Plate No. 55.—An Okanogan County Valley, Palmer Lake.
Plate No. 56.—McGowan Seining Grounds, Sand Island, Pacific County.
Plate No. 57.—Oyster Culture in Willapa Harbor, Pacific County.
Plate No. 58.—View of the Waterfront at Raymond, Pacific County.
Plate No. 59.—A View of a Portion of Tacoma's Harbor, Showing Ships Waiting to Load Lumber and Wheat for Foreign Ports.
Plate No. 60.—Railroad Yards and a Corner of the Business Section, Tacoma.
PRINCIPAL TOWNS.
Port Orchard, the county seat, is on the bay of the same name and opposite the navy yard. It is the chief distributing point for a larger part of the cultivated lands of the county, and exports not only agricultural products, but also shingles. The surrounding lands are well suited for dairying, fruit-growing and poultry-raising, which is also true of the entire county.
Bremerton, adjoining the navy yard, is the largest town in the county, having about 4,000 people and rapidly growing. It has a fire department, electric light and water systems, newspapers, banks, about 1,000 or more wage-earners and is a hustling town.
Charleston is another smaller town adjoining the navy yard on the west and rapidly growing.
Port Blakeley is an important milling and shipbuilding town of nearly 2,000 people, opposite Seattle. Its lumber goes to all parts of the world.
Port Gamble is a sawmill town of importance contributing to swell the large output of lumber shipped out of the county.
Chico, Tracyton, Keyport, Paulsbo, Seabeck, Crystal Springs, Colby, Bangor, Burley, Port Madison, and Olalla are all small villages, making progress as agricultural centers and as furnishing summer homes for business men.
KITTITAS COUNTY
Kittitas county is located about in the center of the state, and takes in the upper reaches and most of the watershed of the Yakima river. It has a population of about 20,000 in an area of 2,400 square miles. On its northwestern side it is bordered by two ranges of the Cascade mountains, while its southwestern side lies on the Columbia river.
Among the sources of the Yakima river are three large lakes, Keechelus, Kachess and Cle-Elum, most beautiful bodies of mountain water and the sources of the great irrigation systems now fathered by the national government and making the Yakima valley a veritable garden pot of orchards and vegetables, grasses and flowers.
RESOURCES.
The central portion of the county is a valley comprising 250,000 acres, about one-fourth of which is under irrigation, and has long been noted for its prolific crops of hay and many herds of dairy cows.
The foothills of the mountains have precious metals, coal and iron. The streams abound in trout and much game is in the mountains.
TRANSPORTATION.
The Northern Pacific and Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroads, coming into the county from the south and west, cross at Ellensburg and then follow the valley of the Yakima to the crest of the Cascades giving abundant facilities for making markets east and west to all parts of the country.
PRINCIPAL TOWNS.
Ellensburg, the county seat, is situated on a level bench in the Yakima valley and on the railroads. It is a town of upwards of 5,500 people, and is substantially built, chiefly of brick. There are creameries, flourmills, sawmills, and warehouses, banks, breweries newspapers, electric lights, and gravity water system, churches, schools, among which is one of the state normal schools. It is also a division point on the Northern Pacific railway, and is the chief distributing point in the county for farm products and merchandise.
Roslyn is the chief coal-mining town, situated on the railroad well up in the foothills of the mountains. It has about 4,500 people. It has gravity water and electric lights, and is a substantial, thriving and growing town. From the coal mines in the vicinity the best coals of the state are mined in large quantities and shipped all over the state.
Cle-Elum is another coal mining town, on the Northern Pacific railway, with a population of about 2,500. Tributary to Cle-Elum is a wide mining territory, for which it is the chief distributing point.
Thorpe is a smaller village likely to develop into an important trading point.
KLICKTAT COUNTY
Klickitat county is central among the southern tier of counties of the state, bordering 80 miles on the Columbia river, with an average width of 20 miles. It has a population of about 14,000 and an area of 1,800 square miles.
There is a great variety in its climate, the elevation varying from 100 to 3,500 feet above the sea level.
The soil is chiefly volcanic ash, disintegrated basalt and alluvium. It is deep and much of it sub-irrigated. The principal crops are wheat, barley, rye, oats, and corn.
The wheat lands yield from 15 to 40 bushels per acre.
