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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1882)
February, 1882. THE WEST SHORE. 35 bay there is not less than 75, poo acres of good coal land, which will produce, from the strata generally worked, 450 million tons of coal. This is an estimate of the production of only one seam, while in some parts of this coal field there are known to be as many as six workable veins. The area of lands known to contain coal, but not fully prospected, lying in the vicinity of the bay, may be estimated at 250,000 acres, and at no great distance east, a vein of eleven feet is reported, and said by persons who have tested it to be of a superior quality, suitable for the manufacture of gas, and used in the foundry or forge. With such improvement of our harbor as is now contemplated, the coal of Coos Bay can suc cessfully compete with any other part of the world. LUMBER. Our pine, or fir, timber is of great importance in the estimate of our commercial resources. The area of land covered with timber suitable and available for manufacture into lumber in the vicinity of Coos Bay cannot be less than 100,000 acres, and this land will produce from 106,000 to 2co,ooo feet to the acre. In quality this timber is superior to that of any other region of the country. There is also a considerable quantity of white cedar, known as Port Orford cedar, and also thousands of acres covered with myrtle, maple and ash, which has already been shipped to some extent, in the log, to San Francisco, where it finds a ready sale for finishing and or namental work. OTHER ARTICLES OF EXPORT. There are other articles of export lesides coal and lumber which are exported regularly from Coos Bay, aggregating many thousands of dollars in value. Among these are Included laths, broom handles, pickets, ship-knees, matchwood, staves, hides and fruit. In the production of such fruit as do not require very warm weather to mature them, our climate is unequaled. Though our surplus fruit crop has in former year been mainly shipped while fresh, the introduction of evnpora tors is doing away with the shipment of fresh fruit and establishing a lucrative business in the export of the product of these factories. There Is still another article which promises, at no distant day, to add largely to the aggregate ' value of our exports. The business of catching and saving salmon, which is already successfully inaugurated at the mouth of the Coquille river, will, without doubt, soon be established here) and the combined production of the fisheries of Coos county, if used to the extent of their legitimate capacity, will add many thousands to the figures now indicating the value of our exports, MISCELLANEOUS. In the foregoing statements we have made no report of the general agricultural resources of this region ; not because such resources do not exist worthy of mention, but because, when our resources in coal, lumber and other productive industries are handled to their legitimate capacity, the entire amount of the agricultural products of this part of the country will be consumed at home leaving nothing in that line to export. ' There are now in operation on Coos Bay four steam saw mills, as follows 1 That of E. I). Dean & Co., at Marsh field, capacity about 60,000 fed per day ; that of A. M. Simpson & Bro., at North Bend, capacity 35,009 feet per day that of H. H. Luse, at Empire City, capacity 20,000, and that of A. Iobree, at Aaronville, capacity about 30,000 feet per day. There is also a stave factory at Empire City using upwards of 1,500 enrds of stave bolts a year. There are five coal mines already opened on the bay of a total capacity of about 1,800 tons daily. Some of these mines are now suspended on account of the fact that the small class of ves acla tlial Cutty fiuitt Cuoa Cay tauilul Compete ill the price of freights with the large vessels In which the Pugtt Sound and foreign coal is car ried, but are ready to resume work whenever the market improves, or when the bar is so improved as to accommodate a large class of vessels. The commerce of Coos Bay now furnishes reg ular employment for two steam-tugs in towing on the bar, and there are six small steamers employed in carrying passengers anil freights on the bay and its tributaries. If the improvement nlready commenced be completed, the business of Coos Bay will lie increased four-fold within five years, thus adding permanently to the wealth and pros' perity of the state and nation. It may lie further said in favor of the necessity of an appropriation for the continuance of the improvement of this harbor, that such a work as is already commenced will, it is believed by those lcst ncqunintcd with our const, not only assure an ample depth of water at the entrance of the harbor, but also make it available, to a certain extent, as a harbor of refuge for coasting vessels in stress of weather. WASHINGTON TERRITORY. This territory hits two distinct cli mates that are separated by the Cas cade mountains, and each arc as much unlike the other as if they were a thou sand miles apart. The west of the mountains is dark and damp, and the country is covered by dense forests, with thick undergrowth of bushes ant gigantic ferns. The soil is good, but the sun seldom shines long enough at one time to kill the ferns weeds or briars that are torn up by the plow and it requirs the utmost vigilance of the farmer to keep them from getting the better of his crop?. It has many advantages, however, that place it on a level with Eastern Washington. It has im nense lumber, coal and oyster interests, besides various manufactures Eastern Washington has a dry, cold cli mate, and generally a sandy soil, with occasional snots of alkali. The south em half of the country is principally rolling bunch-grass prairies, with here and there a growth of stunted pine and cotton-wood, while the northern half is extremely hilly and mountainous, and also covered with famous bunch-grass, excepting the northern slopes, where fir pine, and mountain tamarack grow. It is decidedly the place for the home steadcr who is willing to deny himself some of the comforts for a year or two, until he gets fairly started. This is also a good country for the asthmatic and consumptive, as the climate is so dry that they are greatly relieved, and in many instances are entirely cured. (I don't vouch forthis statement, however, I give it as I got it). The principal product is wheat, and in certain districts it is produced in almost fabulous quan tities, but not to the exclusion of other grains and vegetables. The only sta ple of Indiana that docs not do well here is corn. The frost usually catches it in the northern counties before it gets ripe, but I hear it is raised in somo of the southern counties to a considerable extent, fruits do well, even to peach cs, and it is a noted fact Washington Territory apples ore the best on the const. Immigrants are pouring in, but there is plenty of room for more. The chief place of attraction for them now is the vicinity of Spokane Fall and Rockford, but they are also moving eastward along the line of the Northern Pacific. It will not be a great while, if they continue to come at this rate, until we have inhabitants enough for a state. There is talk of the Northern Pa cific running a branch R. K, from Spo kanc Falls through Colvillo valley to Fort Colville. The valley has an ex ceedingly good soil, and is already more than half settled. Fort Colvillo is eighty miles north west, in a direct line, from Spokane, and fifteen miles from the Columbia river. It is a pleasant little military past, with a second-class town attachment. There is more whisky sold here to the square yard than in any town I know of. It has a few recommenda tions in the way of saw and gristmills, where excellent Hour and poor lumber are manufactured. The Columbia, west of the fort, is still a mighty stream and is navigable for three hundred miles in British Columbia, but has no boats running, as the amount of trade would not justify the building and main taining of steamers. Your humble servant is situated, ao to speak, forty miles north and eighty west of Colville, ttt beautiful Lake O shoo Loos one thousand feet above the sea, two miles south of the forty ninth parallel, and just cast of the Cns cade mountains, where there it a past and where three rails diverge iron. B,