volumeIIpage646-659

History of the Pacific Northwest
Oregon and Washington 1889
Volume II
Page 646 - 659

646 HISTORY OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST - OREGON AND WASHINGTON.

His wife, Josephine Dofflemyer, is a native of Olympia. The fruits of their union were six children, one of whom is deceased. Mr. Young is one of the broad-minded men of the place, and very energetic in the pursuit of his objects; and he has done as much as any one citizen of the beautiful city of Olympia to bring her great advantages to the knowledge of railroad people and capitalists. The results of his efforts will be seen - like the bread cast upon the waters - to return after many days.

MRS. SARAH ZACHARY. - This pioneer of 1843 is not only one of the first settlers of Oregon, but among the oldest persons in the Northwest. She has attained her eighty-sixth year, and is still in firm health and of sound mind. Eleven children were born to her, eight of whom are now living. She has seventy-six grandchildren, and sixty-five great-grandchildren.

She is a Kentuckian, born in 1804, and was married at Nineteen to Alex Zachary, with whom she moved to Arkansas in1824, and to Texas in1836, coming out to Oregon five years later. They were in the famous company f Applegate, Burnett, Nesmith and Shively, which was piloted by Doctor Whitman. They shared the usual hardships and pleasures of the company, experiencing nothing peculiar but a serious and almost fatal accident at the Kaw river. The ferry-bat with which the crossing wa made was overloaded and perhaps badly managed. At all events it sank in midstream, drawing down the goods and provisions, and scattering Mrs. Zachary and the nine children amid the waves and strong current. Quite a party of Indians were along he shore, who showed their goodwill by immediately diving into the water and bringing all the children safely to the land. Mrs. Zachary caught hold of an ox-yoke and was thus kept afloat, but not without being drifted far down stream before her rescue. As their entire outfit was thus lost, the distressed mother begged her husband to return and to temp the dangers of the way no more. But the other emigrants were ale each to spare a little of their provisions, and insisted upon the unfortunate family continuing the journey. The plains were crossed, and the old-fashioned method offloading the wagon and children on rafts at The Dalles, and from the Cascades by bateau, and driving the cattle over the trail north of Mount Hood, was brought into use; and the Zacharys found themselves at Oregon City safe and well.

Mr. Zachary bought the Five Oaks farm in Washington county, going to work almost immediately with the same cattle with which he had crossed the plains. He plowed and sowed fifty acres of land, and hauled sufficient rails to fence a hundred acres. This was thrift. This pioneer was born in1802 in North Carolina, moving west to Kentucky and finally to Oregon. He lived upon his magnificent farm until his death in 1859. He served during the Cayuse war, and went to California, gold-digging, in 1848. Of their eleven children eight are still living. Two of the daughters are in Washington county, and one in Wasco county, Oregon. Two of the sons are in Eastern Oregon; and the others are in the Willamette valley. The venerable Mrs. Zachary, still vigorous, makes her home with her second eldest daughter, Mrs. Emerick at Cornelius, Oregon, and enjoys life with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and is one of the mothers of Oregon. A world of interest, delight and pathos lingers about the sunset years of such a life as that of this lady.

DESCRIPTION OF SOME HISTORIC TOWNS, INDUSTRIES, ETC.

ARLINGTON, OREGON. - Not all virgins or virgin towns experience so favorable a change in material circumstances after changing their names as has the town of the above heading. The coy maid of Alkali (not a drawing appellation for the man who hoped to maintain himself on the land-dowry of the heiress of the wool ranches) has become transmogrified into the stately dame of Arlington; and, presto! her lands and storehouses are filled to overflowing; and in the markets of the wool exchanges, as well as in the rooms of the immigration bureaus, her name leads all the rest. Alkali was, in truth, a misnomer; for though there are some alkali in spots everywhere in the Upper Columbia basin, and in fact throughout the entire country west of the Rocky Mountains, there is no especial proportion of it in the vicinity of the place which formerly bore that sinister title.

Arlington, as people have now learned to call it, is particularly famous as the center of the wool trade in the Pacific Northwest. We might perhaps more accurately say that it divides that distinction with Heppner; for the land of the sheep lies between the two places, and mountainward from the latter. But we do not deem ourselves reckless in asserting that the future claim to greatness of the counties of Morrow, Gilliam and Wasco is going to be based on agriculture rather than on stock. The stock business has its valuable features; and no one should underestimate the enormous benefit that it has been to this coast. But it has had its day. It represents the nomadic type of industry, and can never compete with farming as an inducement to immigrants.

None will be more glad than the heavy sheep and cattle men of most of the region named to divide their range with the homeseeker. For they realize that, vast as are the capabilities of their section for the production of range stock, its ability to yield crops of grain and fruit and stalled cattle are even greater. And they realize, too, that the same enterprise which made them wealthy in the solitary occupation of the cowboy and sheep-rancher will stand them in stead in the more crowded and social conditions of farming and commercial life. Hence they await the inevitable and already enacting change.

DESCRIPTION OF SOME HISTORIC TOWNS, INDUSTRIES, ETC. 647

But mark, we do not mean to say that the wool business and the cattle business which have hitherto so largely built up the prosperity of
largely built up the prosperity of Arlington, Heppner and The Dalles, and which still constitute the largest single item in their account, will cease or even diminish. On the contrary, such is the vastness of those industries, and such the nature of much of the country through which they have their hold, that they will without doubt continue to flourish. But what we do mean to say is that the stock business will lose its relative importance; and that the regions contiguous to Arlington and Heppner will become, with the process of the years, sister cities to Pendleton, Walla Walla and Colfax, in the character of the products grown about them.

Consult your map again (we do nothing without maps), and you will discover that Arlington is situated on the Columbia river at a point just about midway between the mouth of the Snake river and the Cascades. It is the largest town between The Dalles and Walla Walla, having a population in 1889 of about twelve hundred. As you glance at the vast region naturally tributary to it, and especially if by actual observation you comprehend the resources yet lying in embryo in its vicinity, you will see easily enough that it has a reason for existence. The town may be said to have begun to be in 1881. At that time Rodkey's store and Kirby's stable were already in existence; and J.W. Smith erected a building since used as a warehouse. The Gilmore House and the Jordan Hotel were established the following year, and at once found an abundance to do in entertaining the numerous strangers whom the promising prospects of the place attracted thither. Two churches, a Congregational and a Methodist, were soon got under way; and, upon lots donated by J.W. Smith, there were erected buildings which were a great addition to the appearance of the embryo city.

In 1885 an important change took place; for in that year the county of Gilliam was established; and Arlington (thus newly named) was duly inaugurated as the county-seat. In that same year Messrs. Condon & Cornish established a bank, which was subsequently organized as the Arlington National Bank. There is another bank in the place, the First National, organized in 1887. At the organization of the county in 1885, the town was duly provided with a city charter and government, J.A. Thomas being the first mayor.

On March 22, 1888, Arlington underwent what seems to be the regular orthodox experience of all Pacific coast towns, i.e., a destructive fire. As in other places, too, this temporarily distressing event prepared the way for a better style of buildings, and ushered in the second period of the history of the place. Brick buildings became the watchword of improvement; and fire and water departments were organized on a scale that would do credit to a much larger place. The latter of these has the whole Columbia river to back it up, sufficient for all the cities of the earth. The water is pumped by steam power to a reservoir on the hill half a mile from the town, and is thence distributed to every house in the place. Adequate provision is made also for a supply to be used in case of fire; and, with the efficient fire company, there is little danger of a repetition of the disastrous experience of a year ago.

Arlington is practically the terminus of the Heppner branch of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company (though it diverges from the main line at the Willows); and it has the roundhouse and other features of railroad work, by which a number of men are employed. There are fifteen business houses of various kinds in Arlington, two banks, three hotels, two livery stables, two churches, good schools, and all the accessories of refined and progressive society. Among these we must not omit to mention the most potent agency of all, the press. The representative of this in Arlington is the Arlington Times, which is a consolidation of the Arlington Enterprise and Inland Times. We would urge emigrants to see this bright place and developing region before settling elsewhere.

place and developing region before settling elsewhere.

