Misc. Records
Where to Emigrate and Why - Frederick B. Goddard, Peoples Publ. Co., 1869
WASHINGTON TERRITORY.
UNTIL the late purchase of Alaska, Washington Territory was the extreme northwestern possession of the United States. It has a frontage on the Pacific, and is flanked on the south by Oregon, and on the west by Idaho. Its area in square miles is about 70,000, embracing the "Cascade Mountains," and the mighty Columbia, which drains a large portion of the Territory and forms its southern boundary.
The "Cascade Mountains" are a continuation of the same range known as the Sierra Nevada, and derive their name from the many beautiful waterfalls and cascades which flash and sparkle in the sunlight from numerous crags and crevices, flecking the gorges and mountain sides with silvery foam, and breaking the solitudes with their murmuring music. The crests of these mountains are not so high as those of the ranges farther south, with the exception of a few solitary peaks, the altitude of the chain rarely exceeding 5,000 feet above the snow line.
The whole Territory is highly favored with navigable waters. The Columbia, rising in the Rocky Mountains, is navigable throughout nearly its whole length, and furnishes a main artery of communication with the interior. Its head waters almost interlace with those of the Missouri, and the navigable waters of these two vast rivers are but 450 miles apart. Other rivers intersecting the mountains, afford passes for the easy construction of roads.
The climate of the Territory is similar to that of Oregon, and also much resembles that of England in temperature and amount of rainfall. It may be described as exceedingly beautiful, and agreeable. For convenience of description, three divisions are generally made of Washington Territory, viz.: Western, Eastern, and Middle Washington.
"WESTERN WASHINGTON includes the Puget Sound basin, the valley of the Chehalis, the basin of Shoalwater Bay, and the country drained by the Lower Columbia and its northern tributaries, the principal of which is the Cowlitz. Ridges, spurs of the Cascade and Coast ranges of mountains, clearly demarcate these several subdivisions, and a diversity of soil, products, and geological conformation ascribe distinctive features to each.
"PUGET SOUND.—This is the general cognomen of that vast ramification of waters to which have been given, by illustrious navigators, the names of Straits of Juan de Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, Hood's Canal, and Puget Sound, together with the almost innumerable bays, harbors, and inlets, each enjoying a separate name, and many of which would afford commodious and adequate harbor for the combined navies of the world."
Commissioner WILSON says:―
In respect to its interior water system, and its immense forests of fine timber, this Territory stands unrivaled. It possesses more excellent harbors than any other State or country of equal extent on the face of the globe.
Admiral WILKES, in 1841, thus spoke of these waters:—
Nothing can exceed the beauty of these waters and their safety. Not a shoal exists within the Straits of Juan de Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, or Hood's Canal, that can in any way interrupt their navigation by a 74 gun-ship. I venture nothing in saying there is no country in the world that possesses waters equal to these. They cover an area of about 2,000 square miles. The shores of all these inlets and bays are remarkably bold; so much so that in many places a ship's side would strike the shore before the keel would touch the ground. The country by which these waters are surrounded is remarkably salubrious, and offers every advantage for the accommodation of a vast commercial and, military marine, with convenience for docks, and a great many sites for towns and cities; at all times well supplied with water, and capable of being provided with every thing by the surrounding country, which is well adapted for agriculture.
The Straits of Juan de Fuca are 95 miles in length, and have an average width of 11 miles. At the entrance (eight miles in width) no danger exists, and it may be safely navigated throughout. No part of the world affords finer inland sounds, or a greater number of harbors, than are found within the Straits of Juan de Fuca, capable of receiving the largest class of vessels, and without a danger in them which is not visible. From the rise and fall of the tides (18 feet) every facility is offered for the erection of works for a great maritime nation. The country also affords as many sites for water power as any other.
According to JAS. S. LAWSON, of the United States Coast Survey, the shore line of these waters is 1,594 miles in length. Around this "Mediterranean of the North Pacific" are numerous flourishing towns, among which are Port Discovery, Port Townsend, Port Madison, Port Gamble, Bellingham Bay, &c., &c.