Among the fruits raised are apples, peaches, pears, cherries, English walnuts, almonds, plums, prunes, grapes, apricots, and all the small fruits.
Wheat lands vary in price from $10 to $50 per acre. It is estimated that 7,000 acres will be planted to fruit and nut trees this current year, while last year 75,385 apple trees, 14,675 peach trees, and 17,345 grape vines were planted.
RESOURCES.
As already indicated, the strength of the county is in its soil and agriculture is its great source of wealth. Stock-raising is a chief industry, the slopes of the mountains on its northern boundary furnishing abundant pasturage. The southeastern part is fast developing into a fruit-growing region, while agriculture and grain-growing is more general in the central and southern portion.
TRANSPORTATION.
The Columbia river, with a railroad on each side of it and numerous ferries, makes ample provision for transportation, while the Goldendale branch reaches well up into the center of the county.
CITIES AND TOWNS.
Goldendale, the county seat and metropolis, is located in the center of the county, 120 miles east of Portland. It is the terminus of the Goldendale branch of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle railway, making connection with the main line at Lyle. It is located in the heart of a splendid agricultural section and at the edge of the great timber belt.
White Salmon, located in the splendid fruit section, is a thriving town. It is an important railroad point on the North Bank and is the outlet for the products of an extensive fruit, timber and dairying region.
Cliffs, the division point of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle railway, is the trading center of many square miles of territory. The best nut land in the county is located near here.
Bickleton, the trading point of an extensive wheat section, is in the eastern part of the county. An electric road has been surveyed, which will, when completed, give this town railway connection.
Lyle, Roosevelt, Columbus, Bingen, and Centerville are growing trading points.
LEWIS COUNTY
Lewis county is one of the largest counties in western Washington, having an area of 2,593 square miles of territory and about 40,000 people. It occupies a large part of the drainage basins of two large rivers, the Cowlitz and Chehalis—one emptying its waters into the Columbia river and the other into Grays harbor. It reaches from the peaks of the Cascades 100 miles toward the ocean, but is cut off 30 miles from the coast, and is about 30 miles wide. Mount Rainier is just north of its extreme eastern portion and about one-fourth of the county is within the Rainier forest reserve.
RESOURCES.
At present the chief industry of the county consists of manufacturing its forests into the various forms of lumber and its products, the lumber cut aggregating four hundred million feet and two hundred million shingles.
Next in importance probably are the precious metal and coal deposits of the county, which have, however, been but little developed. The coal measures include bituminous, lignite and anthracite, and are of great extent in the foothills of the eastern part of the county. Two systems of railroads have been projected into these fields, and the nearest, carrying lignite and bituminous coals, are being commercially developed.
Agriculture, including especially dairying and fruit culture, takes the place of the forests as they are removed and bids fair to reach in importance, in time, the lumber and coal resources. To this end, the soil fertility, the mild climate and cool mountain waters conspire.
TRANSPORTATION.
Lewis county is in the path of all railroads coming in from the south or through the Columbia gap in the Cascades. Already the Northern Pacific railway and the Union Pacific railway cross the county, and the North Coast contemplates traversing the entire Cowlitz valley, while the Tacoma Eastern is already into the northwestern part of the county on its way toward the same goal. The county cannot be too well supplied, for its vast treasures when developed will furnish immense products for transportation.
CITIES AND TOWNS.
Chehalis and Centralia are the two twin cities of the county—less than five miles apart and of about equal importance. From Chehalis the Northern Pacific railway branches off, following the upper reaches of Chehalis river and ending on Willapa bay, while from Centralia the same road branches, following the lower Chehalis river, to Grays harbor.
Chehalis is the county seat, with a population of 5,000 and rapidly growing, and has electric lights, sanitary sewerage system, paved streets, fine business blocks, and a large and growing trade. Near the city is located the State Training School.
Centralia has a population of about 7,000 people, chiefly engaged in running sawmills, shingle mills, sash and door factories, and other woodworking plants. It has a large city hall, ten churches, fine schools, banks, business houses, water systems, fire department, and is a hustling, thriving town.
Winlock is a town of 1,200 people on the railroad in the southern part of the county, and a distributing point of much importance.
Pe Ell is a town of 1,000 people on the South Bend branch of the Northern Pacific railway, chiefly engaged in milling and agricultural pursuits.