BLACKMAN BROS.' SAWMILL, SNOHOMISH, WASHINGTON. - The Blackman Bros.' sawmill at Snohomish is one of those mammoth concerns which are found on the shores of Puget Sound. It turns out some twenty million feet of lumber per year, - enough to build a city of ten thousand inhabitants every season. It was first erected in 1882, forty by one hundred feet; but to this has been made an addition of forty by one hundred feet, a shingle mill thirty by one hundred and twenty, and a dryer eighteen by seventy-two. Tis dryer they found expensive, but a necessity, as it was not remunerative to ship green shingles. The engine and machine-room is thirty by seventy feet, and is furnished with all the latest appliances. Fir, cedar and spruce are the principal sorts of lumber shipped; and the shingles all go to Ohio, the rest of the lumber readily finding a local market. A superior grade of lumber is manufactured, and is furnished already seasoned at the mill.

The Blackman Bros. log from their own land, of which they have thirty-four hundred acres, and operate four camps. The first of these, which was on Lake Blackman, has been discontinued; another adjoining the city of Snohomish is still productive after seven years of steady logging. The largest camp is on the Quellaceda, a small tributary of the Snohomish. Another rivaling this is at the junction of this river with the Skykomish; and the last is at Fort Susan, and is operated in company with a partner, W.W. Howard. What constitutes the public interest of these camps is the use in them of steam tram-cars for logging. This car is an exceedingly valuable invention, and was made and has been perfected by Mr. Hyrcanus Blackman. We will give here a short description of this car.

As all are aware, the difficulties of logging in our forests are very great. The logs themselves are so immense that it requires very heavy teams to move them. There is, moreover, no snow nor frozen ground, as at the East, upon which to move. Roads cut past trees, over knolls, and through holes, become very shortly a succession of quagmires. The skid road has been the chief reliance; but this is useless in the wet months; and in our deep forests on the coast the skidways do not dry out until June.

648 HISTORY OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST - OREGON AND WASHINGTON.

COLFAX, WASHINGTON.- It is interesting to notice the varying physiognomies of our cities. One, as Port Townsend, has the countenance of the sea, the blowzing airs, the salt spray, and the far look that comes from much gazing towards infinite expanses. Another, like Spokane, has the eager, self-centered and omnipresent expression that belongs to a manufacturing point. Colfax, too, has its typical look. This is the healthy and comfortable agricultural region. The raison dé être of its entire existence is evidently to supply the vast and fertile tract of farming land adjoining with the sundry accessories of the work of the agriculturist. It is sufficiently obvious to the observer that there is need of some town or towns to meet this need; for, new as Whitman county is (most of it being but about twelve years old), it now contains twenty-five thousand inhabitants; and its output of products is greater in proportion to its population than that of any county in the territory, unless it be Walla Walla.

There is one thing worthy of notice in the county, and that is, that though there are ten or twelve flourishing towns, their population is not large relative to that of the country; and hence the amount of business transacted is very large in proportion. This is peculiarly true of Colfax; for, though its population is but twenty-five hundred, its volume of business and its whole development is suited to a place of four times that. The contiguous country is so rich in farm products, and its prospective capacity so great, that the towns are taxed to the utmost to perform the business devolving upon them, while at the same time the actual number of people residing in them is not great.

Colfax is very pleasantly situated on the banks of the swift and cold Palouse, the north and south branches of which unite there. The general surface of the great plain is about two hundred feet above the stream, and is rolling and naturally destitute of timber. But a small fraction of it has yet been brought under cultivation; and what it may become is a matter which another century must be appealed to know. We have presented in another chapter some of the results of farming there. It is said that the gross money value of the various exchanges in Colfax is over seven million dollars per year. It is provided with excellent public schools, and has in addition a well-conducted college under the charge of the Baptist denomination, and also a convent in charge of the Catholics.

Among the various extensive public institutions of the city are an electric-light system, telephone and messenger service, foundry, creamery and packing house. There is also an excellent system of water works. Among the various business houses we find three banks, two bakeries, nine groceries, one feed store, two tailor shops, one flouring-mil, five dressmaking establishments, three paint shops, two wagon shops, one marble works, one photographic establishment, three drug stores, one auction house, three barber shops, four wash-houses, two machine shops, three jewelry stores, three loan agencies, four millinery stores, two hardware stores, three clothing stores, three harness shops, three furniture stores, three blacksmith shops, six grain warehouses, one fanning-mill factory, two sash and door factories, five livery and feed stables, two real-estate and insurance agencies, five agricultural establishments, four express and transfer lines, besides the usual number of restaurants, carpenter shops, etc. The grain warehouses have a capacity of a million bushels. There are also four hotels.

Like most of our new places, Colfax was originally built of slight wooden buildings; but latterly fine brick structures are taking their place. There are large lumber mills there.

In conclusion, the stranger may be safely advised to include the metropolis of the Palouse and its magnificent country in his system of travel.

FIRST NATIONAL BANK, SPRAGUE, WASHINGTON. - This bank is the outgrowth of the private banking business of Messrs. Fairweather & Brooke, who began business in Sprague in May, 1882. The bank was chartered as the First National Bank in July, 1886. It is the pioneer bank of Lincoln county. The capital, fully paid up, is fifty thousand dollars. It is in a flourishing condition, and is doing a business highly satisfactory to its

DESCRIPTION OF SOME HISTORIC TOWNS, INDUSTRIES, ETC. 649

stockholders, and acceptable to the community. The president is Mr. H.W. Fairweather. The cashier is Mr. George S. Brooke.

GONZAGA COLLEGE, SPOKANE FALLS, WASHINGTON. - This widely known institution, established by the fathers of the Society of Jesus, is one of the flourishing schools of learning in the Pacific Northwest, and is an attractive ornament to the city of Spokane Falls. In this rapidly developing center it finds a most advantageous location for its work. Being under the auspices of the powerful Jesuit Society, which commands wealth and talent to an almost unlimited degree, it is not half a section of beautifully lying land which the city is rapidly surrounding, it has in its own right an ample endowment. The college buildings and campus are situated on the bank of the Spokane river, and command an extensive view of the Spokane valley. The object of the school is declared to be to afford Catholic youth the facilities for securing a solid and complete education, based on the principles of religion, and calculated to fit them for a successful career in life. The building is large and commodious. The grounds are extensive, and afford ample facilities for outdoor amusements and to offer every advantage for a classical and commercial education, comprising Latin, Greek and English branches, with French and German optional. Christian doctrine is given a prominent place; and mathematics, particularly in the concrete form of book-keeping, have special attention. A preparatory course, as is common with the most of our Western colleges, is maintained; and all advance to higher grades is as a result of careful examinations. No pupils are admitted without preparatory examination; and their standing is thereby carefully determined. The ambition of the youth is stimulated by awards of merit and the distribution of medals, with a system of class standing.

The school year is divided into two terms, beginning respectively in September and February, and completes an entire session of ten months. The students are carefully supervised by the prefects, and, while furnished physical exercise and the opportunity of amusement, are not suffered to idle their time in the city, or to go back and forth to their homes without permission. The fee of two hundred and fifty dollars per session covers all expenses except those of travel, clothing, amusements, etc.; and the spending money of each student is to be left with the prefect, and subject to his direction in its use. The intercourse of the students is also subject to the inspection of the prefect, their letters being opened for his perusal, as well as all letters received by them.

A great enlargement is soon to be made in the accommodations. A building of truly magnificent proportions will be erected, and the institution be made equal to any of the Eastern Catholic colleges, and rival the famous institutions at San Francisco and Santa Clara, of California. it will be made to accommodate over four hundred students, and will maintain a high grade of studies. Of the twenty thousand population at Spokane Falls, three thousand are said to be of Catholic preferences.

The school is well equipped with a faculty of ability, numbering eight professors, prefects and instructors, under the efficient management of Rev. J. Rebbman, S.J., president, prefect of studies and treasurer. Probably no college in the Northwest has a more hopeful outlook.

HEPPNER, OREGON. - This active place, located nearly in the middle of Morrow county, of which it is the county-seat, is the twin of Arlington in the wool trade. It was founded by Henry Heppner, from whom it was named. it was at first, and in fact until about 1885, the time of the organization of the county, mainly a center of the wool and cattle business. But along through the middle of the present decade, there was a constantly increasing interest in the farming capabilities of the spacious region which is now comprehended in the new counties of Morrow and Gilliam.