RIVERS EMPTYING INTO PUGET SOUND.—First, upon the north, is the Lummi, a large and rapid river, with much excellent grazing and agricultural land upon its borders, upon which, however, few settlements have as yet been made.
Next, south, is the Skagit River, naturally navigable for some 50 miles, and noted for its heavy timber and rich agricultural lands. The Stit-a-quamish, with valuable timber, and evidences of coal upon its banks. The Snoqualmie and Snohomish, navigable, well timbered, and with much first-rate agricultural land. The Dwamish, scene of the terrible Indian massacre in 1855, in which eleven men, women, and children were killed and shockingly mutilated.
The Puyallup River is a fine stream. There is much good agricultural land in the valleys of the Puyallup and the Stuck. The soil is good and the bottoms are well settled. "These lands yield heavy crops of wheat, barley, oats, and some corn has succeeded well. Vegetables attain an enormous size. The high lands are generally rolling and well adapted to cultivation."
Mr. BROWNE says:―
The Snohomish valley varies from one to three miles in width, with a soil equal to the best bottom land in the Western States. The growth in the bottoms consists of alder and vine maple. Union City has been started near the mouth, and several claims have been taken. A great quantity of very desirable land is still vacant. Information derived from surveying parties justifies the statement that the land upon the forks is similar to that upon the river. The average yield to the acre in this valley is as follows: Potatoes, 600 bushels; wheat, 40 bushels; peas, 60 bushels; timothy hay, 5 tons; oats, 70 bushels.
And of the Valley of the Chehalis:―
This valley is the richest and most extensive body of agricultural land west of the Cascade Mountains. Indeed, Chehalis and Lewis counties, and the portion of Thurston drained by these streams, may be pronounced the garden spot of Washington Territory. The valley varies in breadth from 15 to 50 miles. From the mouth of the Satsop through to Hood's Canal, closed in by the Black Hills and the Coast Range, there is a beautiful open valley some 14 or 15 miles wide. In fact, the whole country, from the Chehalis to the head of the sound and the head of Hood's Canal, is well adapted to farming purposes. Prairie land to the extent of 50,000 acres, suited for grazing, lies in the vicinity of Gray's harbor, and the rich bottoms skirting all these streams, covered with an undergrowth of alder, maple, &c., so easily cleared, would furnish first-class farms for a vast number of settlers.
Commissioner WILSON says of this valley:―
Most of the land has been surveyed. The valley contains about 400,000 acres, part prairie, and part timber about 250,000 acres of which are yet unoccupied. The population of the valley consists of about two hundred settlers and their families.
Mr. BROWNE further says:―
The Chehalis is navigable at all tides for vessels of light draught or small river steamers, as far as the mouth of the Wynoche, and at high tide to the mouth of the Satsop, where there is a tidal rise and fall of 18 inches. At the lowest water, for two or three months in the year, shoal places might obstruct navigation, but for eight months no difficulty need prevent ascending as far as Claquato, where the territorial road between Olympia and Monticello crosses the Chehalis River. The Messrs. Goff, of Claquato, have just put on this river a good light-draught stern-wheel boat, and they express the assurance that they can make trips most of the year to Boisfort Prairie, some miles above Claquato. All the streams abound with salmon, trout, and many varieties of edible fish. Elk and other game, large and small, are plentiful. Coal has been discovered on the north side of the river, and also upon several of the tributary streams.
SHOALWATER BAY is full of shoals and flats, and at low tide about half its area is bare good but narrow channels run throughout its extent, worn by the several streams which empty into it. These flats are covered with oysters, which constitute the chief article of export. Codfish, halibut, and sturgeon are abundant.
Several varieties of salmon are also found, and in spring large shoals of small herring enter the bay. The annual shipments of oysters to San Francisco is about 35,000 baskets; about 5,000 baskets more are sent to Portland, Oregon, and. other points on the Columbia River.