McCormick, Littell, Kosmos, Little Falls, Adna, Dryad, Doty, and Kopiah, are all centers of industry in various parts of the county.
Lewis county as a whole offers wonderful opportunities for newcomers in all pursuits—commercial, agricultural, and mining.
Plate No. 61.—Tacoma High School and Stadium. Rose Arbor in Point Defiance Park, Tacoma.
Plate No. 62.—A Red Raspberry Field in the Puyallup Valley, Pierce County.
LINCOLN COUNTY
Lincoln county, adjoining Spokane county on the west, is one of eastern Washington's great granaries. Its northern boundary is defined by the Columbia and Spokane rivers. The bulk of its lands are rolling prairies of great fertility. It has about 2,300 square miles of territory and about 25,000 people.
TOPOGRAPHY.
The bulk of the county consists of the rolling prairie land characteristic of the great wheat belt of the state. There are some mineral lands in the northern part of the county and here and there will be found considerable stretches of timber. In its northern portion the county is well watered by the Columbia and Spokane rivers, while in the southwestern section and elsewhere numerous small creeks and lakes occur.
RESOURCES.
The great resource of Lincoln county is its wheat fields, which in 1907 produced to exceed 8,000,000 bushels. Other cereals and hay are important crops. Along its northern part, particularly on the bottom lands of the rivers, much fruit is grown, including peaches and all the small fruits. Diversified farming is growing in favor among the farmers. Compared with other counties of the state, Lincoln county ranks as follows in the number of its stock: Horses, second place; hogs, second place; cattle, sixth place. The county also stands fourth in the number of its school houses and spends annually $100,000 for school support.
In wealth per capita, Lincoln county leads the state, showing for assessment purposes an average holding of real estate of $1,163 and $226 in personalty.
TRANSPORTATION.
The county is traversed from west to east its entire length by the Great Northern and the central Washington branch of the Northern Pacific railroads, some distance from its side lines, so that very little of the county is more than 12 miles from a railroad shipping point. There are 170 miles of railroad tracks in the county.
CITIES AND TOWNS.
Davenport, the county seat and largest town in the county, is situated on the central Washington branch of the Northern Pacific railway near the middle eastern portion of the county, and has a population of about 2,800 people. Its business blocks are chiefly built of brick. It owns its own water system, is lighted with electricity, has fine school buildings and churches. Its court house cost about $80,000. It is surrounded by splendid farms and annually ships out about 1,250,000 bushels of wheat.
Wilbur, a town of 1,500 people, on the Northern Pacific railway, is a very important shipping and distributing center. It has large flour mills, warehouses, five churches, and schools, electric lights, and water system, bank, newspaper, parks, and important commercial institutions.
Almira, in the western part of the county, on the Northern Pacific railway, is another prosperous and growing grain center with about 600 people.
Harrington, on the Great Northern railway, is a town of some 1,200 people. It has a beautiful location, commands the trade of a large farming county, ships grain and livestock, and is a prosperous and growing town.
Creston, Egypt, and Bluestem are smaller growing commercial centers.
MASON COUNTY
Mason county lies on the upper reaches of Puget sound, having the Olympic mountains at its north, where about one-fourth of the county is in the Olympic forest reserve. Its total area is about 900 square miles, and it has a population of about 6,000. Hood's canal penetrates well into the center of the county in its great bend, giving it a very long salt-water shore line. From the Olympic mountains numerous streams flow into the Puget sound, while others empty their waters into Gray's harbor.
The county is a great forest of splendid timber, which has been only to a limited degree cut out. The soil of the foothills and valleys Is composed chiefly of shot clays and alluvial deposits, making good farming, stock-raising and fruit-growing lands.
RESOURCES.
Logging and its allied industries constitute the main industries of the county, Much of the logs are shipped out of the county to feed sawmills in other parts of the Sound.
Raising and marketing oysters is an important source of wealth to the county.
There is already considerable acreage for farming and stock-raising, stock finding pasturage the year round. This industry will grow as the land is cleared.
The county affords splendid hunting and fishing in season.
TRANSPORTATION.
The county is so cut into by the inlets and bays of the sound that it has splendid transportation facilities by steamer to all the sound ports. The Northern Pacific railway reaches its southern boundary. No other railroads traverse the county but its logging railroads, which can give only a limited service.