This part of the great Columbia basin is drier than any other, unless it be the valley of the Yakima; but it has not the facilities for irrigating that that has. Hence it was for many years deemed devoid of all possibilities of successful agriculture. But, at about the time alluded to, there had been accumulated such a body of experience in regard to the results of "dry farming," that experiments on a large scale were tried with gratifying results. Dr. Blalock was the leader in this line of experiments; and his success near the place named from him stimulated others, until in a few years there were grain fields all over the supposed deserts of Butter and Willow creeks and the John Day and Des Chutes rivers. This vast region is in general less rolling and more easily traversed than the earlier developed land of the Palouse. A more beautiful, gently undulating surface than is seen on Shuttler Flat, for instance, or on much of the land in the near vicinity of Heppner or Arlington, cannot be imagined.

It is true that the rainfall is slight; but it is equally true that the permeability and friability of the soil are so great that with proper cultivation fine crops of almost everything can be raised without rain. The country is like an immense sponge, and absorbs the moisture which comes in the ocean of air that rises from the Pacific and bathes all the mountains and even these apparently arid plains. The author has seen the choicest of vegetables raised on land on which no rain had fallen from the time of planting to that of harvest. That was in the vicinity of Arlington; and even more favorable conditions of moisture and absorbtive power exist towards Heppner and the mountains.

The same fertility of soil and the same advantages of climate which are now producing vast crops of grain have in former years spent their energies in the formation of oceans of bunch-grass. On these bunch-grass hills cattle and sheep have ranged in almost countless numbers. The situation of Heppner, on the plains and yet within easy access of the mountains, is the best possible for success in directing and supplying the wool market; for accessibility to the mountains is one of the especial needs of the great flocks of sheep which during the spring range

650 HISTORY OF PACIIC NORTHWEST - OREGON AND WASHINGTON.

the plains. A change from bunch-grass to the pine-grass of the mountains, or the fine blue bunch-grass, the most nutritious of all kinds, is a great advantage to the sheep. Some of the great sheepmen have even driven their bands to the flanks of Mount Adams, one hundred miles across the Columbia, where, in the cool of the great elevation, and with opportunity for the purest of water and the most luxuriant of green feed, they appear to take on new life.

Built originally on the basis of supplying the business demands of the stockmen, especially those concerned in the rearing of sheep, Heppner has waked up at once to the new order of things which recent railroad development has fostered. It is no longer exclusively a "sheep town." Farms have been opened on the plains round about. Large stocks of goods in the stores and an abundance of new buildings, both of a residence and business character, attest the fact that Heppner is falling into line with the new conditions. One of the most potent factors in this new state of things is the branch line of railroad from the Willows to Heppner. This supplies one of the most imperative demands of Heppner and the region around. This branch is forty-five miles in length, extends from the Willows on the main line of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, and was completed in December 1888. Heppner is the present terminus.

Heppner contains at the present time about eight hundred people, there being a steady and constant increase. There are nineteen business houses of different kinds, besides the usual number of blacksmith and carpenter and tailor shops, restaurants, saloons, etc. There are two hotels, the Pioneer and the City. There are also two banks, the National Bank of Heppner and the First national. The large amount of business done by these two is some index to the great and varied resources of the region round about. There are two active real-estate and insurance agents, J.W. Morrow and Orrin L. Patterson, from whom any stranger or intending settler can secure needed information.

There are excellent schools in Heppner, and four churches, Baptist, Methodist, Methodist South, and Catholic. The Presbyterians also have an organization, but no building. Among the other notable structures of the town is the great roller mill of J.B. Sperry. It is one of the best of the kind; and the rapidly increasing grain crop of the region there pushes its capacity to the utmost. We cannot pass by in this brief enumeration the immense warehouse of the Morrow County Land & Trust Company. This is said to be the best structure of the kind in the Inland Empire. It is especially designed for the handling of wool. It may be readily supposed that there is need of such an establishment; for it is expected that there will be not less than three million pounds of wool shipped from Heppner this season. Last, but not least among the institutions of the City of the Plains, we must name the local paper, the Heppner Gazette, founded by Colonel J.W. Reddington, but now published by Otis Patterson. It is one of the most active and attractive journals in our vast interior.

This brief sketch gives but an inadequate view of the great resources of this place, and the country tributary to it. There are many undeveloped industries, from which the future will see important results. Such for example are the coal mines of Mattteson Brothers, eighteen miles from Heppner. Such also are the timber resources of the western spur of the Blue Mountains south of the town. and above all such are the enormous agricultural powers of Morrow county, largely latent as yet. The assessor's rolls for the past year show that there are in that county one hundred and fifty thousand acres of deeded land, eight thousand and forty-two horses and mules, seven thousand, three hundred and four cattle, one hundred and ninety thousand sheep, not counting lambs, of which there are seventy-six thousand. It is also estimated that there is a population of over five thousand people within its area.

LA CONNOR, WASHINGTON. - Among the multitude of attractive and salubrious towns on Puget Sound, La Connor, in Skagit county, is surpassed by none. This live town, whose buildings, people and general air are calculated to startle the traveler, who still has the mists of past days in his eyes, by their general metropolitan style and appearance, commands indeed a wide section of tributary country at its back, and a long sweep of water in front. As shown by our excellent engraving, it is picturesquely situated on an almost level shore, which rolls away in the distance, and give a view beyond of the towering Cascade Mountains, and the snowy Mount Baker.

Across the arm of the Sound which lies in front is seen the sinuous shore line of Whidby Island; while to the north opens the narrow pass leading to Paddle Bay. A little north of west, about twelve miles distant, is Deception Pass, dividing Fidalgo from Whidby Island, and making a passage way westward to the Strait of Fuca. Leading up on the south, or a little east of south, is a long level way of waters, making a deep, broad path for the boat or ship to Utsalady, and past the east shores of Whidby, along the Tulalip, Port Gardiner, and into the main sound to Seattle and Tacoma. With a fertile and extensive country at its back, and such facilities for navigation in front and to left and right, the future of La Connor as an important commercial point seems assured. It is well calculated to be the emporium for the large and productive Skagit valley, which is the most extensive, and, taken all in all, the most important, of any of the valleys opening on the Sound. The Skagit, the water-course of this region, is a powerful river nearly one hundred and fifty miles in length; and, drawing its waters largely from British Columbia, it cuts into the Cascade Range of mountains, making one of the deepest passes in the range.

From this fact it is believed that at some time a railway will be constructed to connect with some northern transcontinental line. If ever accomplished, as does not seem unlikely, large inland interest would be added to the local advantages of La Connor. In this view it must be confessed that she enjoys a rare position, and may well stand as a rival

DESCRIPTION OF SOME HISTORIC TOWNS, INDUSTRIES, ETC. 651

to Whatcom, and other ports on the east shore of the Lower Sound. Even if not looking so far ahead, and to such wide results, she possesses great attractions for the business man and capitalist, and will soon be the center of a railroad system extending along the east coast of the Sound, and up the Skagit valley.

This is found to be a delightful community for residence, and is blest with intelligent and refined society. It is a town where good taste and public spirit, and a love of good order and good morals, are well united to work the best results. Its people enjoy easy communication with other parts, having but a strip of twelve miles to reach Mount Vernon, the county-seat; and eighty-six miles brings them to Seattle. It is itself the seat of the district court. For the religious needs of the people, three churches are supported; and a circulating library contributes to literary culture and enjoyment. Among the hotels which may be named as well fitted for the accommodation of the traveling public is the McGlinn House, one of the best hotels on the coast. The four-story Planter's Hotel of Thomas Ligget is also well spoken of. It is there that the well-known Puget Sound Mail is published, a weekly paper, Republican in politics. It was established in 1873, and is owned by a company of which F. Leroy Carter is president, and June Henderson secretary. The town is supplied by over a dozen mercantile houses of all descriptions, meat markets, photograph gallery, restaurants, blacksmith shops, dental rooms, drug stores, etc., and such like institutions as are to be found in our more comfortable towns.

The public school is supported with great enthusiasm, the citizens being ever ready to carry it to its highest efficiency. There is no more popular man or successful merchant than Bedford L. Martin, of this place, a biographical sketch of whom will be found in this volume. The Skagit County Bank is presided over by William E. Schricker, who is also proprietor. This institution is on a sound basis, and in a flourishing condition.

Among those thoroughly known throughout Washington as a man of recognized ability, not only in his profession, but also in public matters, is Doctor George V. Calhoun, who was for many years a resident of Port Townsend, but has in these later times made his home at La Connor. A succinct account of his life and work will be found on another page. Among other public names may be found those of Mr. H.S. Connor, Honorable James O. Loughlin, Mr. Perry Polson, agent of the Northwest Express Company, and also hardware dealer, and Messrs. James and George Gashes, general merchants. A personal acquaintance with the people of this town only confirms one in the opinion that it is on a thriving basis, and has the promise of large future growth; and it assures one that the best interests of the community, educationally and morally, as well as commercially, will ever be well guided.