CLIMATE OF WESTERN WASHINGTON.—The climate of Western Washington is essentially different from that of the portion east of the Cascade Mountains. The fact that there is comparatively no winter in so high a latitude may be a matter of surprise. Properly speaking, however, there are but two seasons, the dry and the rainy. The grades of temperature and the accompaniments which in other countries of the same latitude ascribe the features and title to the four seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, are here in great measure obliterated, or at least so dimly marked that the seasons imperceptibly run into each other, and lose their distinctive line of division. It is not unusual for the three winter months to be mild, without snow or ice, the grass growing meanwhile. In February, the weather may occur mild and genial as May, to be succeeded in March or April with our coldest weather. In July and August, days in some portions of which the maximum temperature will reach 90° or 100°, are sometimes followed by cold nights, occasionally accompanied by heavy frost. The rainy season proper begins late in October or early in November, and may be said to continue till the ensuing April. It frequently happens after the first rains that weeks of weather similar to Indian summer occur, and it is seldom that one or other of the months of January, February, or March does not prove continuously mild and clear. The summers of this Territory are unsurpassed in the world. While many days are exceedingly warm, the nights are always cool and refreshing, as if specially intended for wholesome sleeping. In the winter months, six in number, rains prevail. No disappointment should be felt if falling weather occurred some part of each 24 hours, and yet many bright sunshiny days relieve the long-continued rainy season of Washington Territory.
EASTERN WASHINGTON.—This portion of the Territory is bounded on the west by the Columbia River. It may be considered as the aggregation of the Walla Walla valley, the basin of the Lower Snake River, the Great Plain east of the Columbia, circumscribed by the big bend of that river, and divided by the Grand Cowlee, the Spokane River valley and plains, and the valley of the Pen d'Oreille, under the general name of Colville.
The valleys of all these rivers and their numerous branches afford abundance of excellent farming lands, yielding heavy crops. The table-lands and surrounding hills are possessed of soil of like character. In consequence of the absence of water, or difficulty of irrigation, which was deemed a sine qua non to their successful cultivation, until very recently no attempts were made to convert these lands into farms; but as settlement increases, they are being occupied and very successfully cultivated. For grazing, these table-lands and side hills can not be excelled. They are covered with a luxuriant growth of native bunch-grass of most nutritious quality. During the rains of spring it seems to attain its growth, and through the dry season which follows it stands to be cured into the best of hay, preserving its strength and esculent properties all winter.
Colville valley has much rich land which is unoccupied and open to the immigrant. JUDGE WYCHE, of the Supreme Court of Washington Territory, thus speaks of it:―
On the rich lands now unoccupied in the valley and on Mud Lake, and along on different points on the Columbia River, there are now the finest opportunities for settlement and happy and prosperous homes of any part of this upper coast. From 100 to 300 families may find as rich land as the sun shines on, with no timber to be cleared, and with splendid timber just at hand, and the finest streams, and needing only the touch of the husbandman's hand to yield abundant harvests.
Respecting Colville, Mr. BROWNE says:―
This vicinity has attracted much attention as a gold mining region since 1854; indeed the name of "Colville " has attached to the whole mining region of the Upper Columbia and its tributaries, south of the 49th parallel. Gold is found on all the streams and bars from the Spokane River to the northern boundary, and up the Pen d'Oreille to the Catholic Mission. The richer fields of British Columbia have attracted thither white miners, but a large number of Chinamen have found successful employment on these various bars for the past several years.
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There is no hazard in the statement that, for health and salubrity, there is no climate in the world which surpasses that of Washington Territory in the two portions east of the Cascade Mountains.
MIDDLE WASHINGTON.―This division of the Territory lies between the main Columbia and the Cascade Mountains; branches of the Columbia ramify through it in every direction, with many beautiful valleys and much arable land well grassed and wooded.