PRINCIPAL TOWNS.
Shelton is the county seat, situated on an arm of the sound at the terminus of the logging railroad, and has about 1,200 inhabitants. Steamers from its wharves reach all the parts of the sound directly or by connection with others.
The logging industry, manufacturing lumber, cultivating oysters, fishing and farming are the chief industries of its people. It has four churches, good schools, a newspaper, good stocks of goods, volunteer fire department, electric lights, gravity water system.
The logging industry, which centers here, employs 2,000 men and pays out $120,000 a month.
Lake Cushman is a summer resort in the mountains famous for its big trout catches.
Allyn, on an arm of the sound, is central to much oyster lands, logging camps and fruit orchards.
Arcadia, also on the sound, is central to considerable stock-raising and lumbering.
Detroit is a prosperous village, proud of the grapes grown on some of its logged-off lands.
Matlock is a town on the logging railroad and central to large logging operations.
OKANOGAN COUNTY.
Okanogan, the largest county in the state, lies on the northern boundary just east of the Cascade peaks. It has an area of 4,500 square miles and a population estimated at 13,000.
About one-fourth of the county, a district of great latent resources, is still within the Colville Indian reservation, but is soon to be thrown open to settlement.
RESOURCES.
This county is endowed with great natural resources and a delightful climate, and is destined to become thickly populated.
The mountains and their foothills have large and numerous veins of metals and are covered also with extensive forests. The rolling hills of the south and center are rich in agricultural possibilities, suitable for stock, and great crops of cereals and fruits. The Okanogan river and its branches drain the greater portion of the county, rising in British Columbia and flowing south through the center of the county and joining the Columbia river on the south boundary. The Methow river drains a large portion of the western part and makes a paradise for the frontiersman along its sloping sides.
TRANSPORTATION.
Until now the rivers and wagon roads are the only paths of commerce. But into this blossoming empire the railroads are looking with longing eyes. The Great Northern, however, has already tapped the northern boundary and projected a line down the Okanogan and Columbia rivers to Wenatchee. Other railroads will follow, as the prize is too great not to be divided.
PRINCIPAL TOWNS.
Conconully, the county seat, is situated among the foothills and mines west of the Okanogan river. In addition to the mining industry, the raising of sheep and cattle is followed by the citizens. The town has a population of about 500 people.
Oroville is the chief town on the railroad, near the northern border, and is the terminus of the road. It has about 500 people and is growing. It is an important ore-shipping point, surrounded also by good fruit-raising and agricultural lands, yet unirrigated.
Brewster, at the junction of the Columbia and Okanogan rivers, has a population of about 200, and is an important grain and fruit-shipping point.
Okanogan is on the river of the same name, about midway between Brewster and Conconully, and to this point the steamers ply in the higher waters of the river.
Twisp is a growing village in the Methow valley, devoted chiefly to fruit-growing and mining. It is an important distributing center.
Pateros has steamer connection with Wenatchee, and is an importing, growing center.
Beck, Bonaparte, Anglin and Bodie are other new and growing commercial centers.
Chesaw, in the northern part, and Nespelim, in the southeastern part, are important locations.
PACIFIC COUNTY.
Pacific county is the extreme southern county, which borders on the ocean at the mouth of the Columbia river. Although a small county with only 900 square miles, it has about 100 miles of salt-water frontage. Willapa harbor, at the northwest, is capable of being made accessible to all ocean ships, while Shoalwater bay, a body of water 20 miles long and separated from the ocean by a long slim peninsula, furnishes probably the best breeding ground In the state for oyster culture. The county at large is an immense forest, in the center of which is a range of hills dividing the watershed so that some of the streams flow into the Columbia river at the south, some west into Willapa harbor, and others, through the Chehalis river, reach Grays harbor.
Plate No. 63.—Modern Sanitary Dairy Barn, on Farm of Hon. W. H. Paulhamus, Sumner, Pierce County.
Plate No. 64.—Views in Rainier National Park, Reached by Railroad and Driveway from Tacoma.
Plate No. 65.—San Juan County Views.
Plate No. 66.—Purse Seiners' Camp at Eagle Gorge, San Juan County.
RESOURCES.
As already indicated, its timber and its fisheries are the great sources of wealth for the county, although stock-raising, dairying, fruit-growing and general farming are constantly growing in importance.
