Year: 1876

OUR TRIBUTARY OF THE FUTURE.


The commencement of the Seattle
and Walla Walla Railroad is q
change of front for Puget Sound.
She has hitherto been but an ex-
porter of lumber and coal, import
ing all her breadstuffs and articles
of wear. Had she not possessed
great natural advantages in COM
merce, she must have been long
since bankrupted by this neglect of
home resources. But as our future
is that of great exporter of other
peoples products, as we'll as our
own, it behooves us to turn our
eyes to the land beyond the Cascades
from which we have hitherto re-
ceived our supplies of live beef,
pork and mutton. Hereafter we
will be the entrepot of that section,
not only to export the products of
that


VAST GRAIN-GARDEN


To the markets of the old world
but also to furnish the country trad
ers of that section with every imag-
inable variety Of merchandise. Nor
is this all, for we will soon have
some prestige as a manufacturing
city and will not merely export raw
wheat but manufacture large por-
ton of it into -four. Beside this, there
will be iron works here where we
will manufacture gas and water
mains, shoe shape, strap iron and
castings of every description. But
the road must be made to pay clear
through, and cannot afford to lose
any product of industry. With the
grain fields at the extreme end OF
the route the broad bunch-gr
pastures still nearer to us, with their
vast herds of cattle, sheep and hogs
and still nearer home, the iron
mountains and extensive coal fields.
we can realize that Seattle's pros
poets as a great commercial city, are
no idle dream of visionary enthu.
siast. The distance as now travelled
is about 100 miles to Yakima Valley
so let us take


A LOOK AT THE ROUTE.


Leaving Seattle by the ordinarily
travelled road, we cone to Black
River, sixteen miles AWAY. Here
we find a neat hotel and brewery
kept by George Cantieni. who car
give the travellers meat, drink and
lodging, to their hearts content
The chief resource of this point al
present is the great forest of rec
cedar from which are made thou
sands of splendid shingles. This is
the red cedar of the Atlantic States
and must not be confounded Will
the redwood of California. The
whole country about here is sup
posed to be bed of coal, the cele
brated Renton and Talbot mines be
ing not far distant. The only draw
back at present is want of commu
nication with Seattle, which ha:
hitherto been very meager when the
Duwamish river was low. This vii
be thoroughly remedied by the rail
road. Passing on eleven miles fur
ther we come to


SQUAK VALLEY,


A body of rich black muck land
containing about thirty families
scattered about the neighborhood Of
Samish Lake, which is about mile
from Squak village, By this lake.
which flows into Lake Washington,
the inhabitants of Squak Valley are
enabled to ship most Of their pro
duce to the Seattle markets. These
good people have toi'ed along and
barely made expenses for years, but
here are better days in store fol
hem. The life of Territorial farm
'r is far from being bed of roses,
but when large cities are close at
hand and afford ready market for all
the beef, butter, pork, cheese and
other farm produce that can be sent
into say nothing of 'soap, socks
and pickles" then the average gran
ger breathes trifle more freely.
Eleven miles beyond Squak, we are
in the valley of the Snoqualmie and
find ourselves at


FALLS CITY,


An ambitious hamlet of half a dozen
houses, situated at the head of navi-
cation on the Snoqualmie River,
which is tributary of the Snohom-
ish. Near here are several large
logging camps and shingle yards.
Everybody is hard at work, and il
any drones come about, it does not
take long for the workers to sting
them out of the hive. From Falls
City, you go out on the Snoqualmie
Prairie, a distance of five miles,
where you find considerable good
land, though there is some fern to
be grubbed out. AS you enter the
prairie, novel sound salutes your