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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1880)
ib6 THE WEST SHORE. June, 1880 11 '.1 1 SOUND CORRESPONDED 1 Skaiti.k, W. T.,Juiic 9, '.So. To 111 E9ITM oc 111 WM SlIO: So here 1 m,juki landed from thai cl by Captain W. K. Mallard, whose naini li 1 hootehold won! rron one and of the Sound to the- other. In 1.1. 1, like the romantic appellation af I'm-d ti the (lagan) crafl over which he ki fittingly precidee, the Captain is nunc othei than n living synonym 1 rom tat and ub ily. The in rprcskihl huk! 111 n in-1, with their coaches, are mi hand) and after being rolled through the Mwduet up to the Occidental,! pre pere myeolffora pleaaanl iroii around thik, anuthcr one nf tbOM cities "by the en," fur which 1'iigct Sound is so famous Hut hold ! 1 khould apolo gize to the good people here ; for, since the burning of 1 eater 1 mitta, in llu head of town, it no longer con ildered elegant to p uk of the lawduil in the Hieetk of thik little city. Seattle has one thing, at least, in her favor. There has been enough capital alread) Inveeted 01 "Mink," here, to in nite the Indefinite Improvement ofthe adjacent ami lUITOUnding country, Thik, the yth of June, is m lUfpicloUl tlay lot Wektcin Waahlngton, and the Sound roan try especially, By a pre concerted arrangement, the leading lumbei manufacturer! of the upper and lowet Sound have commenced nday to run their mil ll on "full time;" the late breeaittg up In the foreign market! fully Juttlfylng t Ilia ImpOltattt step. To the score of hanly loggers nnd then bundredi of employee, thi pnlkidana eay, glory enough foi one day. Si morlth ago theic were scv rial million feet of prime OUalltl logs in the Water, lot which the ownet could not reallai llitec dollars ci thousand. At pieseut good fogl ale telling readily nt I1..111 lis c to all dolUis ptt thotM 1, I . L. 1 ... me puce Ik steadily going up Prom ait quarter we hen Lhoecboingi of tin, a andeoterprioo. Oldeettwnare just heerltln to find out what this tountty li laie f( ,,m Wc rr hog,;,,,, less and Icm of emigi.iliun to the cast mi sections. The IfOa intervst of Clallam COttflty, thectMl .f Seattle and Puyallup,the dairy product of eery alley and the )umici from our forest, arc doing more to fit thik Territory Ibl Incoming a full. grown State than all othei influence I of the c combined. Every year, and we might say month by month, old prejudice! are going by the board, and the startling discovery it made that this part ofthe Territory Iseminentty adapted to some enterprise heretofore held to DC an im possibility. It is doubtless true that lumber will continue to he the staple commodity of export for a term of years to come. Hut tins does not result Irom the fad that the country is lean in every other respect The people of Washington Territory are passing through a transition state note similar to what the people ol Oregon experienced a few years ajro Many an old pioneer Oregonian would confess to-day, that lumber and the lire cious metals were once supposed to he the lending, and perhaps only, available resources of that now sovereign State and in those days these things constl tuted the chief attraction to business men who followed in the wake of ad venturers. What Oregon is to-day, Washington I crntnrv hopes to he in ess than ten years from date. Of course, it is idle to speculate as to the results of the census now being taken, so far as it relates to this Territory. M ' Many sanguine ones who are niacins men estimates at 100,000, arc dooiuei to be disappointed. Much as the conn ny is in leea ol an influx Of brain and muscle to subdue anil utilie its broad icrcs, we must be content to wait for naiuiai and legitimate increase of Nipulation. This growth alone will lc sure and abiding. Reports from the Skagit mines con- ttauc to be conflicting, The most f.lv- ormble accounts need some qualification, but that coarse gold exists in paving quantities all along the lesser head water of the Skagit, there is not n question, For all practicable purposes, now ever, tliese mines ,ue as yet in un ssible to the hundreds of explorers ho ire impatiently awaiting the con Hiuctiou of 1 trail suitable for pack ani. mill and footmen. Had the business men of Seattle gone to work. nothlnJ doubting, and prosecuted this enter piise as soo ft, ,R. wca,hcr Wollk, hmre permitted, In the early pan ofthe season, they would have received in- hweel andprindpaJ on all their money ixixndcd, and their city would have become the thronged rendesvou, of minrrk an. I ...... . - ""limners irom a miners are disheartened, and many are leaving to return no more. Hut we arc satisfied that the precious metals in our mountain fastnesses, like those in Cali fornia and Oregon, will assert their value and importance in the due course of time. There are some premonitory symp toms, unmlstakeable to the observing man, clearly indicating that the eve of important development! is near at hand, tending to the lasting benefit of this Territory. Your readers may have heard ru mors of gold discoveries in Thurston county, near Olympia. As I write, word comes that several prospecting parties are fitting out at the capital city to explore the highlands known as the Black Hills, situated from ten to fifteen miles south-west from the head of Budd'i inlet. It was known ten years ago that placer gold could be found in small quantities in the gulches that permeated those hills, hut more distant mining excitements diverted and engrossed the public mind, and for a term of years the matter has been napping. The Skagit stampede, how ever, had the effect to awaken nnd fan into new life several old enterprises, and our own Black Hills gold few ll one of them. Responsible parties have returned after a few days sojourn thither, bringing with them valuable specimens of decomposed gold-bearing quartz, together with both coarse nnd line placer gold. The Kelscy Uros., of Ccntcrville, Lewis county, discovered a few months ago, what they claim to be an ancient river bed, similar in all respects to the celebrated liluc lead in California. These ancient water-courses are essen tially of the same geological age, and so far as they have been explored, an abundance of coarse washed gold has been found in the gravel which they contain. The Messrs. Kelscy have sent a specimen of their gold to ( My mpia, and a quantity of the precious metal, mixed with black sand, is now on exhibition in the show-window of the Hoard of Trade rooms. But more of this in another letter. Yours, Traveler. Scene, or rather heard, on a Lowland horse-car : Conductor "There 11 narta J?1 r"!'"' Unlcss -vo" want t0 " t. As the situation now Kc "55 " W" '