The county probably has eleven billion feet of standing timber, and daily cuts with its 64 sawmills about 775,000 feet of lumber and one million shingles.
Both native and cultivated oysters are largely marketed, as are also clams, crabs, shrimp and fish. A splendid market for all farm products is afforded by the mills and lumber camps and summer campers on the beach.
TRANSPORTATION.
The Northern Pacific railway reaches Willapa harbor, cutting the county centrally east and west. On the long ocean beach from the mouth of the Columbia river northward is a railroad about 20 miles long, made profitable by the extensive patronage of the summer campers. Added to these are the water crafts which frequent the harbor and the Columbia river, and altogether make access to all parts of the county easy.
CITIES AND TOWNS.
South Bend, the county seat, situated near the mouth of the Willapa river, is a rapidly growing town of 3,000 people and destined to become an important ocean port. The harbor is capacious, well protected, has fine anchorage, and is handicapped only by a few feet of mud at the bottom, which Uncle Sam will soon remove. At low tide there is now from 20 to 30 feet of water in the channel of the river and at South Bend it is 1,000 feet wide. South Bend is the terminus of the Northern Pacific railway. It has electric lights, water works, good schools, fine churches, bank, sawmills, planing-mills, sash and door factories, fish canneries, newspapers, etc., and is about to build a $50,000 courthouse.
Raymond, a new manufacturing town on the harbor and railroad, a few miles from South Bend, has 2,500 people and is rapidly growing in importance. Raymond is not yet five years old; has a monthly payroll of $100,000; sawmills and factories representing an invested capital of $4,900,000, employing 1,200 men; an electric light plant; a city telephone system, owned by local capital; a salt-water fire protection system; is about to build two bridges, costing $30,000 each, and is adding new manufacturing plants at the rate of one a month. The city gives free factory sites, and has both rail and ocean transportation from factory locations to the markets of the world.
Ilwaco is a fishing post of importance near the southwest shore of the county, with 900 population.
Chinook, Frankfort and Knabton are other fishing points on the Columbia river of importance. Nahcotta is an ocean summer resort.
PIERCE COUNTY.
Pierce county, though not the largest, is one of the most important counties in the state. Its area of 1,800 square miles occupies much of the upper reaches of Puget sound on both sides and extends southeasterly, taking in the Rainier National Park of 2,225,000 acres, and Mount Rainier (Tacoma) 14,526 feet above sea level and less than 60 miles from salt water, covered with eternal snow, an endless scene of majestic grandeur, giving the county a greater variety of elevations and more beautiful and startling scenery than any other county in the United States. Its northeastern boundary is the White river, its southwestern boundary the Nisqually river. It has about 125 miles of salt-water shore lands, with innumerable bays and inlets and several important islands. Originally one vast forest, much of it now is covered with fruitful fields of grain, grass and orchards.
Its climate is mild and salubrious, its soils of great variety and fertility, and its mountains and foothills full of coal and precious metals.
RESOURCES.
The resources of Pierce county are varied and of great value. Its central part is one great coal field, covered with forests, producing annually about 1,000,000 tons of coal. Gold, silver and copper are among its precious metals, but not extensively mined as yet.
Its rivers possess almost immeasurable water power. One plant on the Puyallup river at Electron has an ultimate capacity of 40,000 horse-power, 20,000 horse-power of which is now in use. The city of Tacoma is engaged in the construction of a plant on the Nisqually for municipal use, the capacity of which will be 20,000 horse-power. The 12,000 horse-power plant at Snoqualmie Falls also furnishes current for city lighting, street railway and manufacturing purposes in Tacoma.
All the cereals are successfully raised; dairying is one of the most important industries; fruit-growing, particularly in small fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cherries, etc., is very profitable and is engaging a great deal of attention. Fish are caught in quantities and shipped to eastern markets, but Pierce county's greatest natural wealth is in its vast forests. An idea of the value can be had when it is said that $6,000,000 worth of lumber was cut in 1908 in Tacoma alone. In addition to these great natural resources, Pierce county's commercial industries are so great as to place it in the front rank of counties of the Northwest. The great sawmills, woodworking plants and factories of various kinds in the city of Tacoma alone employ 11,800 people, and the value of their output last year amounted to over $43,000,000.00.