Mr. BROWNE continues:―
South of the Yakima is a low divide separating its waters from. the waters flowing into the main Columbia, in that portion of the river where, after leaving Fort Walla Walla, it proceeds westward. This divide has a general parallel course to the Columbia, is nearly east and west some 30 miles from the main river, and between it and the Columbia is a large body of arable land, nearly every acre of it adapted to cereals. This country has not come under the observation of a scientific party with instruments in hand, but has been much traveled over by intelligent officers of the Indian service and by the practical agriculturists of the country. Little streams flowing from the southern side of this divide, which is well wooded all through, pass down to the main Columbia, watering the country and furnishing the means of supplying the farm and animals with water. * * * The forest growth of the upper waters of the Clearwater, and of the main Columbia from above the mouth of the Wenachee, furnishes inexhaustible supplies, which, after being rafted down the streams—that is, the Snake and Columbia rivers—will furnish settlements in the vicinity of those rivers with firewood and lumber at moderate rates. So great are the facilities for rafting that it almost amounts to a continuous forest along the streams.
When this interior becomes settled there will be a chain of agricultural settlements all the way from Walla Walla to the Dalles, south of the Columbia, along the streams just mentioned and north of the Columbia, on the beautiful table-land which borders it from the Walla Walla westward. The Dalles is a narrow place in the Columbia River where the channel has been worn out of the rocks, below which, about 10 miles, is the mouth of the Klikitat River, whose general valley furnishes the route of communication with the main Yakima and the several intermediate streams, the trails pursuing a generally northerly direction. In this Klikitat valley is much good farming land. It is also worthy of observation that gold was found to exist, in the explorations of 1853, throughout the whole region between the Cascades and the main Columbia, to the north of the boundary, and paying localities have since been found at several points, particularly on the southern tributary of the Wenachee. The gold quartz also is found in the Nachess River. The gold-bearing crossing the Columbia and stretching along Clark's Fork and the Kutanie River unquestionably extends to the Rocky Mountains.
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All the crops of the Middle States, including corn, can be cultivated successfully in the Yakima valley. This statement is based upon reliable information from settlers who have resided. there, and farmed for several years past.
MINERAL RESOURCES.
COAL.—The appearance of veins and outcroppings of coal in almost every section of the Territory west of the Cascade Mountains indicate its very general distribution and inexhaustive supply. It is found on the Columbia, as also upon streams emptying directly into the Pacific; it appears at Clallam Bay, just within the Straits of Fuca; following round our inland sea, we find it in exhaustless fields back of Seattle, then upon the Sto-lu-aua-mah, and at Bellingham Bay, in the extreme north. Its presence at intermediate sections, within an area bounded by the above designated points upon the Cowlitz and Skookum Chuck, the Chehalis, and on the Dwamish,Black, and Green rivers, attest its thorough and universal diffusion—the continuity of the strata through this whole region.
FISHERIES.
PUGET SOUND AND THE NORTHERN FISHERIES.—Prominent among the resources of the Puget Sound country is the building of fishing schooners and using them in the northern cod fisheries.
The cod and halibut banks in the North Pacific, both on the Asiatic and American coasts, and also around the intervening islands, are known to be numerous, and fish abundant.
The market for cured fish will increase with the supply. Five hundred schooners, averaging 100 tons burden each, and employing 5,000 men, engaged in the fishing business, with more than ordinary fisherman's luck, would not over supply the Pacific market. San Francisco would, of course, be the wholesale center of trade and supply for California and other mining countries, the Pacific islands and fleet, Hong-Kong and other Asiatic ports, and all ports south to Valparaiso. Decayed codfish, via the Horn, will no longer be a marketable article in San Francisco. The Atlantic cod fleet, American, English, and French, number some 3,000 vessels, manned with about 30,000 men; yet the price of dry and pickled fish has been gradually rising for the last 15 years, and this, too, under the bounty act of Congress and. the reciprocity treaty with Great Britain.
