THE WEST SHORE. ,-i..sK-j.v-: . a . v; .'-r ': ' . ",'V.' ' f-1 - " i H il.r; ; ' -; -1 -i-: l! ' I'-t'tiM r?0B l ( Jlls, II 4 U II A COM A ia no longer a " City of the Future," an " Em lryo City," "The Coininc MetroDolis." or ... 4 f " r WH1V1 UL llm nmnv titlua I... i. i 5jlt dwignnta it, but is now an actual, thrivin ( wal ami manufacturing center, and is still advancing v with even greater abides than the moat HAn5n S wnture.1 U pmlicl It has ceased to be tha VjfXrfrjZ tjrmww of an incompleted railroad, and has become ' LC.V,4-:vM Ue actual terminus of a great overland trunk line th. '; direct avenue of communication between Poo V I P Watc of 016 racifio Northwest Wher- ,,fi!ll ." v vr Ilia V.4l. T ! t .i ... Si 9 --iui,inc aiiroal is known Tacoma is - .or,,, RIUI lue ranje of Ule one hftg iMiuml ud in Hint iJ il.o nti... . iniHuir.i.u . 7 v mey nave become a .i h : i faarir a,,d ? racific- ad f., ft. 5 Z H."1? ""- what the city haa been wl,t Jt , " 8Ute M 8cmctly -Hainty, it i. deaUn.Hj becmT TACOMA, AS SEENpOM THE CAR SHOPS. Tacoma lies at the head of Commencemeit Bay, the extreme southeastern harbor of Puget Sound, that great inland sea, which lias been so appropriately designated as the " Mediterranean of the Pacific." The site is both salubrious and beautiful It rises by successive terraces to a height of 300 feet alwve the water's edge, rendering the drain age of its surface by natural means complete and a thorough system of sewerage easy and practicable. The prospect from these Hgher benches embraces a wide and varied landscape, including the beautiful, timber-fringed shores of Puget Sound, the fertile valley of the Puyallup, the foothills and summit ridges of the Cascade Mountains, and towering above all in its grandeur the white peak and snowy sides of Mount Tacoma, Beautiful and enticing as its site is from ta artistic standpoint, other considerations than those of a love of Nature moved the far-seeing men who laid here the foundation of a great city. That the terminal point of the Northern Pacific on Puget Sound was destined to become a city of great commercial importance was evident even to the most unreflective mbd, and therefore the exact location of thi point became early in the history of the road a matter of much importance. For Itis reason the Board of Directors of the railroad appointed two commissioners to mate a thorough examination of the harbors of Puget Sound, with a view to selecting thepne offering the most advantages for that purpose. These gentlemen-R W. Bice,' the Vice-President, and Captain J. G Ainsworth, the Managing Director for the Pacific Coast made a most careful examin ation, aided by comprehensive surveys of able engineers, and fixed upon the shore of Commencement Bay as possessing more fully than any other locality the features desirable for the terminal city of the road. In accordance with this report the Board of Directors passed a resolution on the 10th of September, 1873, fixing the city of Tacoma as the great Western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad. v The Tacoma Land Company wag incorporated with a capital stock of $1,000,000, divided into 20,000 shares, of which 51 per cent were held by the Northern Paciflo Railroad Company and 49 per cent by individual preferred stockholders of that com pany. This organization acquired from the railroad company 3,000 acres of land, which the latter had purchased immediately upon deciding upon the location; also 13,000 acres of the odd-numbered or railroad sections within a radius of six miles, paying for the entire tract 1250,000. Upon this property, and a short diatanoe south of the original location at Tacoma, the company cleared a tract about a mile square and laid out a city which was christened " New Tacoma," where the railroad company immedi ately erected a large building for its headquarters. The Pacific Division, extending from the Columbia River to the Terminal City, was nearly completed when the failure of Jay Cooke k Co. blocked the progress of OOHrtHVKD OH tAOM 1.)