TRANSPORTATION.
Pierce county is fast becoming a network of transcontinental railroads centering in Tacoma, which, coupled with the steamboat traffic on the Sound, gives the county splendid traffic facilities. Pierce county for years was a non-competitive railroad point, the Northern Pacific being the only road to enter its vast fields of wealth. Within the last two years, however, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Union Pacific system, and the Great Northern, realizing the wealth of the county and the importance of Tacoma as a manufacturing center, the value of her perfect harbor for shipping, the vastness of her great stretch of level tidelands for factory sites and terminal yards, and the low cost at which freight can be transferred from the rails to the sails or vice versa, have entered the field and are now spending $11,000,000 on construction and terminal work in the city of Tacoma. The addition of these new roads means a wonderful impetus to the trade of Tacoma. The Tacoma Eastern railroad, a beautiful scenic route, beginning at Tacoma, runs in a southeasterly direction through a wonderfully fertile country and vast forests of splendid timber, to Rainier National Park and Mount Rainier (Mt. Tacoma). Several trolley lines are in operation, reaching all the near-by towns and connecting Tacoma and Seattle.
In addition to these lines, many steamboats and crafts of all kinds, plying the waters of Puget Sound and the Pacific ocean, find abundant wharfage and anchorage in the harbor of Tacoma. The products of the world in large quantities pass through Tacoma in process of distribution. A constant stream of small crafts, running about the waters of the county, accommodate the local traffic.
CITIES AND TOWNS.
Tacoma, with a population of about 125,000, is the county seat of Pierce county, and situated on Commencement bay. Its harbor, one of the finest in the world, and its railroad terminals, unexcelled on the Pacific Coast, as already indicated, are the center of a vast commerce by rail and water. At its door is an immense amount of water power, already developed, driving her street cars and the machinery in many of her factories. Coal and coke are in abundance within a few miles of the city, the coal being used extensively for steam and conveyed from the trains to the boats by immense electric bunkers. The coke is largely utilized in the largest lead and copper reduction plant on the coast. The great Guggenheim smelter at Tacoma reduces and turns out annually lead, copper, gold and silver worth about $10,000,000. Along her wharves are immense elevators, grain warehouses and flouring mills. Tacoma yearly ships out more grain than any other city on Puget sound. In and around the city are large saw and shingle mills, which last year cut 527,604,000 feet of lumber and 434,000,000 Shingles. Her factories and shops have $24,000,000 invested and employ 11,800 wage-earners, and her large flour mills ship their products to all parts of the world. Her packing-house products amounted to $5,000,000 in 1908. The largest car shops west of the Mississippi are located here. Her downtown streets are lined by large business blocks; she has 185 miles of street and suburban railway, and over 75 miles of paved streets.
There are four daily newspapers, 8 banks, 1,120 acres in parks, and many beautiful and expensive public buildings. The city hall cost $200,000; the court house, $500,000; her high school building, the most beautiful on the coast, cost a half million dollars, and the United States government is completing a $500,000 federal building.
Puyallup is one of Pierce county's prosperous towns, having about 7,000 population, in the wealthy Puyallup valley. This is the center or a great fruit-growing district, in which the farmers have combined and market their crops through an association, sending their berries in patent refrigerator cars into far-away markets. It is also quite a large manufacturing center, with a payroll of $45,000 per month.
Buckley, with a population of 1,500, is the center of large sawmilling, farming and mining industries.
Orting is a town with 800 people, chiefly engaged in gardening and farming. The State Soldiers' Home is located near, and adds considerable trade to the town.
Sumner has a population of 1,000, is located in the Puyallup valley, and its people form a part of the farmers' association, engaged in fruit-growing, dairying and gardening.
Steilacoom is one of the most beautiful little summer resort towns on Puget sound and is connected with Tacoma by two electric lines.
Sylvan, Gig Harbor, Rosedale, Elgin, Long Branch, Blanchard, and Bee are very prosperous villages of Pierce county, and are located on the shores of Puget sound.
Spanaway, Eatonville, Alderton, Elbe, Meridian, Kapowsin, and McMillan are villages in the interior, on the railroads.
Wilkeson, South Prairie, Carbonado, Fairfax, Pittsburg, and Melmont are coal-mining towns of importance.
SAN JUAN COUNTY.