The present population is nearly one thousand, and is increasing. In the growth that is coming so rapidly throughout the whole of Washington, and, so to say, the transference of empire to the Western waters, La Connor is destined to have no inconspicuous part.

LA GRANDE, OREGON. - Persons have been heard to remark, "What a pity that the great plains of the Columbia are broken in Eastern Oregon by the tangled range of the Blue Mountains!" But to one familiar with the country it is evident that, though much land is occupied by these mountains which might otherwise be plowed yet these same mountains are after all the indispensable conditions of the fertility and productiveness of the greater part of the entire southern half of the Columbia basin. With their multiplied fingers they reach up into the clouds and wring the moisture from them and strew it over the plains. From the disintegrated fragments of their jagged volcanic declivities, the countless streams and icy springs wash the sediment that has made the rich acres of plow land far below.

The Blue Mountains are, in short, the chief agency which make Northeastern Oregon and Southeastern Washington a garden instead of a desert. Timber, rain, pure water, mineral resources, cooling breezes, and a wealth of scenic beauty, - such are some of the benefactions of this great triangular range of mountains, such that a more imaginative age might deify them as the old Egyptians did the Nile. But it is not to be inferred that these mountains are destitute of tillable land. On the contrary, their slopes and plateaus embrace millions of acres of the choicest land, while in their eastern part are three great valleys or parks. These are the Grande Ronde, the Wallowa and the Powder river; of these three, the chiefest is the Grande Ronde. Though not quite equal to the Wallowa in territorial extent, it has a greater part that is tillable, and is enough lower to have a very material advantage in the productions of the farm and orchard, and especially of the garden. This lovely park, about twenty miles each way (with extensive foot-hill additions), lies like an emerald in its setting of rugged and snow-tipped heights.

In a sheltered nook in the southern part of the valley is the city of La Grande, the metropolis of this portion of the Blue Mountains. Though settled long ago, it grew slowly, as did all the towns of Old Oregon. In its isolation, walled round with vast heights of rock, inaccessible from the outside during the winter, it had merely a local trade, proportioned to the slow growth of the rich, beautiful, healthful, but remote valley around it. But in the year 1884 all that was changed. The railroad was put through the valley. A station was established in the outskirts of La Grande. It became a part of the world; and forthwith, as by magic, it sprung into the knowledge and appreciation of the world.

During the five years from 1884 to the present date, the population has increased from five hundred or six hundred, to over two thousand; while the people of the valley have in the same time increased from about eight thousand to over twelve thousand. This population is indeed small compared to the possibilities of the region and the place. As is the case with many of the towns of the Pacific coast, the number of people in a place is hardly a proper measure of its business importance. Two thousand people would hardly seem more than a little village

652 HISTORY OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST - OREGON AND WASHINGTON.

in Ohio or New York; but in Oregon it may mean, and in this case does very emphatically mean, a city.

The business of a tract of land (including the Grande Ronde and Wallowa valleys as well as the Indian valley and the vast plateau regions joining the three to each other) of not less than twenty-five hundred square miles in area, and containing about twenty-five thousand people, practically centers in La Grande. It has a great diversity of industries represented in this business. Agriculture is of course the basis. Wheat is legal tender for everything, and the measure of all values. When we consider that this grain produces an average of forty bushels to the acre here, we are not surprised at its importance in the Market.

Statistics of freight receipts at the railroad station at La Grande give one some conception of its immense production. These statistics show that shipments for 1888 averaged eight carloads a day, or three trains a week of nineteen cars each, classified as follows: Stock four hundred cars, hay one hundred, flour one hundred, wool fifty, lumber two hundred and fifty, wheat and barley one thousand, and railroad ties six hundred, during the year. The amount shipped to La Grande in the way of merchandise is in proportion, and is said to amount to ten tons a day. It is, in fact, a greater amount than is received at any station in the state except Portland.

Besides the great amount of agricultural products shipped from that city, there is, as the statistics just given indicate, a very large lumber trade. Encircling the Grande Ronde, Wallowa, Powder river and Indian valleys is a vast timber belt, consisting of tamarack, fir and pine. In these forest a number of large mills have been of late established. There are at or within a short distance of La Grande a score or more of these mills, the combined capacity of which is over one hundred thousand feet per day.

But, besides the products of the farms and the forest, there is vast mineral wealth in the mountains around the city, the results of which are felt in the distribution of money there, and the establishment of the various enterprises which mark the mining interest. It is well settled that the ancient granitic belt of the Blue Mountains (which is on the eastern side, the western being exclusively a lava formation) is one of the most promising gold belts in the Northwest.

We can hardly overestimate the importance to La Grande of the diversity of interests which will be secured by such a combination of capabilities. The present appearance of the city is a good proof of its rapidly growing prosperity. It now contains over sixty business houses, among which we note ten general stores, four variety stores, two hardware, two furniture, three drug, besides three good hotels and the usual number of restaurants, shops, etc. There is also a very successful creamery just fairly under way, with a capacity of one thousand pounds a day. In addition we observe a large planing-mill, with sash and door factory adjoining.

In short, in whatever direction we look in La Grande, we see growing enterprises and brilliant possibilities. In the marvelous beauty of the surroundings, in the invigorating quality of the climate, and in the rapid unfolding of its business opportunities, it may well be said that it is one of the marked towns of the Northwest.

THE MOXEE COMPANY, YAKIMA COUNTY, WASHNGTON. - The Moxee Irrigating Company of the Yakima valley is one of the great institutions of Central Washington. by the impetus which has been given to scientific and methodical irrigating in the rich but arid region of the Yakima, Washington is almost approaching the San Joaquin valley of California as the home of "intensive" farming. The Moxee valley is on the north or northeast side of the Yakima river, nearly opposite the Atahnum. This fertile tract of land was taken by the company as the scene of their experiment in irrigating. Having ample means (being sustained by Eastern capital) they secured five thousand acres of choice land, which they proceeded to cover by well-constructed ditches from the Yakima river.

Two hundred thousand dollars in all have been expended; and the land is now ready for subdivision into fifty-acre tracts. These small farms are to be sold at an average price of seven hundred and fifty dollars. In addition to this the company expects to charge about seventy-five dollars a year for water. When thus subdivided and irrigated, this beautiful tract of land will produce immense quantities of fruit, garden truck, tobacco, hops, sorghum, etc., such as will place its happy residents in a condition of prosperity far beyond that of the average wheat farmer, even on the rich lands of the Palouse or the Umatilla.

The "Home Farm" of the Moxee Company is six miles from the city of Yakima, and is almost an ideal rural residence, surrounded with every comfort and many of the luxuries of life. All in all the Moxee experiment (though now hardly an experiment) is one of the most interesting and important of all the valuable enterprises which the last years have witnessed in this territory. In addition to their other work, they have done much to introduce fine stock into the territory. They have a number of thoroughbred black Polled Angus and Hereford cattle. By their example in these various lines of farming, they are a constant incentive to their neighbors to reach a like improvement.

NORTH PACIFIC COAL COMPANY, ROSLYN, WASHINGTON. - The mineral belt on the east slope of the Cascade Mountains in the State of Washington is proving very extensive. The coal croppings at Roslyn indicate a large field not yet wholly explored. The portion delimited, and belonging to the North Pacific Coal Company, comprises about thirty thousand acres, containing sufficient coal, at a product of three million tons per annum. There are two beds open. The first shipment from the Roslyn veins was made December 15, 1886. The capacity of this mine is one thousand tons per day. The second mine, two miles from Roslyn, also

DESCRIPTION OF SOME HISTORIC TOWNS, INDUSTRIES, ETC. 653

has a capacity of a thousand tons per day. There has been a demand for as much as four thousand tons per day; and the railway branch line three miles long from Cle-Elum to Roslyn will be extended to open other mines, and to reach the great deposits of iron, copper, plumbago and silver which are on Lake Cle-Elum and towards Mount Steward.

