WEST SHORE.
780
THE NEW TOWN OF DETROIT.
Puget sound proper is a comparatively restricted area of
water. It by no means takes in all of that vast body of water
putting inland from the ocean to which the name is ordinarily
applied. Admiralty inlet is a much larger body. So is Hood's
canal, which is the western arm extending around the west
side of that peninsula that is shaped so much like a spear
head. The numerous inlets, passages and bays jutting into the
land in all directions to the south and east of the Straits of
Fuca go by the general name of Puget sound. The sound
proper, however, includes only that water between Anderson's
island and the mainland to the southward and, with the excep
tion of Budd's inlet, at the head of which Olympia is situated,
is the southernmost ramification of the inland sea. Rounding
the point from Tacoma the NarrowB is passed and then the
steamer traverses Puget sound proper for fifteen or twenty
miles on its way to the capital.
From the western end of Puget sound an inlet extends due
north a distance of about fifteen miles. It is known as Case's
inlet. At the head of this inlet, on the weft side, is being
built the new town of Detroit. It is on an isthmus scarcely
more than a mile wide with Case's inlet on the east and the
extremity of Hood's canal on the west. Both bodies of water
are navigable for the largest craft. The construction of a ship
canal across the narrow isthmus is a matter of comparatively
small expense, as there are no important engineering difficulties
to overcome. The project simply involves the digging of a
ditch in which water of the two inlets can mingle. Then the
present Kitsap county peninsula will be another island in that
famous archipelago.
At Detroit there are none of the hampering influences that
often accompany old settlements and are not inaptly termed
mossbackism. It is new in every respect. The men who are
backing the town are well known and they are above any sus
picion of lending their names to bolster up wild cat town sites.
The advantageous location of that iBthmuB for building a flour
ishing city appealed to these men of large business experience,
and they secured the property and laid out the town. A saw
mill has already been built and is in operation, a fine hotel is
under construction, the site is nearly cleared of timber, streets
are being graded and sidewalks laid. A commodious wharf
has been built and boats land there regulai ly .
An important element oi strength of the new town lies in
the rich resources surrounding it. The country is very new.
No development work to speak of has been done. There is a
heavy growth of valuable timber extending back from the very
edge of the water. Coal and iron are known to exist in the
adjacent hills, and measures have already been inaugurated for
bringing out the wealth that now lies useless there. There is
good agricultural land near at hand. It Is a field entirely un
worked and it promises abundant profit to those who will assist
in its development
Eastern capital has for the past decade been seeking west
ern fields for profitable investment, and millions of dollars have
found employment in the west at rates which greatly increased
the earning power. During all the time a majority of eastern
men have apparently looked to real estate and building for secur
ity and profit, and have found a successful realization of their
most sanguine hopes. Some few have invested in mining prop
erties, and in seventy-five per cent, of cases where mines were
developed in a sensible and conservative manner the results
have been satisfactory, and Montana has never had a shadow
upon her reputation as a field for mining investment. But the
capitalists seem to have overlooked one of the very best of all
the opportunities presented for legitimate money making, viz ,
the building of canals. It is one of the few classes of invest
ment where the profits are absolutely certain. There is nothing
Montana needs so much as a judicious use of the water in
sight. There is really no scarcity of water for agricultural and
manufacturing purposes the lack is in facilities for its use.
Hundreds of thousands of inches of water flow to the larger
streams each year simply because the facilities for utilizing it
are not there. Ninety per cent, of the agricultural lands of
Montana would become valuable under a judiciously managed
water system. The average homesteader can not afford to build
the ditches required he has not the means ; but where he is
able to go into partnership with his neighbors for the conptruc
tion of a canal he has always found the returnB all that be
could desire. We commend the subject of canals to the capi
talists who are peeking investments. We believe there is no
class of improvement in Montana to-day which is better or
safer. A good ditch will pay ten per cent, per annum on its
coft. and in many cases the returns are double that percentage. -There
are many places where the canal builder may find a field,
and time will prove that no better expenditure can be made by
the capitalist, or one from which the returns are more satisfac
tory. It will pay the man with idle money to investigate the
matter. Helena Journal.
The Okanogan Mining and Railroad Company has been
. incorporated in Spokane Falls, with a capital of $5,000,000.
The incorporation's object is to secure railroad connection with
the vast Okanogan mining region, to build wagon roads through
the district, to build a town to be known as Okanogan City and
to generally develop the mines. With the exception of Colonel
W. Thomas Hart, who represents the largest and wealthiest
mining syndicate in the United States, the gentlemen who
incorporated the company are all of Spokane Falls. The com
pany is the outgrowth of six months' work on the part of Sam
uel I. Silverman, who sold the Fourth of July mine to Helena
parties. Extensive reduction works are to be constructed just
above the town on the bench of the mountain, in which most
of the mines are located. The Spokane Falls gentlemen who
have gone into the enterprise have done so with the expecta
tion of making their developments entirely in harmony with
the best interests of Spokane Falls, and add another source of
trade to that city. One of their principal objects will be to
secure railroad connection with Spokane Falls as soon as possi
ble. At the present time there are two railroads headed toward
the Okanogan district, the Spokane Falls & Northern and the
Washington Central.
Efforts are being made to secure a government survey of a
canal from Puget sound to Lake Washington.