San Juan county is a group of islands lying between the waters of the Straits of Fuca and the Gulf of Georgia, off the southeast shore of Vancouver island. It has about 200 square miles of territory and about 4,500 people.
There are three large islands and several smaller ones. The islands are covered with soil and timber not different from the main land adjoining. Heavy timber in the forests, fine clay loams in the bottom lands, shot clay on the hillsides, big ledges of lime rock and other minerals and great shoals of fish in the waters are the foundations for prosperity for the citizens of the county.
RESOURCES.
The soils of the islands yield generously to good tillage, and wheat, oats, barley, potatoes and hay yield large crops. Dairying is profitable. Poultry-raising and fruit-growing, are especially attractive. Sheep and cattle find splendid pasture. Great quantities of salmon and other fish are taken in the waters, and game-deer and wild fowl—are abundant.
Plate No. 67.—Two Views of the Lime Works at Roche Harbor, San Juan County.
Plate No. 68.—A Typical Farm Scene in Skagit County.
TRANSPORTATION.
There is no transportation save by water, but the islands are in the way of traffic from so many different directions that all parts are well served by steamboats.
ISLANDS AND TOWNS.
SAN JUAN ISLAND is the largest of the group, and its chief industries are farming, raising stock, salmon-fishing, and manufacturing lime.
Friday Harbor, on this island, is the county seat and largest town, with about 500 people. A telephone system is in operation throughout the island.
Roche Harbor is the home of great lime kilns.
ORCAS ISLAND is the leading fruit-growing district of the county.
East Sound, near the center of the island, at the foot of Mount Constitution, is a picturesque and charming fruit-growing section and summer resort.
Orcas is an important center of the fruit and sheep raising industries.
LOPEZ ISLAND is a beautiful stretch of fertile agricultural land, much of it under tillage, and is the home of a prosperous community of farmers and stock-growers.
Lopez is the chief commercial center, with a cannery and creamery.
SKAGIT COUNTY.
Skagit county is the next county to the northwest corner of the state, stretching from Rosario straits to the peaks of the Cascades—about 100 miles east and west and 24 miles north and south. Its area is 1,800 square miles, with a population of about 35,000.
It is a county of great diversities in climate, topography and resources. The Skagit river and its branches drain nearly the entire county from the mountains to the saltwater. Its deltas are great flat fields of wonderful fertility. Its valleys also, where cleared of forests, are very rich alluvial lands. Its upper lands carry a great burden of forests and are full of hidden treasures.
RESOURCES.
The resources of the county are its forests and minerals, its agricultural products, and fishes. Its great cereal crop is of oats; hops, fruits, hay and barley follow in the order named in importance, while the products of the dairy are rapidly multiplying. Its minerals include the precious metals, iron, lead, coal, marble, limestone, granite, sandstone, etc.
TRANSPORTATION.
Aside from its water transportation, the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific railways cross its westerly end and send a branch line through the valley of the Skagit river well up towards the mountains and to the salt water at Anacortes. And other roads are building, while there are 168 miles of modern graveled wagon roads. The facilities for getting about are excellent.
PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS.
Mt. Vernon is the county seat, with about 4,000 people. It is on the Great Northern railway, on the navigable Skagit river, and is a city of much commercial importance to the agricultural district around it. The soil in the vicinity is renowned for its great fertility and astonishing crops of oats, hay and grass. Creameries and a milk-condensing plant are supported profitably to all concerned.
Anacortes is the chief town of the county, on the salt water. It has about 6,000 people, and is a center of lumbering and fishing. Factories for drying, salting, and canning salmon, halibut, and cod are increasing industries. There is also a fertilizing plant and a plant producing charcoal and the by-products of combustion, wood alcohol, turpentine, etc.
Sedro-Woolley, on both the Northern Pacific and Great Northern railways, has a population of 4,000, engaged in lumber industries, fruit, and vegetables, canning, dairying and gardening. It has a monthly payroll of $125,000.
Burlington, on the Great Northern railway, has 1,800 people, and factories for making various wood products, concrete blocks, lumber, shingles and condensed milk.
La Conner is a great oat and hay shipping point. It is at the mouth of the Skagit river and on tide water, and has 800 people.
Hamilton, at the head of navigation on the Skagit river, is a mining and lumbering town of 300 people.