Three-quarters of a million dollars have been spent by this company in making developments and erecting works; and they will soon be employing two thousand man. The vein of coal now worked is five feet thick, with shale or dirt, and comes out in large lumps. It burns to a red ash, leaves no clinker, and makes a fair coke. Besides the coal, natural burning gas has been discovered; and there are good indications of petroleum. A very valuable light sandstone is here obtained, having the peculiar quality of withstanding fire, so that it is utilizable in place of firebrick. Besides the minerals there are found on the mountain slopes a great bodies of the most valuable timber. For its own purposes and for export the company operates a sawmill with a capacity of thirty thousand feet per diem. We present an excellent view.

PATAHA CITY, WASHINGTON. - The city with the high-sounding name above given is a fine example of the substantial country towns which more than any other kind embody the essential principles of progress in a new country. The great cities may be the brains of a country; but the villages are its lungs. A country in which villages do not naturally and abundantly spring up has something radically wrong with it. We have a strong example of that evil tendency in some parts of California; and the soulless, oligarchico-slave population (if we may be permitted such an expression) which congregates in such places, is a forcible reminder of what other countries may look for that do not encourage homes and a home type of life. For that country is doomed that does not have homes; and home-life seeks its best expression in the village, equally distant from the isolation and meager opportunities of the country, and the shoddy pomp of the great cities.

Thus far our Northwest has been very fortunate in the normal character of its growth, and the solid core of real manhood and womanhood developed among its people. At no point in the rapidly developing country of Eastern Washington is there a more pleasing home village than Pataha City. It is one of three rival villages founded about twelve years ago, - Pataha, Mulkeyville and Pomeroy. Of these three the first-named was located highest up on the creek, and the last-named the lowest. Mulkeyville and Pomeroy were named for their respective founders. The former was manifestly destined for something else than a village, and gracefully yielded the ghost; while the latter continued to grow, and has now become the county-seat of Garfield county. Pataha is but two and a half miles from Pomeroy, and like it is stretched gracefully along the banks of the rushing Pataha creek.

The sources of the prosperity of Pataha are sufficiently manifest in the magnificent grain fields which stretch in all directions from it. The country thereabouts is a plateau elevated probably fifteen hundred feet above Snake river. Though this elevation causes the cañons of the main streams to be very deep and steep; yet, once upon the general level, it can be seen that the country is quite smooth, much more so in fact than the greater part of the region north of the Snake. It is of the very finest for wheat-raising. The yield is from twenty-five to sixty bushels per acre. Land is cheap, too, considering its excellence and advantages of location. From ten to thirty dollars may be considered about the range of farming lands within a distance of a dozen miles from Pataha.

As to the town itself, we may add that it has an excellent location in the midst of the fine country surrounding it. Its present population is about five hundred. It is substantially built, and has a dozen well-equipped business houses of all kinds. There is one bank owned by Captain John Harford. This same gentleman is also half owner of a large flouring-mill. This mill is a completely furnished roller mill, one of the best in all the upper country. It is in fact the chief claim of the town to distinction so far as special lines of business are concerned. Such is one of the bright little places typical of this second period of growth of the Northwest.

THE PIONEER PRINTING PRESS. - One of the most remarkable relics of pioneer days now reposes in a quiet nook in the capitol building at Salem. Though of small intrinsic value, it is priceless as a souvenir of those historic days that tried the souls of pioneers. as a memento of the struggle to civilize and christianize the land now so marvelously advancing, it will be held in veneration by the children's children of those who bore the brunt of that struggle. this relic is the pioneer printing press of Oregon.

In the year 1819 this very printing press was borne by a company of missionaries in a ship from Boston to the Sandwich Islands. Reaching Honolulu these devoted missionaries employed it, with their other agencies, in their wonderfully successful attempts to redeem those fair islands. So great became the demand for books and papers, that the capacity of this small press was soon outgrown; and it became necessary to send home for a completer outfit. The old press was then presented to the American Board to be used in the new mission in Oregon. Thither it was transported in 1839, and was taken to the Lapwai Mission on the Clearwater. There the missionary Spalding used it for printing hymns, parts of scripture, etc., in the Nez Perce, Spokane and Flathead tongues. Some of the books thus made are preserved to this day by the Indians, so deeply impressed were they with their worth a half century ago.

Edwin O. Hall, with his wife, came to this country with this printing press, and during the year of his stay operated it, thus being the first printer of the Pacific Northwest. After his return to the East, several persons tried their hands at "setting up." Among these was N.G. Foisy, who died in Marion county in 1879. After the Whitman massacre, and the consequent abandonment of the eastern missions, the invaluable press went to the Tualatin Plains into the hands of Rev. J.S. Griffin. He established

654 HISTORY OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST - OREGON AND WASHINGTON.

the second newspaper in the territory, calling it the Oregon American Evangelical Unionist. When the mining excitement in California attracted the printers, with so many others, the paper suspended publication; and the press, worn and rusty with age, went out of use forever.

A few years ago it was presented to the State of Oregon by Mr. Griffin and Mrs. Spalding. It will be held in trust by the state in its present place, until a fitting and permanent receptacle is provided.

PORT TOWNSEND, WASHINGTON. - This city is a striking example of the peculiarity common to a number of the now growing places of the Northwest. It is now having a second growth. Like Salem, Vancouver, Corvallis, Astoria and Seattle, it is an old town, founded in the infancy of the country, partaking of the slow growth and isolation which marked th early history of Oregon. Though in a new and undeveloped country. those cities were old in all the traits which mark the character of cities at the time of the great business awakening which has sprung out of the completion of the great railway lines to the East.

Up to that time additions to the population had been few and scattering. The business methods which the people had learned in the East in the forties and fifties they had retained; while the great world beyond the mountains had been whirling past them. They had become very set in their ways. They were, though large-hearted and generous to an unusual degree, averse to new methods, and not inclined to enterprise of any daring kind.

Old Oregon and Washington presented, in short, the phenomenon of an old-new country. But, with the completion of the great railway lines in the eighties, all was suddenly changed. Immigration rushed in, new methods and new enterprises were introduced at a rate which startled the natives at first, but which, with the substantial basis of character and industry which they possessed in spit of their apparent sluggishness, they were quick to learn and become foremost in taking advantage of.

And thus the whole business and social fabric of the Northwest is being transformed. None of our cities have been quicker than Port Townsend to take advantage of the new order of things. Its dry bones have been mightily shaken up within the last year. Its pleasant lawns and half-wild picturesque suburbs which were for so many years the delight of artists and tourists, and the despair of its ambitious business men, have as if by magic assumed the character of bustling enterprise.

It is the object of this sketch to ascertain some of the reasons for this ancient "port of entry" to be thus so speedily clothed in the habiliments of modern life, to so quickly assume the style and attain the advantages of the new epoch, the second growth in the history of the Northwest. We must seek the answer, first in the location, second in the outlying resources, and third in the facilities for transportation. As to the first, look at your map, that indispensable companion of every intelligent student of a country. You will observe that Port Townsend sits at the gates of the sea. She has spread out her pleasant homes and her great wharves and multiplying business buildings just at the angle between the southeastern end of the strait of Fuca and the northwest end of Admiralty Inlet. It is located where it catches the business both ways. A glance at the map is sufficient to indicate this commanding situation, - far enough inland to be near the centers of production, and far enough seaward to be easily and cheaply and safely accessible at all times from the ocean.

But the flat surface of a map is inadequate to fully impress upon the mind of the stranger the opportunities offered here in the way of location. He should come to the city itself and enter the magnificent bay, confessedly a notch ahead of any on the Sound. He must then climb with us the bold height of San Juan de Fuca, a name preserving, as does that of the Strait, the memory of the mythical navigator who "passed by divers islands in that sailing," which he says took him from the waters of the Pacific to those of the Atlantic. From this picturesque height we look down on the bold margin of bluff and "juts of pointed crag" along the edge of the wide expanse of waters, which farther out are of the richest sea hues, and on which the setting sun may "turn to yellow gold its salt-green streams" Thirty miles to the north he may see the bluffy edging of the luminous horizon which marks the presence of the beautiful archipelago of San Juan. Eastward and near at hand is the blue elevation of Whidby Island. Far way to the northeast, old Baker, with his coronet of ice, holds sway; while, in solitary and unapproachable grandeur, Tacoma, with its triple heights far within the zone of perpetual congelation, makes majestic the already beautiful landscape of the southeast. A rare combination of scenic attractions, surely, notable even in this land of grandeur.

