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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1882)
AO THE WEST SHORE. February, WHATCOM COUNTV. W. T. The mainland portion ol Whatcom county consist of two parti, the valley of the Skagit and part ol the valley of the Fraser. The two parts are divided ly a (.pur of the Cascades which reaches salt water d H.-llingham Hay. If wc adopt the theory that nt onetime the ca reached the base of the moun tain range, then nil the low land. in thin county outh of the Chuckaunt spur of mountain have been formed by the de posit of the Skagit river, while the tahlc lands north of it have been formed hj the Fr.ncr. The valley of the Iracr, lying between the mountains mid salt water, and extending from lliillingliam Hay to Murrard Inlet, in somewhat in the form of a semi-circle and contains aWit a thousand square miles of agricultural land, about three hundred of which in the form of an acute angled triangle lay south of our national boundary line and forms a part of Whatcom county. Through this tri angle run the waters of the Nootsack or I.ummi river, having two mouths, one of which empties into llcllingham Hay, the other into the (Julfof Georgia. Hcl ween and adjoining these two mouths are several thousand acres of marsh lands, mot of which arc ovcrllowed by high freshets, but all of which can be trctaimcd and prepared for agriculture, but as most of those lands are within an Indian reservation, nothing has yet been done to reclaim them. This portion of our county ltwccn llcllingham Hay and the 49th parallel is almost all a dense forest which will some day be transformed into some ol the ptcaauiri homes in North Ameri ca. It i all rich agricultural land, and when once cleared of timber, will make valuable farms. It is table land along the abort, averaging aWil 40 feet above the level of the sea and it almost , level. The soil nuinly consists of a rich brown loam resting on heavy clay, w hich In some places nece.siuics much draining. Every description of fruit, e gctabtcs or grain, incident to this cli mate and latitude, grows to perfection here, and unlike some portion of the States w can always dccnd upon food crop, if we plant or sow good seed, and give it a good show. The whole of this tract is well wa ter with spring ami small streams of mountain water, and everywhere good water can be found by digging from 10 to 40 feet. Some of the finest timber 111 tne iei ritory can be found near the headwa ter of the Nootsack river; and some of the best openings for manufacturing ev ery description of woodwork can be found here. About three miles back from liellingham Hay is a lake, twelve miles long averaging two miles wide, partly surrounded by mountains. This lake is 300 feet above the level of the bay; it has but one outlet which emp ties into the bay at the town of What com. This outlet, which is Whatcom creek, tails 200 feet within a mile of the lake, forming about a dozen good mill sites. It then meanders through al most dead level ground for about two miles, when it has another fall about a quarter of a mile from the bay and another of nearly 40 feet close to the bay. On this creek every description of manufacturing could be carried on. YAKIMA COUNTV, W. T. Yakima county is bounded on the north by the Wenatchie river; on the west by the crest of the Cascade range ; on the south by the dividing line be tween townships six and seven, which is known as the summit of the Simcoe mountains, and on the east by the Co lumbi 1 river. The length from north to south is about 140 miles, and from cast to west about too miles. This area comprises what is known as the Yakima valley, and tributary thereto arc the following valleys : Simcoej Attahnum, Cowyche, Natches, Wen as, Kittitas, Umptanum, Squaw CrnW Sclah Springs, Coal Creek, Moxee, ami, lastly, the valley extending fmm the Moxee valley down the Yakima river ror 75 miles, including Sulphur Creek, Mack Canyon and Rattle Snake Springs. The above comprises the principal valleys in this countv. it.. sides there is a strip of country along the Columbia river susceptible for set tlement which belongs to Yakima county. Ih.s, of course, is on the eastern slow of the Cascade ran is naturally diversified with hills and vaneyt, covered with bunch fri-acc , to", uu much of the low lands are covered with wge brush. Verv little Iimtwr aw.i long the foot hill, d along the The soil is unexcelled h . -..i globe. From 4o to 50, tnd sometimes as high as 75 bushels of grain is the yield to the acre. The climate is healthy, ana unsur- rv,Pd in anv country. Some winters barely enough snow for good sleigh ing, and In eight or ten years we have from one to two feet of snow. The present winter has teen quite mild. Most of the time the ground nas Deen . . T .1 I I! bare at Yakima City, in oiner iuuuh- ties, near the toot runs, iney nu g"u sleighing for some weeks. Most of these valleys referred to are only sparsely settled at present, and at a rough guess we would say there is room for at least twenty thousand in habitants, and they are cordially invited to come and take their chances with the pioneers. In addition to our agricultural ad vantages, we are backed up by vast mineral wealth in the Cascade range ot mountains. We have the Swauk mines, the Peshastin mines and the Cle-elm mines, most of which is now in process of development, the same being gold and silver bearing quartz. Then we have stone coal and iron ore, which will all come to light in due time. In the vicinity of Heppner, Umatilla county, there are over 200,000 sheep. These will aver age six pounds of wool apiece or 1,200,000 pounds, which, at an average price of twenty cents per puuna, yieius $240,000 a year. Average Yield. The census bulletin from th e Department says th.it the average crop of cereals raised in Washington Territory last year, was 27 H bushels per acre, the lamest averatre of anv fitnln or Territory in the Union.. Messrs. Steiner & Bwssom have iust bmn business at Salem with a complete and well as. sorted stock of stoves and tinware. As lb are both practical men in this line of business, iriey will, without a doubt, make a success of it. For the very best nhotoirrarjhii. nil ivl. n,l siics, go to Abell's gallery on First street, be tween Morrison and Yamhill, Portland, Oregon. Messrs. Woodruff. IUvis o f c..i.. , .gallic, are the leading Puget Sound booksellers, in fact, ,cw' " a"y. "rms in any town in the Pacific Northwest carry a better assorted stock of books. They make all their purchases direct from the manufacturers and are therefore enabled to offer superior inducements to buyers. ... Geo. W. Travri , m,UWU IQ ., . uregonuns, has now the general agency,, lbs the . 7 ,urlne Massachusetts Benefit As "cu,,on, of Mass. He expects to soon ' Oregon in the interest of his company. Our reader, rely on ,he w M fcotjnc. WwiseMnTraverwouldnotcon. sent to act at kt agent.