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With no rivalry from the East or elsewhere; with abundance of fish, unfrequent storms during the fishing season, the best climate to cure fish, safe harbors, salt by the cargo at a comparatively low price, and all the requisite provisions for an outfit, it is scarcely possible to overate the advantages of this region as the great fishery of the North Pacific. The Sound waters are full of clams and small fish for bait, and good ship-timber can be had near the shores for the mere cost of cutting.
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES.
We subjoin a portion of the June Report (1868) of the Department of Agriculture, respecting the agricultural resources, &c., &c., of Washington Territory:―
The average value of wild or unimproved lands in Clallam County is $1.25 per acre, covered with a dense growth of heavy timber. When cleared, the high land is capable of producing good crops of wheat, oats, barley, &c. and the low lands will yield, in addition to the cereals, abundant crops of hardy vegetables. The same average price rules in Pacific; land said to be of little value except for timber. Lands entered, unimproved, in Wahkiacum have advanced 50 per cent since 1860. There is still much Government land in this county; but it is generally hilly and covered with fir timber, which will not pay for clearing. The settled land is chiefly valley—heavy, rich alluvial soil, suited to the cereals and vegetables. Clarke County averages $1.25 per acre and Walla Walla $2, the former mostly uneven and heavily timbered with fir; soil about second quality; no vacant prairie land. In the latter county the land is prairie, good for wheat and splendid for grazing. There is a vast quantity of Government land remaining for sale or subject to entry under the homestead laws or soldiers' warrants in this Territory.
In the counties named no mineral resources of consequence, except coal, have been developed as yet. Coal is said to exist in large quantities in some localities. Timber is abundant.
In speaking of resources of the soil, our Wahkiacum reporter says:―
"The valley land is almost inexhaustible. I have examined it down 10 feet, and found it about as rich as it is at the surface. In the valley the principal timber is soft maple, alder, with scattering spruce, very thick underbrush. It costs from $25 to $50 per acre to clear it."
Beef and wheat are the staple productions of Walla Walla County, its extended prairies furnishing a rich grazing region. Our Clarke reporter writes as follows:—
"Wheat, hay, and apples are our chief crops. Wheat is cultivated by nearly all the farmers; yield about 25 bushels per acre; yield of the county this year (1867), 75,000, of which 55,000 was winter wheat. No rust, no weevil, very little smut, sound and healthy; average price, $1 in coin; cost, 80 cents per bushel; net profit, 20 cents per bushel, $5 per acre in coin. Hay, mostly herds-grass, averages two tons to the acre; about 3,500 acres cultivated; 7,000 tons of hay, worth $8 per ton. In clover, 300 acres, two crops a year; two tons per acre; worth $12 per ton. Apples by far the most profitable; winter varieties worth 60 to 70 cents per bushel."
Potatoes are the staple crop in Wahkiacum, the yield being about 300 bushels, of 60 pounds, to the acre under the best cultivation. Our correspondent made last year a net profit of $75 per acre.
From Pacific our correspondent writes as follows:―
"The business which employs the most men here, and the greatest amount of capital, is the cultivation of oysters. From 60 to 70 men are employed, with a corresponding number of sloops, boats, scows, &c., in transporting them from the natural to private beds. By an act of the legislature every citizen is granted 10 acres where there are no natural beds of oysters. This ground is covered with young oysters at a cost of about $180 per acre, 3,000 baskets being about what one acre will grow. These are fit for market in from three to five years, and bring $1 per basket. The cost of gathering is about 25 cents per basket, aside from the first cost of planting. The amount of oysters annually shipped from this shoal water is about 40,000 baskets, the greater part going to San Francisco. About 5,000 baskets are sent to Oregon. The past winter has been very hard on the oystermen, many thousand bushels of oysters having been killed by the severe cold weather."