What in the second place may be said of the natural resources of the country about Port Townsend? There is timber, of course, oceans of it; but so is there elsewhere on the Sound. The multiplied fingers of this unapproachable body of waters have clutched within their grasp an infinity of that indispensable product. And yet, though timber is no rarity on all the shores of this inland sea, it exists in even unusual quantities here, and of even marked excellence; and it is moreover uncommonly easy to get at. The mills of Hadlock and Port Discovery, together with the local mills at the city itself, turn out over four hundred thousand feet of lumber a day. In addition to this there are the mammoth concerns of Port Ludlow and Port Townsend, which are within the general sweep of the influence of Port Townsend, and will in the future much more than in the past contribute to its support. So vast is the timber supply in the great belt south of this city, that it is estimated that it will yield a hundred million feet to the mile along the proposed line of the Port Townsend & Southern Railroad.

But the timber resource is not the only one within the reach of this fortunately located place. Its agricultural possibilities are, as compared with most of the Sound country, very considerable. There are five valleys, small indeed compared to the farming regions of the Willamette or the East-of-the-

DESCRIPTION OF SOME HISTORIC TOWNS, INDUSTRIES, ETC. 655

Mountain country, and yet in the aggregate being very considerable. the soil, too, is of the most fertile character and peculiarly adapted to fruit and hop culture. These valleys are Leland, Tarbou, Quilcene, Chimicum, and - most marvelously named of all - the Docewallops. In addition to these fertile spots on the mainland, we must add the fertile bits of the islands, which, though small individually, constitute an extensive aggregate of very desirable land, which is being fast settled and will become more and more dependent on Port Townsend for its supplies.

There is one fact in regard to the whole region contiguous to Port Townsend, already alluded to elsewhere in these pages, but so remarkable as to demand mention here, and that is the warmth and dryness of the climate. It is almost like the climate of that part of the coast of California south of Point Concepcion. The sun shines far more than in the Willamette valley or along the eastern side of the Sound. While the rainfall is thus so mall relatively, - not more than two-thirds that at most points on the Sound, - the temperature is not less in winter than in Eastern Washington, but is increased by the union of the sunshine and the bland and scented airs from the sea. The result is a climate which for pleasantness and healthfulness has scarcely any equal on the coast.

The cause of this peculiar phenomenon in regard to the climate seems to be that the snowy Olympic Range to the west and southwest catch and "milk" the clouds on the western and southern slopes, and that the ocean airs thus pas over the island region robbed of their moisture. The comparative smallness of these mountains prevents any very extensive area from being thus sheltered; and hence to both the north and south the ordinary amount of rain and fog and cloud prevails; while the Port Townsend region is bathed in almost perpetual sunlight. It is a repetition on a small scale of the physical conditions which create the dry climate throughout the Upper Columbia basin.

But timber and agriculture are but two of a host of resources about our city. We must needs speak of the iron mines, vast in extent, and the only ones in Washington in which iron ore is yet reduced to pig iron. Irondale, across the bay to the south from the city, is the center of the iron industry. The furnaces there have a capacity of fifty-five thousand tons per day. The Port Townsend foundry and machine shops are the natural adjuncts of these furnaces, which are already so far equipped that they can make in all parts and turn out for business a first-class vessel. It is said that the heaviest of ship castings can be successfully cast here, and that the work of any foundry in the United States can be reproduced.

A fourth great resource of this city is manufacturing. From what we have already said of the quantity of iron and lumber, it is sufficiently obvious that manufactures are soon to be turned out here at a rate commensurate with the raw material which abounds on every hand.

Such is a very incomplete account of the natural resources contributory to Port Townsend; and now, thirdly, what may we say of her means of transportation and traffic? And first under this head, we may inquire as to the oldest and most easy method of transportation, viz., by water. It is scarcely necessary to ask whether the place is well situated for shipping. There would be no need of having maps if this question were not at once settled by reference to one. Anything that can float and go anywhere can get to Port Townsend at any time and in any kind of weather. The broad and soundless depths of the Strait of Juan de Fuca open invitingly before the mariner, bidding him enter. Tugs and pilots are at a discount here. Anybody can go anywhere. The winds are sometimes very heavy; but so uniform and reliable are they, that they constitute no impediment to navigation.

The number of ships annually stopping at this outmost port the Sound system of waters is something astonishing to the man who has not examined the mater. During the fiscal year ending June 1, 1888, there were 971 entrances, with a total tonnage of 834,104 tons, and 954 clearances, with a total tonnage of 804,853 tons. The trade brought to the city by the vessels and sailors is estimated to be more than four million dollars annually; while the entire trade is considered to double that. Much of the Alaska trade centers at Port Townsend.

But the modern era demands railroads; and our city, though having such unrivaled facilities for navigation, is not to be behind the procession in the matter of railroad equipment. Already there is being equipped and gotten under way a very important and extensive system of rail communication with the centers of grain and other agricultural production. This road, the completion of which will mark the most important era in the history of the place, is the Port Townsend & Southern. This will extend from Port Townsend along the western shore of the Sound through a region rich in timber and mineral resources, and, in places, of farming capability, to its ultimate destination, Portland, two hundred and seven miles distant. This road is to be a very important factor in solving some of the transportation problems which now vex the souls of interstate shippers.

As may very readily be inferred from the view which these statements give of the present progress of this place, there is a marvelous transformation in building and all other features in the external presentment of the city. Its naturally rather rugged site is being subjected to a process of grading and improvement such as it never knew before. Rapid as has been the growth of the boom in real estate - a perfectly legitimate and healthful boom - that in building has fairly kept pace with it. During the present summer it is said that there are now in process of construction not less than three hundred and fifty buildings, - more than twice the number of a year ago; while three years ago the number of buildings under way was not great enough to count. Of this number - truly an extraordinary number in a place of only five thousand inhabitants - there are some twenty-five or twenty-eight businesses houses, some of which have "cost money." Several have cost in the neighborhood of twenty thousand dollars; while one has cost nearly fifty thousand dollars. Among the number are many attractive residences.

656 HISTORY OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST - OREGON AND WASHINGTON.

The place has, in fact, rare natural inducements for residences. The hill already alluded to, San Juan hill, has been eagerly sought for residence purposes; and at an early day its commanding height will no doubt be crowned with homes which will be in harmony with their marvelous surroundings of natural beauty.

In conclusion we can only say to the one interested in progress and intelligent devotion of a people to the proper development of their resources, Go to Port Townsend and learn something.

PROSSER, WASHINGTON. - This enterprising young place is the business center of the great region known as the Lower Yakima country. The rare natural advantages of the upper part of that valley contiguous to North Yakima and Ellensburgh have long been known; and their productive power has been amply demonstrated. The lower part of the valley has been less developed, and its desirability less noised abroad. This is partly due to the fact that the vast Yakima Indian Reservation occupies so much territory as to give strangers the impression that there is no room for anything else. Then again the rainfall steadily decreased towards the eastward and intending settlers, not fully conversant with methods of irrigation, are deterred thereby from planting themselves in the midst of such apparent sterility.

But the time has now come when it is generally known that there is a large area of the richest land in the Lower Yakima country. It is known, too, that though it is almost destitute of rain, its facilities for irrigation are so great that the farmer is not "beholden" to the clouds, but can control his rainfall to suit himself. This immense region extends from the eastern bounds of the Indian reservation to the Columbia river, and from the Rattlesnake Mountains on the north to the Horse Heaven country on the south. It is almost enough for a small empire in itself, and till within two or three years was without settlements or dwellings aside from the rude huts of the stockmen in various sheltered nooks.

The part of this country immediately contiguous to the Yakima river is rich valley land covered with wild rye and sage-brush, and forming a strip some thirty miles long and six or eight wide. This is capable of unlimited cheap irrigation from the river. The high lands adjoining are rolling bunch-grass prairie, exceedingly fertile, and though too high in general for irrigating, yet by the common peculiarity of the climate having so much more rain that there is ordinarily no need of artificial water supply.

In the midst of this beautiful and prospectively wealthy land lies the town of Prosser. It was founded and named by Colonel William F. Prosser, one of the solid men of North Yakima. It is about fifty miles southeast of North Yakima, on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Its elevation above the sea is about six hundred feet; and by reason of this low level the climate is warm; and the products of every part of the temperate zone reach the finest development in the vicinity.

