THE WEST SHORE.
11th Year.
MARCH, 188a
No. a
THE CITY OP TACOMA.
HERE is but one Tacoma.
It is the city whoso natural
location, whose established
commercial connections,
whose varied and extensive
resources, have given it
such material prosperity,
and assured it such a sub
stantial future as to attract
the attention of all who
keep posted in regard to
the development of the Pacific
Northwest It is the city
which has made greater strides
in the past year than any other
north of California, and west of
the Rocky mountains. The ob
ject of this article is to show the
'53 causes which have brought the city into ex.
Vijg) istence, and the reasons why its future great-
1 Tacoma does not depend upon any one resource
for its future growth. Many cities in the Mississippi
valley have grown into commercial importance by
having centered in them an extensive trade in grain.
Pennsylvania has her cities built up by the manufac
ture of iron. In Colorado, cities have been the out
growth of the development of her extensive mines.
Iu Michigan, the lumber industry has developed
great commercial centers. In California, cities of
metropolitan importance have sprung up in a few
years, in regions where the fruit industry is their
chief resource, Tacoma is so favorably located as to
enjoy all of the natural advantages which contribute
to the growth and development of a large city, and in
this particular she is unlike other cities, which have
grown wonderfully with limited resources, as com
pare I with those of Tacoma. If any one of the fol
lowing named industries, to-wit: The handling of
grain, the manufacture of iron, the converting of tim
ber into merchantable lumber, tho raising of fruit and
canning and drying tho same for market, tho devel
opment of mines of precious metals, the exporting and
importing of tho products of other countries, has boon
sufficient to develop and sustain cities of several
scores of thousands of people, what shall bo said of
tho prospects foi tho future growth of that city wluwo
natural location is such that sho has for her resourc
es, not only all of those, mcntionod, but many moro?
In order to consider tho subject fully, let us in
quiro into the natural sources of wealth which aro
tributary to Tacoma; first, of tho country in general,
and afterwards tho particular locality in which Taco
ma is situated. Tacoma is located at tho bead of iiav
igation on Puget sound, in Washington Territory.
Tho territory comprises sixty-niuo thousaud nine
hundred and ninety-four squaro miles, of which it is
estimated fifteen million acres aro tillable Tho east
ern portion of tho territory is largely prairio land,
adapted to tho raising of grain. Tho Cat code rango
of mountains separates tho eastern xrtion of tho ter
ritory from tho western, and a littlo to tho west of tho
center. Tho western portion of tho territory is coy
ercd with a magnificent growth of fir, iprnco and ce.
dar timber, tho finest in tho world, and estimate! to
have contained, originally, one hundred and sixty bil
lion feet, of which only about threo billion fwt havo
as yet been cut cut
Tho climatic conditions of theso two diriiions of
tho territory aro marked. Tho western portion has a
climate which is mild and moist, owing to tho influ
ence of tho Japan current, which strikes tho Pacific
coast on tho western shore of the territory. Every
variety of climate and soil can bo found in Washing,
ton Territory. In tho southeastern portion of tho
territory, grapes, peaches, and fruits which thriro in
warmer countries, aro raised saccefully and in
abundance In tho Yakima ami Kittitas valleys, just
east of tho Cascade range, both of which aro highly
productive under irrigation, immenio crops of barley,