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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1891)
154 THE WEST SHORE. DRIVING THK SII.VKR SIMKKS AT III.A1NK, WASHINGTON. AN INTERNATIONAL WEDDING. On tht fourteenth of February a ccmnony was performed that united forever the extreme western province of Canada with the extreme north western stale of the union with bands of steel. The last spike was driven uniting the Fairhaven & Southern and the New Westminster Southern rail roads, making a continuous line from the American transcontinental roads at Seattle to the great Canadian Pacific at New Westminster, B. C. The cere monies were held at the international line, just in the edge of the town of lllaine, through the north ern portion of which the boundary line runs. About 5,000 people were present nl the ceremony, nearly every city and town of the I'uget sound country on both sides of the line be ing represented, those from the south coming by boat and train and those from the north by train. There were present Governor Nelson and lady, of Brit ish Columbia, Governor Laughton and lady, of Washington, and many officials of the stale, prov ince, cities and railroads, besides prominent citizens. Directly over the bound ary line a beautiful arch was erected, one end in Washington and the other in Ilritish Columbia, deco rated with Hags and bunting, the north side bearing the inscription " lllaine, II. C." and the south side " lllaine, Washington." Suspended in the center were two clasped hands. Portraits of Queen Victoria and President Harri son ornamented the arch. Directly under the arch the last tie was laid and then the two connecting rails were put in place and all the spikes driven ex cept the (our on the boundary line, for which places silver spikes had been provided. Governors Nelson and Laughton approached from opposite sides of the line, and after being introduced by J. J. Donovan, chief engineer of the Fairhaven & Southern railroad company, each drove one of the silver spikes, the other two being driven by John Hendry, vice president of the New Westminster Southern, and C. X. Laralee, president of the Fairhaven & Southern. Two of the spikes had the initials of one road um them and two the other. The wives of the two governors were each presented with a solid sit ver hammer, insrrihed " International Houndary, February 14, 180,1. New Westminster Rail way, II. C. Fairhaven & Southern Rail way, Washington." Alter prayer by Rev, I). II. Drown, the two loco motives advanced and touched pilots at the boundary line amid the cheers of the crowd. A procession was then formed, and inarched through the streets of lllaine to the 0eni house, where a ktvIi of welcome was made by Mayor Corn ish, which was respond ed to by Governor Nel son, 'Governor Laugh ton, Hon. II. Y. Trmiup- best on Puget sound, directly opposite the best passes in the Cascade moun tains for railroad purposes, and surrounded by the greatest area of agricul tural land in the entire Puget sound country. It has grown with great rapid ity the past year, and this event will give it new importance and increased impulse. One of the first, results of this junction of the western ends of the rail road systems of Canada and the United States will be the running of trains of the Great Northern system to Seattle over this route. The Great Northern is building westward from Montana to Seattle and' Portland, but two years will elapse before its line will be completed, and it is stated that a trackage arrangement is being perfected with the Canadian Pacific by which the Great Northern can at once be gin running transcontinen tal trains. It is probable that this great system will have a number of termi nal points on the coast, the most northern of which will be Blaine and the most southern Portland, the latter being reached by a line now being con structed from Puget sound conjointly by the Great Northern and the Union Pacific, and also by a line down the north bank of the Columbia from East ern Washington, the one for which Portland sub scribed two million dol lars in bonds to George W. Hunt a year ago. One can but predict for Blaine, within whose limits this wedding of the rails took place, a period of growth indefinitely extended. A city standing in the doorway between two nations, whose interchange of commerce is increasing with great rapidity, must enjoy a healthy prosperity, and especially is this true when that city is a sea port and possesses such a magnificent harbor as that upon which the " In ternational city " is located. THE WASHINGTON SOLDIERS' HOME. Washington is the first of the northwestern states to provide a home for old and helpless soldiers. Provision was made for this by the first legislature and a Washington Soldiers' Home commission appointed to select a site, pro cure plans and erect the building, Orting, a town in the famous Puyallup valley, offered to donate $10,000 to the fund if the home were located in that town, and this offer was accepted. The accompanying engraving was made from plans prepared by V. A. Ritchie, (It Ml (If a mime 1 IMfctX fel ill I . Washington sui.mtiRs iiomk. ton, Mayor Blown, of New Westminster, lion. John Robson, premier of British Columbia, and Hon. Jay Ewing, I', S. consul at Victoria. The importance of this event can not lie overestimated, as it opens up to the people of each section the entire railroad system of the other, and is one of the steps necessary to the commercial union of the two countries, towanl which grral progress has been made the past few years. The city of Blaine, named in honor of the Maine statesman, from whom a telegram of congratu lation was received during the ceremonies, lies on Drayton harbor, one of the of Seattle, who has drawn the plans for so many of the public edifices of Washington. The home grounds will be beautifully ornamented, and the house itself will possess all the conveni ences and requisites for comfort and health such, an institution should . . have. Orting is one of the live towns of the Puget sound region, and is especially desirable as a I ration for a public institution. K. Meeker & Co's hop circular states that official figures show a larger crop of hop, in Oregon and Washington in .890 than formerly estimated, tang 25.000 hale, for the former and 50,000 for the latter, having .total value of 14,000,000, This i, a good showing for but a single industry.