THE WEST SHORE.
Apri', 188a
POPULATION, AREA. ETC., OF NORTH
IDAHO.
The question has been asked concern
ing North Idaho, what is the area, how
much available land for settlement, her
present population.and herlatest vote on
ll,c quution of annexation? We hnve
gathered up the statistics as close as we
could at this late date, and what we give
are as near correct as can be made, with
out a new census of the population, the
last having been taken about two years
go. The gross area of the section of
North Idaho embraced in Hrents'bill, to
form a part of the state of Washington,
it about 35,000 square miles. The pre
emption tilings embrace 261,600 acres.
The homestead filings embrace 146,349
acres,and the timber-culture filings em
brace 41,747 acres; surveyed land open
for ctllement, 600,000 acres; unsurvey
ed and susceptible of settlement 300,000
acres. A great portion of the remain
der of the whole area is rugged and
mountainous, with here and there small
patches that might be settled for agri
cultural and (stock-raising purposes, but
it contain several rich mining districts,
ami may be regarded as rich in miner
als, and is covered with excellent tim
ber. The population of the four coun
ties of Nm Perce, Idaho, Shoshone and
Kootenai, at the last census of the spring
of 1880, was returned 336,983. The
increase since then has been principally
in Kootenai and Nez Perce counties,
with considerable increase in parts of
Idaho county. The closest estimate of
mc aggregate increase in the four coun
ties gives 4,400, so that it is safe to say
that the present population of all the
counties of North Idaho will aggregate
11,400, exclusive of Indians. About
one in four of this population will be
voters at the ensuing election.
The assessed valuation of property
will not fall far short of $2,500,000 and
if 1 1 proper valuation be placed upon the
railroad property, this will be increased
1100,000.
The towns that have obtained any
C ?y-nre Wist0n Mt' WK
Sn ' rPltrCe Ci,y' FIorence
a hmgton, Genesee, Moscow, Cceur
d Alene Vcstwood,Ven.norand.few
other. ,hM .re coming into being
w.VerTw" SaIn Clear-
Sn k;,n 0.rC Pcnd d,reille
snake a. d their innumerable branches
Z !he mo,,nUi' lying cast of
he inhabited portions of North I I I
d flowing west- ih. c . Idaho'
Clearwcr griyfr! ' e'h' .Sa,mon
Snake rim c p,,y"lg int0 th
dllwiiu ' e SP"bne a"J Pend
mountain, to the settUi fr0m. the
i" Nnh Idaho ,n? v. h??y
nvenicntckneUohn8,0n'nJ
V the u fouler. com"-erce
tu m nf our neonle in the fall of
j, nt iuv- r , i
1880 on the question 01 nnnc. -
Wasl.intrton asastate, was i,2i6.or,and
only seven against. Owing to a storm
on election ciay less iu
were polled in all the northern counties
on any question or for any office; more
than 800 are known to have remained
away from the polls by reason of the
storm. t j 1
All the plow land of North Idaho is
as rich and productive as that of any
portion of the northwest. In fact it has
produced, as far as seeded, the highest
average yield of cereals per acre of any
of the"states and territories in the union,
as the reports will show in the agricul
tural bureau. The climate is mild; the
stock gathering in the winter, from the
ranges, all that is required to keep them
in good condition, and they make the
best of meat for the butchers. At Lewis
ton, last winter, at no time has the ther
mometer ranged lower than six above
zero, and only in one instance at that
point. The general range during the
winter is between freezing and 500
above zero. The snow fall is seldom
more than one foot in most parts of the
agricultural country, which usually re
mains but a short time before it is cut
down by the prevailing warm wind
commonly called " Chinobks." Teller.
LUMBERING ON PUGET SOUND.
The great timber region of the terri
tory lies west of the Cascade mountains,
and takes in substantially all the coun
try to the Pacific ocean from the Co
lumbia river on the south to British
Columbia on the north from 140 to
220 miles long and from 110 to 150
miles wide. There can be found fir,
pine, spruce, hemlock, oak, ash, alder,
maple, cedar, cdttonwood and number
less other varieties; these named.though
beingmorethannine-tcnthsof the whole.
They cover, perhaps, two-thirds the
whole country, about 15,000 square
miles or 10,000,000 acres. The yield
per acre varies immensely, ranging from
5.000 to 10,000 feet per acre to 60,000
and 80,000. Where the fir timber is
particularly heavy and fine, the quantity
per acre occasionally runs to 100,000, to
"50.000 and even 200,000. Whole
quarter sections can mi k a... ,
. . ---v uc uuiainea
that will average 50,000 feet per acre,
or Soo ooo feet to the 160 acres We
xoZ Z l.the ' Wooo acres at
300,000,000 teet T , 1 ,.".t'&re6ate
tcou rtrreSoffh Pd,t'?n tothis
ber of the territory to be equal in quan. ;
tity to 400,000,000,000 feet. The an!
nual cut does not at present exceed
250,000,000 feet, at which rate we have !
a supply good for 1600 years.. The cut I
however, will from this' on increase '
rapidly, until in 1887 probably 500,000. ?
000 feet will be cut, and in 1892 per." I
haps 1,000,000,000. In Wisconsin and
ivucmgan ine annual cut is now 4,000. i
000,000 feet, at which rate our timber
supply would last only 100 years. But '
other things are to be taken into account
in considering the timber supply, its du.
ration, etc. The people are more waste
ful of timber than anything else. There
can be no doubt that more is ruthlessly
destroyed every year than is cut for saw-
ing and sale. Between the clearings of
the farmers and the fires of the forest '
this is accomplished, the one effort of
too many otherwise sensible men on
this subject being to rid the country of
its timber its greatest wealth in the
shortest possible time. One more re
mark, on this point and we are done.
The standing timber in the territory of
Washington, as above calculated, is fully
equal to the consumption of the whole
United States during the past hundred
years, and its value at $10 per thousand
feet is $4,000,000,000, or more than the
.TO I ! I. a( nil 4-Ua . U 1 L .1
vaiuc ui an Luc m&auic piupeuy in me
combined states of New York and Penn-
svlvania in 1882. Is not this a nronertw I
r r j
worthy the utmost possible consider- ;'
tion? ' !
A 1 it.- V-
iiuuj; mc iuiuiuuia river are a num
ber of sawmills, as also in the Cowlitz
and Chehalis country, between the i
Sound and the river. With a single ex- ;'
ception these are small affairs. At
Gray's Harbor, on the ocean coast, a j
large mill is in course of construction, .
and that others will speedily follow i
there and elsewhere in the wooded re- !
gions is certain. The chief and heavy
lumbering on the Pacific slope is done
right here, within a radius of sixty miles
of Seattle, and the principal part within j
thirty. The leading mills of the Sound,
when all worked, have a cutting capac
ity easily enough of one million feet per '
diem, or three hundred millions per an
num. Three of them cut each over one
hundred thousand feet per day, and 1 ;
fourth is being put in condition to cut
over two hundred thousand, while the
first three referred to, when works now .
under way are completed, will cut
450,000 feet a day between them.
Several of these mills are truly im-
mense establishments; working over (
a hundred men, having logging camp
working a hundred more, and having
from one to four steamboats, and from
six to twenty sail ships in their service
belonging to the same owners. The
are surrounded by whole towns,
which are hotels and stores, schools,
churches and secret societies, and a pop
ulation of men, women and children
from two hundred and fifty to five hun'
dred in number; Post-InUlligoi