Bay View, Sammish, Minkler, Prairie, Fir, and Birdsview are other shipping points.
Baker, on a branch of the Great Northern railway, has 400 people, and is a center of cement factories.
SKAMANIA COUNTY.
Skamania county, in the south central part of the state, has its southern boundary on the Columbia river, with Lewis county to the north. It is chiefly within the forest reserve, and includes Mount St. Helens on the west and Mount Adams on its eastern border. Altogether it has an area of 1,636 square miles, chiefly mountainous, and about 3,000 people.
The north fork of the Lewis river drains the most of the mountainous region, while a lot of small streams drain the southern part, emptying into the Columbia river.
The climate is a mean between that of eastern and western Washington, and is very mild and salubrious. The soil of the valleys in the region of the Columbia river is very fertile.
RESOURCES.
The chief resource of the county is in its timber and lumber, yet its mineral and agricultural wealth is becoming better known and appreciated yearly. The fruit raised in its valleys is of excellent flavor, early in season, and the soil is generous in its yield. Splendid pasturage in the foothills encourages stock-raising, and fishing in the Columbia river is profitably followed by some of the citizens.
TRANSPORTATION.
Boats on the Columbia river and a railroad on each side of it are the means of transportation, and ample for the residents of the county in its southern portion. The coming of the North Bank railroad has given a decided stimulus to the growth of the county.
DEVELOPMENT.
Skamania county has developed slowly and the bulk of its natural wealth is still practically untouched. Its minerals, well known to be valuable, are attracting the attention of prospectors, while the forests, fisheries and farming lands will furnish a competence to hundreds of additional familles. The scenery, combined with the fishing and hunting afforded, are additional attractions that will prove alluring to many newcomers.
PRINCIPAL TOWNS.
Stevenson, a small town on the Columbia river and railroad, is the county seat and has a population of about 450.
Tributary to Stevenson is considerable improved land, and the people are engaged in stock-raising, fruit-growing and farming.
Butler is a town of about 300 people on the railroad and river.
Carson, Cape Horn, Mt. Pleasant and Bear Prairie are smaller villages, destined to become centers of commercial distribution.
SNOHOMISH COUNTY.
Snohomish county extends 36 miles in width from the Sound to the peaks of the Cascade mountains, adjoining King county on the north. It has an area of some 2,500 square miles of territory, a population of about 63,000 people, and a great storehouse of wealth in its natural resources. It is one of the largest and richest counties in the state, with a mild and healthful climate, magnificent scenery, great diversity of landscape, innumerable water falls and plenty of game.
RESOURCES.
The forests of Snohomish are very extensive and but little depleted. Fir, cedar, hemlock and spruce are its chief trees. Nearly one-half of the area of the county is heavily mineralized with veins of gold, silver, copper, lead, nickel, iron, and other ores. There are also vast ledges of marble, granite and other building stones.
In diversified agricultural possibilities, few counties can excel Snohomish. Its general soils in its valleys are alluvial, and produce astonishing crops; about the deltas of its rivers, the riches of the salt water and the mountains have combined to make a soil that will endure for ages and annually astonish the husbandman with its generosity. Upon its uplands, its clay and decaying herbage have combined for ages to create a soil wonderfully adapted to produce grass and fruits, and the industrious are luxuriating in nature's prodigality.
Rainfall is abundant, but not excessive, and crops of the cereals and fruits are never failures.
TRANSPORTATION.
This county is splendidly provided with transportation facilities; many steamboats ply its salt waters and part way up the three great rivers that flow into the Sound. Two transcontinental railroads cut the western part of the county in two. The trunk line of the Great Northern follows the valley of one river from the southeast to the coast, while two branch lines run up the other two great valleys, past the center of the state, toward the mountains, while a dozen spurs and short logging and coal roads act as feeders to the main lines, thus giving all the towns of the county access to all the Sound markets, and those of the east and the ports of the Pacific ocean.
PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS.
Everett, situated upon a fine harbor on the shores of Puget sound near the mouth of the Snohomish river, is the county seat and metropolis of the county. It has a population of 35,000, and is fast developing into a commercial and manufacturing center of importance.
The largest steamers afloat can find wharfage at her docks and safe anchorage in her waters. It has upwards of 3,000 men employed in its factories and mills, with a monthly payroll aggregating $230,000.