The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1908-10-10
"A lady's View of
The San Juan Islands

The Bellingham Herald Of last
Saturday contains paper on the San
Juan islands prepared and read BY .
lady Of that city at meeting of the
Aftermath Club. It is interesting ia
some respects aud contains some
truthful statements. There are
some misstatements, however, which
the islander takes the liberty to COR
rect, with all due respect to the lady's
good intentions and sources of infor.
nation. Among other things she says
"The largest of these islands is San
Juan. which contains sixty arabic
square miles of fine land and many
beautiful lakes and eighty square
miles of pastoral lands which are
good for pasture nearly the entire
year. Consequently. sheep raising
is most profitable here and coal and
limestone have been found In paying
quantities. Valuable fisheries have
been established and deer abound.
"Orcas island is the next in size and
ia equally valuable in natural re-
sources. Others Of the group are
Waldron. Shaw. Blakely. Decatur.
Lopez and many small ones.
"Deep channels surround the islands
80 that the largest vessels may cir.
cumnavigate them, but harbors and
anchorages are scarce. But within
the nest Of the islands. so to speak.
are found some of the most beautiful
harbors in the world
The statement that "the largest Of
the islands 10 San Juan. ''is an error.
although it is generally supposed to
be the largest. As matter of fact
Orcas is larger than San Juan by
about three square miles. and il 1t
were flattened out there would hardly
be room for any other islands in
the county. Instead of having "sixty
arabic square miles and eighty square
miles Of pastoral lands" the total
area Of the island is only SAT square
miles. Il has two small lakes but
they are not as large or as picturesque
as the mountain lakes of Orcas. 1t
Is rich in limestone but ''coal in
paying quantities" has never been
found on the island or any where else
in the county. The paragraph about
harbors and anchorage is somewhat
"foggy' and contradictory. As
matter of fact good harbors among the
islands are the rule. not the exception.
and there is safe anchorage for either
large or small craft in almost every
locality. Nowhere on the Pacific
coast and perhaps nowhere in the
world is there finer or lovelier har
bor of it's size than that at Roche
Harbor, and the harbor at Friday
Harbor is nearly as good. In other
parts of the county also there are fine
harbors, as for instance Griffin bay,
recommended many years ago by
naval commission as harbor of refuge
for naval vessels: Deer Harbor: West
Sound bay: Orcas. Olga and parts Of
East Sound. or Buck ebay" as it was
called on the old charts: Reed Har-
Dor, Stuart island: McKay's harbor
and Fisherman's bay. Lopez island.
The article contains a very good
review of the boundary controversy
and the writer expresses very nicely
her appreciation of the beauties OF
the islands from the standpoint OF
the tourist. Among other things
she says:
cit has been my great pleasure to
see many of the worlds beauty spots,
but can truly say that not In sunny
Italy or beautiful Switzerland. or
rugged Scotland.s or picturesque
Ireland does one find any one place
which offers more natural beauties OF
pleasures than this lovely section OF
Uncle Sans most northwest corner.