ranch which will
keep a whole family in good circum-
stances and it is fine life. In the valleys,
where hops and small fruits and berries
are grown, and the famous 'spuds' are
raised to such perfection. the cost per
acre is anywhere from $500 to $1,000.
l took a ride out through one of these
valleys and the ranch consists of little
patches fenced off, many of them cont ain
ing probably no more than an acre or
two, and yet the scence was as thrifty as
a suburban park. The houses are sur
prising everybody has one, some are fine
and fitted up with all conveniences.
There is a condensed milk factory and
lots of dairy cattle.
The ranch visited was a large tract
of prairie land with a strip of timber and
some bottom land along the creek. On
the east are the Cascade mountains,
probably forty miles away, to the south
west the Olympic range, and the prairie
was dotted with fir trees. Distances are
sometimes deceiving. A forest looking
near enough to walk over to may mean
several miles trudging. Flowers grow
everywhere; they even pick roses at
Christmas, and the little lakes that you
run across are as pretty as a picture. |
have not yet grown tired of taking in the
scenery, and particularly the sunsets with
the snow on the mountains and the pink
shades lighting up the slopes.
mt. Tacoma stands guard over the
country for hundred miles around and
he is a noble looking old fellow 1t is a
great camping place in the summer. As
you go up you come to spring, then
autumn, and then dead winter at the top,
SO what more in the way of climate do
you want. These mountains are full of
minerals. There is big smelter here and
oles are brought from several other
states to be reduced. This is a great
place for horseback riding. The cayuse
can stand all kinds of punishment and is
not an expensive luxury. There are
few fine horses and in the evenings a
great many go riding, the ladies astride.
The asphalt pavements have brought
the automobile into favor, and if there is
a speed limit it must be elastic from the
gait that they run.
The weather has not been cold but
there has been great deal of rain;
steady drizzle, not the kind we have at
home, and it nearly always clears up for
part of the day. The sandy soil does not
get muddy. From all l can hear it is
worth standing this, however, as the
summers are magnificent. The meat
stores are all open at front, except for a
wire screen, and the street cars are half
closed and half open"