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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1888)
THE WEST SHORE. KINO COUNTY, WASHINGTON TERRITORY. THE routty of King, now in Washington Territory, 1 but thf-n in the immense territory of Oregon ibich includM all of what is now Oregon, Washing t.n and Idaho, and part of Montana and Wyoming, an area of four hundred thousand square miles-was creatM by act of the legislature, December 22, 1852. In fv jit'rrjK IS..!, Henry YanAsselt, L. M. Collins and Jacob sn 1 Samuel Mapel had located claims in the Dawarnifth valley, and at the same time, John N. Iw, I-o Terry and David T. Denny temporarily fnl thffflM'lvca on Alki point Early in November, thin men were followed by A. A. Denny, C. D. Do ri'ti and W. N. Hell, with their families. In the spring of 1H.V2, the Alki point settlement moved over to th eastern shore of Elliott bay, of which Alki was tho western outward limit They there laid the foun dation for what is now the important, live and prom ising city of Seattle. Dr. D. S. Maynard and Chas. ('. T rry camo alout the same time, and from that timo on, for three years, the town and tho Duwamish Mid VIM river farming settlements, just beyond, ere in receipt of frequent accessions to their popu lation, tumUrirg, in the aggregate, not far from thee hutdrcd souls, at the outbreak of the Indian ar, in 1K.. It was the courageous, enterprising, determine! pioneers named, and a few others who Ud joined them, ho demanded the organization of a rw and more convenient county government, and ho (b mand was heeded, as stated, by the Oregon H-uUture, in iWUr, 1S.V1 The new county was rut off on tho south as at present defined, but on tho north was continued down the east side of IWet -und to tho llritUh Colombia line. Later, by acts "f tie ttashiDgton hginUture, three new counties -re cxvMiJ, and King Ucame what it now is. As at prnM'tit constituted, King county includes y very ct.n.uhTable area (,f two thousand and forty qoarorK an extent of country about equal to that wah,n the Hate limits of Delaware and .Utocf nULK, It lies wholly on the west ' mrr-tLotSnHmie-it 1 tends one WRv rZ utural trrnd of tho cm.try i, toward V I ,?i HIU. harW.tho Whit, ; Ulaek and Hawaii l-uring their water ,... ... .. ' r btn'RtD9. tifai u. ti.. rrT'mimxu. m !:lo cf Kite a,uLtv. ti,- tho borlh- fro surf ace of the country is necessarily varied. There are lofty and rugged mountain sides, and lov and level Talleys, with rolling country between. The mountainous area occupies one-fourth the whole, and the valleys as much more. No part is worthless. The earlier general opinion of Puget sound was that it was not of much good. People came, took a trip by boat and went away, saying there was nothing but a fine body of water and a lot of big timber, and that when the latter was removed, the few inhabitants would have to go; that there was no soil fit to farm, the Cascade mountains were impassable to railroads, the fisheries were limited, and that it was impossible for the country ever to amount to anything. The set tlers, however, felt that these representations were false, and they went on as best they could, getting their relatives and friends to join them, and inducing as many strangers as possible to do likewise. Their faith has been more than justified by the results. The first timber, near the shore of the sound, was taken long ago, only to find that a vast deal remained further back; also, that in this country the timber quickly renews itself, making it possible to relog land every twenty or thirty years. Not only was this dis covered, but it was found that the valley lands were of unsurpassed fertility, the depth of soil, where wells have been sunk, being found to exceed one hun dred feet These lands produce enormous crops, in well-attested cases being known to have yielded one hundred bushels of oats per acre, five tons of timothy hay, four thousand pounds of hops, six hundred bushels of potatoes, thirty tons of cabbage, and forty tons of sugar beets. These products are so much in excess of anything of the kind in the states east of the Rocky mountains, that this report will, doubtless, bo received with incredulity. It is true, though, and can bo established by numerous affidavits, if neces sary. Not only have farming lands been found, but min erals also. The country abounds in coal, iron, lime, different kinds of stone, gypsum, gold, silver, etc. ine precious metals have been discovered in many places, but not yet in quantities warranting their ex tensive search. But little has been done with the iron discoveries. They have been located by enter Prising men, and formally entered at the government land oflice, They are near the summit of the Cas cade mountains, away from navigable streams and railroads, and for this reason their development has bo rar been impossible. This bar, however, is now in proves, of remoT.1, . line of Btsndard gMg6 raU. S " 40 ffork "nme8, and local "poctahons 'U -J disappointed il a thousand