SHORE. 107
WEST
The largest law mill in Oregon at present ia that of the Willamette
Steam Mills, Lumbering and Manufacturing Company, located on North
Front street, Portland. This company employs about 400 men in Its mill
and around the yards, and its daily output amounts to about 250,000 feet of
lumber a day. Extensive improvements are now in progress, however,
which will place this establishment second to but one mill on the Pacific
coast. Ad immense engine of 2,000-horse power capacity has been con
tracted for, and in addition to this all the machinery in the mill will be
taken out and replaced with more modern styles. The sawing will all be
done by machinery, where now the logs and lumber are handled by men.
The output of the mills will be increased to 450,000 feet per day when all
the changes are completed, the cost of the improvements being in the
neighborhood of $50,000. This is one of the largest manufacturing estab
lishments on the coast, and including logging camps, logging railroads and
steamboats, furnishes employment to over 1,000 men and disburses an
immense amount of money every month in the one item of wages. A
large sash and door factory Is also operated in connection with the mill,
and to this part of the plant has recently been added a dry house with a
capacity of 1,000 doors and 20.000 feet of lumber. The products of this
mill find market in all parts of the world, and foreign ships may be found
moored to its docks at all seasons of the year taking in cargoes which
greatly add to the reputation Portland has established as a manufacturing
and shipping center.
In enumerating reasons why it thinks the city of Aberdeen wiil grow
into one of the largest seaports on the Pacific coast, the Aberdeen Herald
says: That there is to be a great city on Gray's harbor is no longer a mat
ter oren to question ; comparative geography has decided this point beyond
dispute. From the Straits of Juan de Fuca to the harbor of San Diego, in
Southern California, a distance of 1,200 miles, there are but five natural
harbors: Puget sound, Grays harbor, Columbia river San Francisco and
San Diego. When one thinks of the hundreds of great seaport cities on the
Atlantic coast, whose aggregate population runs into the millions, because
of their outlet to commerce, the fact becomes patent to all, that with only
five harbors as outlets for the entire Pacific coast there must be great cities
built on their shores. But the especial claim of Aberdeen to b the city of
the harbor lies in the fact of her ideal business position. She is situated at
the junction of the Chebalis and Wisbkah rivers, one-half mile above
where the former empties into Gray's harbor. The river at this point is
from two to three thousand feet wide, and carries a depth of from forty to
seventy-five feet of water for a distance of four miles, and is completely
land-locked. The Wishkah river, which cuts the city in two, is 250 feet
wide, and carries a depth of thirty-five feet for distance of three miles
from its mouth. The city's harbor and wharfage lacilitiea, therefore, are
most excellent and extensive, and make it a natural location for the build
ing of a large city.
Port Crescent the bottom and approaches are sandy, offering the best pos
sible protection to the cable after once being laid. The length of the line
will be twenty-one miles, eleven of which will be cable. This line will be
operated as a competitor of the Facific Postal Telegraph Company, and will
undoubtedly act as an incentive to it to increase its present facilities.
The question of a supply of pure water has for a long time been a
serious problem for Tacoma, which now seems about to be solved. Sur
veys have been completed for a pipe line, twenty-three miles in length,
to run from a 5,000,000 gallon reservoir which will be filled from the abun
dant fbw of Green river, one of the numerous streams which find their way
to the sound from the heart of the Cascade mountains. The expense of
maintaining and operating a large pumping plant will be done away with,
as the source of supply is sufficiently elevated to give a heavy pressure in
the mains. Work will commence soon and will be pushed as rapidly as
men and means can do it. The estimated cost of the new system is $1,200,
000. The residents and property owners of Mukilteo, Washington, have
raised a large sum of money for the erection of free dock at that place.
Boats are invited from any and all ports, with a guaranty of no charges tor
wharfage, which is certainly an innovation in the history of eteamboating
on the sound waters. The railroad company will erect large docks and coal
bunkers, and negotiations are pending for the erection of a saw mill, a fine
hotel and an electric light plant. The carrying out of these projects will
greatly Increase the business of the town. Men to work on the railroad are
greatly needed, $2.50 a day being offered for laborers.
