The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1912-06-21
OreAbOut San Juan


Argus, Seattle, recently cruised in
motor boat among these islands,
and printed a splendid descriptive
write-up of the trip, a portion Of
which we give below:
"The view from the summit of
Mt. Constitution is indescribable,
and would pay we'll for the climb,
were it twice as hard and ten times
as long. there is nothing to OBJ
struct the view and we sat on the
summit for hours; watched the Iro-
uois as she appeared in the distance
coming down the Gulf of Georgia
from Vancouver, followed her
course as she ran into Bellingham.
and then saw her disappear around
Cypress island for her stop at Ana
cortes. Again she came into view
on the other side Of Cypress island
and with the aid of glasses we fol-
lowed her course past Smith island
and nearly to Point Wilson, at the
entrance to Port Townsend harbor.
Altogether she was in sight nearly
five hours.
The view in other directions was
equally good, and we could see the
Islander and many other little
steamers, as we'll as launches, fish
trap tenders and sail-boats galore,
moving lazily around. Friday Har-
Dor, Roche Harbor, West Sound. Lo-
PEE and other little island settle
ments were almost at our feet,
while to the west, through the
Straits of Juan de Fuca could be
seen the sunlit waters of the glori-
Gus Pacific. On nearly every hand
the scene was hemmed in by thei
snow-capped Olympic and Cascade
ranges, with Baker, Rainier. Ad-
ans and Hood rearing their heads
above all the rest in stately grand
eur.
'At night the lights Of Belling-
ham, Victoria, Vancouver, Sydney
and many smaller towns were in
plain view.
"We camped there all night. in
order to witness the glorious sun
rise. l have seen Old Sol make his
initial appearance for the day from
many different spots, but the grand
eur of this morning on the top of
Mt. Constitution surpassed anything !
that have ever conceived.
"From East Sound we made
through Pole Pass, hardly a hum
dred feet across, and yet the main
steamboat channel, passed through
innumerable islands, through mar
row arms of the sea, to Roche Har-
Dor, on the upper end of San Juan
island, and thence through several
narrow and beautiful passages to
English camp, where the British
held sway at the time that the San
Juan islands were in dispute be-
tween that country and the United
States.
"This spot should be owned by
the general government, and what
there is left of the original buildings
should be preserved and the balance
restored. There is block house,
the barracks and several other
buildings still standing. The Brit
ish built many miles Of macadam
roads, and graded much ground,
and all this could be restored at
very little cost. The roads are still
good, although overgrown with
weeds. Then, too. Capt. DAVIS,
who owns most of the ground now,
has quite museum Of relics which
he and his wife have preserved, and
these could be purchased by the
government at comparatively small
cost. Indeed, / believe Capt. Davis
would be glad to turn them over TO
Uncle Sam.
"Tnere is no more historic spot
| in the state of Washington tnan
English camp. It will be remem-
bered that the Americans and Brlt-
| ish jointly occupied San Juan island.
while the ownership of the arcnl-
4 A W.