There is located here one of the finest gristmills in the territory, owned by L.A. Heinzerling & Company. There are well-stocked stores, among which may be especially named the drug store of Mr. Carl Jensen. Here are the greatest falls of the Yakima river. The total descent is about fifty feet. The water-power thus afforded is almost limitless; and it will no doubt be taken advantage of by numerous manufactures in the near future. The view of this place which accompanies this sketch will convey to the reader an impression of its pleasant site. The rushing river in front, the fertile valley adjoining, the rolling hills beyond, and in the far distance the stupendous bulk of Mount Adams, - these combine to make an ideal location for what will sometime be one of the largest places of Central Washington.

ROSLYN, WASHINGTON. - One by one the treasures of the wilderness are yielded up. Although our Northwestern land is so new, its enterprising spirits have already penetrated deeply into its mountain labyrinths, and have discovered the wonders of its interior and its long-treasured wealth. The various forms of mineral resource have been longest hid. New mines of coal, iron, copper, gold and silver are almost daily startling the eager outposts of enterprise. When fairly discovered they do not stand long on the order of their development. The present age of enterprise in our country just touches the rugged and desolate mountain; and forthwith, as by a magical wand, the hidden riches pour forth.

The town of Roslyn is the focal point in one of these quickly unfolding mineral founts of wealth in Washington. What Baker City is to the gold region of Oregon, what Wardner is to the silver belt of the Coeur d'Alenes, what Butte is to the copper and silver mines of the Central Montana, Roslyn is to the coal mines of the Cascades. A description of this town is of necessity a description of the mineral region which contains it and its future growth.

It may be remarked in the first place that the entire portion of Kittitass county within the limits of the Cascade Mountains is bountifully supplied with minerals of nearly all kinds, though coal and iron take the leading places. The Roslyn or Cle-Elum coal field, as thus far developed, is about thirteen miles long and four or five wide. It contains three distinct veins, the one now chiefly worked being five feet thick. The coal is of very fair quality. The field is owned by the Northern Pacific Coal Company. Although there has been during the past year a good deal of trouble in adjusting terms of agreement between the company and the miners, there is now harmony; and the production is going on at the rate of one thousand tons a day. The total output for the year 1888 was two hundred and thirty-four thousand, two hundred and one tons, being considerably in excess of that of any other point in the state. The coal is shipped to all parts of Washington.

As to the town itself, thus surrounded and supported, it may suffice to say that it is a typical mining town of the West, lively, progressive, changing so rapidly that a description will hardly keep long enough to be accurate. It is situated on a branch of the main line of the Northern, four

DESCRIPTION OF SOME HISTORIC TOWNS, INDUSTRIES, ETC. 657

miles from Cle-Elum Junction. In the spring of 1886 the town consisted of a few prospectors' tents; while all around lay the majestic solitudes of the Cascade Mountains in their most rugged point. In the fall of 1886 the first buildings were erected. By April, 1888, it reported thirteen hundred inhabitants, four hotels, six general stores, and other lines of business in proportion. It has steadily improved since that time, and now has a population of probably not less than sixteen or seventeen hundred. Although so new, it has kept up with the times in the establishment of schools and churches, being well provided with the former and having three of the latter. The Knights of Labor have a peculiarly strong organization here, consisting of over three hundred members, and being provided with the largest building in the place.

SNOHOMISH, WASHINGTON. - The great business boom on Puget Sound has not omitted this most attractive place from its raging. Nor are there many places where the natural combination of resources of production and transportation and manufacture present a higher average than here. As will be seen from a glance at the map, Snohomish is located on the Snohomish river in nearly the central part of the inhabited portion of the county of the same oft-repeated and musical name. The county is almost square in shape, being thirty-six by about forty miles in extent, and extends from the summit of the Cascade Mountains to the western shore of the Sound. Within this area are resources almost limitless in extent and variety. Like the Sound country in general, these resources are mainly timber; and of these we may indicate the past and present immensity by saying that it is estimated that during the past twenty years over a billion feet of lumber have gone down the Snohomish river. In 1888 one hundred and ten thousand feet were marketed. Practically the entire surface of the county is covered with forests; and these contain the finest quality of lumber.

But the resources of this county are by no means confined to its foremost industry. They include coal and iron, and, for the Sound country, fine agricultural possibilities. There are a number of small streams, whose combined sibilance of name (for they are the Snohomish, Skykomish, Steilaguamish and Snoqualmie) somewhat astounds the "tenderfoot," which have great fertility of soil and very desirable locations. They are at present but slightly cultivated, by reason of the jungles of timber and brush which the rich loam combines with the humid atmosphere to produce. There can be no doubt that these small valleys will become very valuable in the near future. The general paucity of good farming land in proportion to the enormous timber and mineral wealth of the Sound will inevitably enhance the worth of that which is there.

The wonderful growth of Snohomish county is well seen from the contemplation of the following figures; Population of the county in 1878, ten hundred and forty-two; in 1885, twenty-four hundred and seventy-nine; and in 1888, sixty-two hundred. This growth, as in the case of most of the county, is the natural outgrowth of the increase of development of transportation facilities which has made the last year memorable. The various railroad systems radiating from the city of Seattle include Snohomish within the field of their benefits. Prominent among them is the Seattle, Lake Shore & Southern. This had on January 1, 1889, eighteen miles of track laid within the limits of Snohomish county, and is now pushing on to important connections to the north and east. One branch will doubtless deflect at Snohomish City and follow up the Skykomish river to Cady's Pass in the Cascades, whence it will pursue its way to the vast mines of Okanagan and Kittitass counties, and thence onward to Spokane and the East. An elegant station has been erected by this railroad company also; and, in ways too obvious and too numerous to name, it has ushered the town into a second period of growth.

During the year 1888 the town was incorporated; and the inauguration of an efficient city board has secured advantages long needed and not otherwise attainable. Among other important enterprises, electric lights have been introduced. Two large shingle mills have been build; while the business of those already in existence has been greatly increased. It seems indeed that this line of the lumber business will become one of the most important ones in the place. As an example of the distance to which the products of the Snohomish shingle mills go, it may be said that Blackman Brothers have shipped to Columbus, Ohio. Besides these, other enterprises have assumed remarkable increase. Over two hundred buildings were erected in 1888, and new bridges have been built to accommodate the spreading growth of the town.

As may be readily inferred, real estate in Snohomish is lively; and numerous real-estate firms have gone into business during the year just ended. In addition to the increasing railroad facilities, which are destined to play such an important part in the development of this place and county, it must not be forgotten that, although Snohomish is not on the immediate waters of the Sound, the river is a tide-water stream in its lower course, deep and placid, and navigable for good-sized steamers. Hence boats reach the town; and for them it becomes necessary to build wharves. This has been done to an unusual extent during the past year. Messrs. Ferguson and Jackson have built wharves during the last year far superior to any others ever built.

With all its remarkable rapidity of growth during the past year, Snohomish has not had any of the spasmodic features of the typical "boom" and may be regarded as one of the most solid and substantial towns on Puget Sound.

THE STEAMER BEAVER. - This is probably the most interesting relic of pioneer days. The Beaver was the first steamer to cut the American waters of the Pacific, if not actually the first to enter the greatest ocean at any point. While there is controversy as to the last point, the reader can be assured of the accuracy of the following details, gathered, as they are, form the ex-chief factor of the Hudson's Bay company, Doctor William F. Tolmie.

658 HISTORY OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST - OREGON AND WASHINGTON.

In 1836 the Beaver arrived in the Columbia river as a sailing vessel, bringing to Vancouver a cargo for the company. On the way out she was accompanied by a consort which brought, with other cargo, a boiler and engine for the Beaver. These steamboat paraphernalia were immediately placed in position. The Beaver made her trial trip the same year. Her course was around Sauvie's Island. She carried as passengers Doctor McLoughlin and other officers, together with a number of ladies and children. Soon after, the steamer was taken to Puget Sound to carry on the fur trade. Her field of operations extended from Fort Nisqually to Linn Canal at the head of Chatham Strait.

Her boilers having been repaired in 1846, she continued to ply the waters of the Northwest Pacific until sometime in the sixties, when she was leased to the British government and employed under Lieutenant Pender to complete the surveys of the northern interior passages. ten years later she was sold to private parties, and has since been used as a tug-boat in Victoria harbor. Though she has met with many knocks in her long career, she still remains in good preservation as one of the visible relics of the earliest pioneer days.