During twenty-five years past the boundary line dividing the counties
of Polk and Yamhill has had only an imaginary existence. No difficulty
has ever been experienced as a result of having no permanent establish
ment of the line, though no mutual agreement could be arrived at by former
representatives of the interests of the two counties. An agreement has at
last been reached, however, and parties of surveyors have established a line
and marked it by permanent iron monuments. Several thousand acres of
land are placed on the Yamhill side which have formerly been claimed by
Polk.
The assessment roll of Custer county, Montana, shows the total value
of property subject to taxation to be $0,107,405, an increase of $1,042,054
over the year 1880. The assessment includes the personal property of the
Crow Indian reservation, which was also included In the assessment of
1889. The net increase in the county proper amounts to $1,302,054, which
is certainly a very encouraging showing.
A good deal of attention is being directed toward the Okanogan country,
in Northern Washington, this year. Under development work the mines
of the Okanogan and Conconnully districts are rapidly increasing in rich
ness and only the handicap of being so remote from transportation routes
prevents them from ranking with such rich districts as the Caw d'Alene,
in Idaho. The Central Washington and the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern
railways, extending west from Spokane Falls, promise to give the Okanogan
country an outlet, but their progress has not been sufficiently rapid to suit
people having interests in that region so independent lines have been start
ed. The Ellensburgh & Northeastern is one of these lines. After about
twelve miles of this road were graded, however, Ellensburgh burned, and
the energies of the railway promoters were diverted to rebuilding the town.
Now that the city is rebuilt the road toward Okanogan is again claiming at
tention and preparations are being made la prosecuting the work. Spo
kane Falls capitalists also organised a railway enterprise for the Okanogan
this season, and capitalised the concern at $5,000,000. It is not at all like
ly that another year will pass without adequate transportation being pro
vided through the Big Bend country and to the rich mineral district to the
northwest. The Great Northern is by no means the least transportation
probability for that region.
A plan for giving Victoria, British Columbia, increased telegraphic
facilities is now under consideration by the Western Union, Northern Pacifio
and Great Northwestern telegraph companies. The scheme is to run a
cable from Port Crescent, on the south side of the Straits of Juan de Fuca,
to a point on Beecher bay, on the north side, and connect there with an
overland telegraph line to Victoria. It is thought permission will be readily
granted by the dominion government for landing the cable, and the nature
of the bottom of the straits at that point offars no obstruction to the early
completion of the project. At Dunginess, the place where the present cable
crosses, the shores and bottom of the straits are rocky and constantly inter
fere with the successful working of the line. At the proposed crossing from
A telephone system has been established at Pendleton, Oregon, which
will be operated in connection with the lines of the Inland Telegraph and
Telephone Company. This company has an extensive system of telegraph
and telephone lines ramifying the entire Palouse country. They also extend
northward as far as Lake Cu-ur d'Alene, Idaho, and to the south and west
to Walla Walla, Washington.
The Forest Grove Cannery Company filed articles of Incorporation last
week. The capital stock is placed at $10,000, of which amount over $l0,0JO
has been subscribed. In addition to operating a cannery and fruit preserv
ing establishment, numerous other branches of trade and traffic are per
mitted under Its incorporation articles.
A new electric railroad, eleven miles In length, la building between
Tacoma and Steilacoora. The equipment will be of the Thomson-Houston
system, and the contract requires the road to be finished and in operation
January 1, 181)1.
Denver capitalists are erecting works for the manufacture of paint (rom
the product of the mines recently discovered at Vollmer, Idaho. They will
also engage in the manufacture of linseed oil on an extensive scale.
Flans have been adopted and work commenced on a four-story hotel
for the Chebalis Land and Timber Company, at Chehalla, Washington.
The cost of the structure will be about $30,000.
The net value of all the taxable property in Clackamas county, Oregon,
is $3,296,034, an increase of $554,105 over (lie amount returned by the asses
sor for 1889.