Red clover and timothy are successfully cultivated. Our reporters in Pacific and Walla Walla state that stock will subsist upon pastures and do well all the year; in Clallam And Wahkiacum, eight months are given as a limit during which cattle can subsist exclusively upon pastures; and in Clarke, seven months, at a cost of $3 per head. The estimated cost in Clallam is $12 per head for the season.
All our correspondents report favorably upon the capabilities of the Territory for fruit culture. Our Clarke reporter answers the questions as follows:―
"Apples, pears, plums, cherries, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, currants, and blackberries, are well adapted to our soil and climate. Peaches and grapes not so well suited. Of apples, the Roxbury Russet, Rhode Island Greening, Pearmain, Spitzenberg, and Jersey Sweeting, bear at the age of four years from grafting, if set out at one year old."
Our Wahkiacum reporter says apples grow so abundantly that they will not pay to market; hence he turns them to profit by feeding them to his hogs, for which purpose he thinks them better than potatoes.
Capt. CHAS. G. PETTYS, a worthy citizen of Seattle, now upon a visit to New York, makes us personally the following interesting statement:―
We have little snow in winter, but much rain. The climate is very healthy. I have lived there with my family for many years, and we all like it so much that we would not leave under any consideration. Society is first-rate; people all cordial, and everybody jolly. We have the best of schools, and churches of all denominations. Our school-house at Seattle cost $40,000 in gold; it has a play-ground of forty acres.
The Indians are all peaceable and useful. Some of the younger squaws are quite good looking, and make excellent nurses and domestics.
You can buy of the Indians a bushel of clams, or a salmon that will weigh twenty-five or thirty pounds, for a dime; or two hind quarters of venison for fifty cents. There is an abundance of game, millions of partridges, grouse, and pheasants; plenty of deer, and panthers. Good improved lands near the towns will command $10 to $15 per acre, but millions of acres of good lands are open to settlement everywhere. Little except bottom land is cultivated, as the uplands are so heavily timbered that it is expensive to clear them.
Lumbering is a leading interest in the Territory, and very profitable with capital. This is a most inviting county for Eastern lumbermen. Common hands get $40 per month, with board head sawyers $100, and always wanted. Board averages about $5, coin, per week.
The best flour sells at $7, coin, per barrel. Raising hogs and sheep pays well; but the best business on the coast, better than any gold mine, is, or would be, the curing of salmon for the New York market. The quantity that may be had is illimitable; the Indians will catch all that can be used; they can be packed for $4 per barrel (say salmon $2, salt $1, barrel $1), freighted to New York City at $8 per barrel, and sold for $35 to $40.
From Olympia, Mr. ELWOOD EVANS writes us, under date of August 15th, 1868, that the residents at the lumbering settlements around Puget Sound are mostly from Maine. In the farming settlements the population is made up of immigrants, who have crossed the plains, from various sections of the United States, with a sprinkling of Germans and Irish.
From the Olympia Standard we copy the following in reference to the rate of wages in that region:―
A farming hand, by the year, will receive from twenty to forty dollars per month, and board, while a laborer, through harvest, will get two and three dollars per day. Mill operatives and loggers, from forty to sixty dollars per month, and board; carpenters and mechanics, from three to five dollars per day domestic help, twenty to thirty-five dollars per month. People and capital are needed to develop the resources of this Territory. Farmers, mechanics, lumbermen, fishermen, as well as capitalists, all will find a wide field, and plenty of chance for enterprise and industry. There is plenty of room for talent, energy, and capital. The chances have not all been taken, indeed the country is yet in its infancy.
JOHN S. HITTELL, Esq., of California, a reliable writer, thus sums up his views of the climate of Washington Territory:―
Washington Territory, as well as the other portions of the Pacific, has a mildness and equability of climate unknown in like latitudes on the Atlantic side of the continent. This place has a summer cooler than that of Quebec, and a winter as warm as that of Norfolk; and while its average temperature for the year is about the same as that of New York, which is six degrees farther south, it has neither the bitter frosts nor the burning heat of the latter place.
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.