Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1913-10-17
WRITER TELLS OF
CONDITIONS HERE
OCTOBER Il, 1858
Farms Being Abandoned, He Says
People Leaving-Territory
on Decline.
SEES TRADE DEVELOPMENT.
Predicts Vessels From All Ma
tions" on Sound-Prophe-
sizes Big Cities.

Fifty years ago today-October II
1S63-a correspondent of THE WASH
INGroN STANDARD living in Pierce coun
ty and apparently one of its influential
citizens, contributed the following ar
ticle on the situation in Washington
territory as he saw it at that time, in
the third year of the Civil War, and
the prospects for the future
Under the title, "A Practical View
he wrote:
Washington territory is plainly on
the decline. 1t Is folly to disguise the
fact Farms, stock and town property
have some time been steadily decreas-
ing in value and the inhabitants have
been growing poorer. There is, in
deed, large amount of real estate
that cannot be sold at any price. Men
everywhere, seeing their property wan
ing in this general depreciation, have
become disheartened and many will
leave for more promising field where
property has a real tangible value and
where industry is better rewarded.
Labor has, to great extent, been
misapplied. The gravelly portion of
the territory has yielded poor return
for the labor that has been put upon
it. Very many have lost their labor
entirely and sunk their money in the
cultivation of the soil. in building
houses and fences. Some farms are
already deserted; more will be. This
portion of the territory is fit only for
herds of sheep and the sooner it is
abandoned to this kind of stock the
better 1t will be for those who are now
farming 1t for a living. 1t will sup
port large number Of sheep and in
this way contribute to the real and
permanent growth Of the country.
The rich lands of Washington terri
tory consist of river bottoms, swales
and tide flats, swamps and beds of
rivers. These are, for the most part,
covered with timber or brush. To
convert them into arabic fields will re-
Quire an outlay as we'll as assiduous
labor, which makes them somewhat in
accessible to the poor man at the pres
ent time. In the primitive stages of a
farm cut out of the timber the first
and sometimes the second crop must
necessarily be vegetables, for which
there Is now little or no market. Upon
these the poor man must rely for his
support in the further prosecution Of
his labors, and IL these cannot be sold
he must abandon his work. l say,
then, in order to cut farms out of the
timber we must create demand for
all kinds of produce. The market
should be made first and the country
next.
The numbering interest and our fish
cries are two important elements in
our growth, but they are mere ele-
ments. They will come very short of
building up a metropolis which will
be market for this whole country. 1t
is the trade of large extent of coun-
try that makes city and sustains 1t.
The country west of the Cascade range
In Washington will never build up a
city on the Sound. We must bring In
trade from abroad. We should cut the
bars of nature that have imprisoned us
so long and rendered the Sound to the
majority of the inhabitants almost a
worthless sheet of water. The Sound
is the natural head and should be the
real head of the upper Pacific. Place
the importer upon the Sound with a
full assortment of goods at San Fran
cisco prices and connect the Sound
with the Columbia river by railroad,
and Oregon and all the country east
OF the mountains would become trib-
utary to the Sound. Commerce to the
amount of millions would flow In. An
other San Francisco would spring up.
The Sound would whiten with the COM
merce Of every nation. The country
would wake up with active life. Port
land is without doubt looking this way
with jealous eye, but II railroad
was built. she could not compete with
us. The expense and hazard Of ship
ping across the bar Of the COlumbia
and up the river would leave margin
or profit in favor of the Sound trade,
Nor is this the only thoroughfare that
should be opened. A wide road OF
easy grade should be built across the
cascade range. 1t would let out our
STOCK to better and more extensive
range when this is exhausted. Through
II the grazing country east of the
mountains would contribute to the
growth of the Sound.
The interest on money is an obsta
Gle In a way, but this obstacle has
Deen surmounted in other new cOun
.rles and why can it not be here? The
want of capital is another difficulty
Ioor men can never open channels OF
trade by sea and land to the Sound
lheS can never make our natural com
muhlcation with the world a CONNER
ciai one. The world is our market
out we cannot reach it without money
without ships.
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