WHATCOM, WASHINGTON. - Some of the most general and striking features of Puget Sound have already been given in preceding chapters. In this one we propose to present more specific accounts of special localities. The extraordinary rapidity of growth of the Sound cities seems almost unreasonable to the stranger at a distance; but to anyone who has been there the sources of growth are manifest. It is an unquestioned fact that Puget Sound possesses two capabilities which will never be exhausted, and which in all countries and all ages have been the sure foundations of commercial prosperity. These are good harbors, and limitless supplies of the finest timber and coal. In the former respects the Sound has no rival on the coast of the Untied States. In the latter it surpasses any part of the world in timber; while in coal it has few equals.

Fine harbors are no rarity on Puget Sound; and hence, when one attracts unusual attention, it may be considered prima-facie evidence that it has extra-ordinary advantages. This is the fact in regard to Bellingham Bay, on which is located the city of Whatcom. A glance at the map will show the stranger the peculiar commercial advantages possessed by Whatcom, and the cluster of towns which with it dot the shore of Bellingham Bay. As may be seen, the bay is on the eastern side of the archipelago which lies between the Strait of Fuca on the west, the Gulf of Georgia, on the north, and Admiralty Inlet on the south. The bold and picturesque heights of the archipelago so break the force of the heavy winds which rush inland over the broad expanse of the Strait, that it is peculiarly sheltered in its position at the "hub" of the waters of the "Mediterranean of the Pacific." To the east and north of the bay are rugged and densely timbered hills rising in green waves of vegetation until they break against the eternal frosts of Mount Baker, which, cold, white and sublime, seems with its majestic regardlessness of time to be guarding the busy pigmies at its feet.

The cities of Bellingham Bay are four in number, Whatcom, Sehome, Bellingham and Fair haven. The four form almost a horseshoe in shape, tow and a half miles long, - Whatcom and Fair Haven at the ends and the other two in the middle. the bay which stretches in front of them is six miles wide and ten miles long. It has a dept of from thirty to one hundred and twenty-five feet. From the glacial heights of Mount Baker, thirty miles distant, flow a number of cold mountain streams, part of whose waters are gathered into the beautiful lake at Whatcom, the western extremity of which comes to within two miles of the bay.

The valley of the Nootsack and Lumni rivers, though emptying its waters into Lummi Bay, is properly a part of the region naturally contributory to Whatcom; and in it, is also in the other small valleys near by, is a large amount of rich farming land, a feature not usual on the Sound. The interests of these four towns are practically one; and they all recognize the fact that future growth will make them one municipality, and with rare good sense and patriotism indulge in none of the bitter rivalries and recriminations which mark the relations of some towns in the Pacific Northwest that might be named. The four sister towns named contain a population of probably four or five thousand, the greater number being in Whatcom. The population is the growth mainly of the last two years, we might even say of the last year.

Let us briefly ask the two important questions in regard to this city and its smaller sisters. First, its native resources; second, its means of transportation. We can indeed hardly enumerate the varied capabilities included in the first category. Whatcom has, to being with, an infinity of timber. It is of the finest kind; and all the cutting thus far has scarcely let the light in. Secondly, its adjacent hills are underlaid with coal of excellent quality and boundless in extent. Third, it has much land of peculiar adaptability to fruit, vegetables, and hop-culture. Fourth, it has the finest imaginable sites for ship-building. Fifth, it has a whole host of resources, as yet not much developed, but right there and waiting only for capital and industry to unfold them to the world.

It has mountains of iron, lime, marble, copper and lead; while gold and silver have been found about the base of Mount Baker in sufficient quantity to warrant the assertion that the future will see a great development in that direction. Bellingham Bay already furnishes the most of the fine building stone in the Pacific Northwest. This is from the Chukanut quarry. The Portland postoffice was built with it.

Such, briefly touched on, are the native resources of Bellingham Bay. Now, what of its means of getting out its products to the world, and getting the money for them? This is one of Whatcom's strongest points. It has, in the first place, the bay and the widening waters beyond, which, with the regular and reliable winds of the Strait, make it accessible by all kinds of craft at all times, with

THE NEZ PERCE WAR. 659

little expense for pilotage or tugs. Vessels can sail right to their wharves at Whatcom, load up, and then away again without asking leave of pilot or tug-master.

But again, Whatcom and Bellingham Bay in general are getting a system of railroads established unsurpassed in extent and convenience. It is sufficiently obvious that the shrewd and far-seeing projectors of these lines recognize the future possibilities of the place. There are four railway lines projected and partly built. The one nearest completion is that of the Bellingham Bay & Navigation Company, commonly known as the Canfield road, from Honorable Eugene Canfield, who has been especially instrumental in building it. this road joins the New Westminster & Southern from Frazer river, at the national boundary line, the two forming uninterrupted communication between new Westminster and Whatcom. The road traverses a magnificent timber region, and passes directly through the fertile and beautiful valley of the Nootsack. By means of this road, at least half a million acres of the finest land are rendered tributary to Whatcom. This road will be running before September 1st. Another road of great promise is the Fair Haven & Southern, which will be built to the Skagit during the present summer (1889), and will ultimately be pushed to the Columbia river. The next road is the Bellingham Bay & British Columbia, which is expected to ultimately reach Fort Hope, British Columbia. This is commonly known as the Cornwall road. Still another line is proposed by the ubiquitous and always successful Nelson Bennett, the exact limits of which are not yet known to the public, but are believed by some to point to an Eastern connection.

In brief, Whatcom and its surroundings are among the most promising in all this new land of promise. Immigration is flocking, thither at a rate that renders hotel accommodations in adequate though the hospitality of the people make any discomfort to strangers unknown; and fine new buildings are appearing on all sides. Prices of property, though there has been an immense rise in the last year, are still very moderate. It is an eminently safe place to invest; and strangers need but take the ordinary precautions of good judgment to insure themselves handsome profits.

THE NEZ PERCE WAR.

By the Nez Perce Treaty of June 11, 1855, that tribe of Indians relinquished to the United States their title in and to the area of territory described in said treaty, excepting the large reservation of country defined, in which reservation was embraced the Wallowa valley. Upon the 9th of June, 1863, Calvin H. Hale, Superintendent of Indian Affairs of Washington Territory, and Indian Agents Samuel D. Howe and Charles Hutchins, Commissioners on the part of the United States, concluded a supplementary treaty between the United States and the several bands of the said Nez Perce nation, the latter being represented by fifty-one chiefs, headmen and delegates, all of whom subscribed said treaty. By the latter treaty Wallowa valley was excluded from the reservation. In other words, it was surrendered tot he United States and the Indian title thereto extinguished. Old Joseph subscribed the treaty of 1855. His band had participated in the Walla Walla Council.

By order of the general land-office, May 28, 1867, Wallowa valley and vicinity were surveyed as public lands and declared open for settlement. Under that order eleven townships were surveyed, and the plats approved May 9, 1868. Eighty-seven pre-emption and homestead claims were filed. The effects of the treaty of 1863 was to divide the Nez Perce nation. Those who agreed to that treaty were called "Treaty Indians." Those who claimed that they had not been parties to that treaty, and who refused to consent to the modified reservation, or to the surrender of the territory, became known as "Non-treaty Nez Perces." Old Joseph had died in 1871, leaving two sons, Joseph and Ollicott, who claimed Wallowa valley as the home of their band, and repudiated the treaty of 1863, by which the other bands of Nez Perces had relinquished the territory.

Young Joseph, who succeeded his father as chief, became the most prominent leader of the "non-treaties." During the year 1871, and the years immediately following, a number of white settlers took claims in Wallowa valley. Joseph ordered them to leave, but attempted no violent demonstration. The discontent of the Indians continued to manifest itself. Their conduct became more offensive, defiant and threatening. The disaffection became more and more wide-spread, and has assumed the shape of organized opposition to white occupancy. In 1874 the settlers complained to General Davis, commanding the Department of the Columbia, that the "non-treaties" or malcontents had congregated in large numbers in Paradise and other valleys, ostensibly for the purpose of digging roots; but that they, however, were very defiant and impudent to the settlers, and threatened mischief. General Davis dispatched two companies of troops to the vicinity, who remained till the Indians dispersed. In 1875 President Grant issued an executive order proclaiming Wallowa valley public land of the United States, and open to settlement. Two cavalry companies were sent to the valley to see that the Indians remained quiet.

After General Howard, U.S. Army, had assumed the command of the Department of the Columbia, being impressed with the belief that he could solve the Indian problem peaceably, he held several councils with the "non-treaties," but without material result. He failed to convince them that they were under obligation to live up to the treaty, or that they should go on the Nez Perce Reservation. Finally he and Indian Agent Monteith, as commis-

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