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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1881)
November, 1881. THE WEST SHORE: Washington West, which regions differ entirely from each other in physical characteristics and largely in produc tions. The West contains mountains, forests, waters and minerals, alluvial bottoms and rich, inexhaustible grazing mm ugncimurai lanus. l hcre must be twelve or fifteen millions of acres of wnite, yellow and red firs, cedars, maple, alder, spruce, pine and other varieties or torest trees and much of it such timber as is not to be found else where; the fir andcedars, especially, are of enormous extent and growth. liie average of the fu Proven fir i perhaps five feet in diameter, many of uivm it-n anu iwcive,anu some or them are measured for fourteen feet. A friend informs us that he has cut twenty, two thousand feet of lumber from a single tree. The cedars, also, are of stupendous growth. I know of one specimen of solid wood which measures sixty.four feet, four inches in circum ference. Two hundred million feet ol lumber were shipped during the last year to the markets of the world. Coal deposits exist in large variety and in absolutely inexhaustible proportions; nearly, if not quite all of the Pugct Sound basin being undcrluid with anthracite, bituminous and coke making coal. Many of the mines border on the navigable waters, arc easily worked, their productions easily transported to the markets of the Pacific, and arc readily available for manufacturing purposes. These mines are already open by rail to the Sound and the Col umbia, and more arc soon to I devel oped. Iron, bog, magnetic and hematite and of the very best quality, is found in great abundance, and several foundries and other iron woiksarein successful operation. The iron is said to be very well adapted to the manu facture of car wheels. Gold, silver, copper, cinnabar, lead, plumbago and tin are found in many of the mountains, and there is no doubt but that the ml valuable of these will, in timc.be largely developed. Marble, granite, sandstone, limestone and fine clays and sands are also found all over the Sound country. The waters of the Territory make up a remarkable feature of its advantages. The ocean shore contains all the harbor and inlets of the Pacific coast of the United States southward, excepting the lay of San Francisco, sharing the Col umbia with Oregon. Pugct Sound covers an area of two thousand square miles, all of which is tide water; penc trate the interior two hundred miles, has two thousand miles of shore line, has bold shores is free from rock., shoals or bars, has a placid surface, i a hundred fathom deep in many place, is navigable at low water for any sh.p ping, and is studded with islands large and small, which are corned with forest trees or are of the h.g hes lagri cultural fertility. No fewer than fifty river, empty Into the Sound and the sea. I he Columbia affnr.L iv,n......i miles of navigable waters, and drains, with its tributaries, three hundred thousand square miles of territory. Other large and navigable rivers, here after to be greatly improved by remov. mg obstructions, empty into the same great reservoirs, giving, besides naviga tion, an extent of water power by oc casionul fulls of probably not leu than five hundred running miles. Cray's Harbor, an Inland sea on the Pacific, into which empty the Chchalis, and other rivers, affords even a better inlet and harbor than the Columbia, and the same is true of Shoalwater Bay. Fresh water lakes abound all over the Territory, one of the largest of which is Lake Washington, near Seattle, within thiee miles of Puget Sound, which covers an area of if square miles, with almost unfathomable limpid waters. Lake Chelan, in East em Washington, is still larger, a weird lake in the midst of the plains, in a hue cleft of rock, which seems to have opened expressly to receive the water. The rocky walls stand hundred of feet high in an almost pcrendicular direc tion; the length of the lake i 60 miles. The water are clear, beautiful and calm, and the stillness a of the grave, is disturbed only by the birds snd beasts which seek this marvelous, enchanted spot. Mineral lakes, alkaline and sul phurous, siiul to posse remarkable Biirative properties, are also found. Medical Lake, a large body, distin guished fr it strong alkaline qualities, is a favorite resort, for Invalid, and promises to I a great medical Mecca, to which many mar come and I healed of their physical infirmities. Itoiling spring, and other strange conditions exist in greot numbers, which I havt neither the time nor the space to de- sail. The Ocean, Sound, river and lake arc frequented by myriad of fowl in season, and also abound with great IkxIii. offish. Salmon of sixteen varieties trout, cod, halibut, flounder, sturgeon, smelt, rock cod, sardines, perch and dog fish, From ilog.fUh, oil to the value of one hundred and fifty thousand dollar i produced annually. Fifteen hundred boat are engaged during the fUhing season in catching salmon in the Columbia river alone, which are chiefly canned at the large and numerous establishment for that purpose on the ri er. They grow to monstrous six. A paisrr recently referred to one salmon which weighed eighty and one-half pounds; ninety-one pound and one ounce wa the weight of the largest ever taken. Oyslrr, very small in ie Nit fine In favor. alound in the Inlets, Three hundred thousand dollar worth were caught ami sold during the present year. Crabs are large, awl found chiefly In Gray' Harbor, in immense quantities. Of clam there are several varieties, both large and small, some weighing ten or twelve pounds apiece. There art also other shell fish. Elk. deer. bear. pheasant, and other game can be found m all the forest and prairie. In Western Wasiiiiigion there seven to ten million acres of land which can be utilized for agricultural and grax ing puqnrsc. Alluvial Ixiltomi along the river, priri s and tlmlcr lands, will produce timothy, orchard grass and red and white clover, and much of It raises, when properly cultivated, such crop of hay, grain, vegetables flax and fruit as I have never before seen. There is no better county for grating and dairy purpose. An abundance of fresh, pure water, shade and a cool summer tem. perature. all contribute to make tbl ona of the most prosperous of sheep, cattle, iiu l.viiav Jlltluvill KllllliriC. ICS this will renuire ureal lalior. fur murh of It Is a natural wilderness. Let no man mistake me, for It will requite labor, courage and intelligence to subdue natural eruwth a 11. 1 i ill tim country for comfortable residence. vorn win noi nourisit nere, t ne night being too cool, and the season too short for ripening. Washington East present a condition of soil, climate and productions and ad vantage greatly in contrast with that f 1...,. .1 :t 1. . - TV MUM IIMTV UWIIIIIVU. lUlltain about three-fifth of the Territory, be ing a vast prairie country, of level, undulating, hilly and mountainous sur face, chieilv adaolcd to vraaliiB ami I ha I ;rowing of wheat, rye, oat, barley. wp, tobacco, flax, vegetable ami iruu. vvnrai 1 me main production, and the average yield I thirty-five or forty bushel to the acre, eighty-five Wing the largest of which I nave any knowledge. I rode In an open carriage fotly mile In a straight line northeast from Walla Walla, along tidt of one continuous hodv of beautiful vtnlura of wheat and graa without break or wasn or guny. r ive rear uack all or this country wa considered to be totally valueless, growing only sagebrush ami bunch gra, Now no field In Holm del. LFpDcr Freehold or Smlnif flail can surpass them in beauty or fertility. ....I '.. 1. .1 1.. 1 'I ami a iiw mil n ocrpiy impregnated with alkaline suUtance, it I probable that wheat can be turrrslull rrnun there for fifty year to come, without . annkiai irnnuaiion. 1 m plateau of I ha Columbia 1 stnu.luril wlili natl.t. rivers, for four or five hundred mile from the sea, and I drained by Snake, Spokane and'other river. The season for seeding wheal extend equally well 4 . t . ft al "a.. a irom acpiemocr 10 .May, end list har vesting period runs from July to No vember, that season being free from rain the straw standing and holding list grain, which straw will not do any. where; but on the Pacific rotul. Thai grain U hard and dry in consequence, and ran be carried around the work! without becoming musty, of deteriorate kCtatiWM m ff tit )