A Report on Washington Territory
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Title: A Report on Washington Territory
Author: William Henry Ruffner
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[Illustration: UPPER SNOQUALMIE FALLS, 120 FEET HIGH.]
A REPORT ON WASHINGTON
TERRITORY
BY
W. H. RUFFNER, LL.D.
ILLUSTRATED
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
SEATTLE, LAKE SHORE AND EASTERN RAILWAY
1889
COPYRIGHT, 1889
BY SEATTLE, LAKE SHORE AND EASTERN RAILWAY
PRESS OF
FLEMING · BREWSTER & ALLEY · NEW YORK
PREFACE.
The matter of this Report on Washington Territory is so arranged that
the reader, by referring to the table of contents, can turn at once to
any particular topic. The report is divided into six chapters, to wit:
_First_, Itinerary, which mentions briefly the places I visited, and the
dates.
_Second_, A General Account of Washington Territory, which includes
something of its History, its Location, and its great Pacific Market.
Under the last of these heads is given a large body of facts which will
surprise any one who has not studied the peculiar commercial advantages
of our Pacific States, and above all, of Puget Sound. There is also
given some account of the topography, climate, soils and natural
vegetation, with special stress upon the great forests of the Puget
Sound basin. The lumber industry is next described, followed by a
somewhat full account of agricultural products, especially those of the
Great Plain of the Columbia River. Finally, in this division, something
is said of the available labor of the country.
_Third_, Geology of Washington Territory. In one division I endeavor to
give the Historical and Structural Geology of the Territory, and in
another division I give the Economic Geology. In the latter I describe
the beds of coal, iron ore, granite, limestone and marble, and also the
ores of the precious and base metals as they have been discovered in all
parts of the Territory.
_Fourth_, the special interests of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern
Railway are discussed. I begin with Seattle, to show its advantages as a
terminus. I then say something of the terminal property owned by this
Company, and of the suburban interests of many kinds, such as
residences, parks, gardens and industrial works which are likely to grow
up along the first twenty miles of this railway. I then take up the
great timber interest along the line, which, in its magnitude and value,
will give this road pre-eminence over all others. The agricultural
products along the line are next spoken of. I then take up the great
coal interest which will minister so largely to the road--an interest
whose magnitude can be readily inferred from the fact that this railway
will pass through, or near, five and perhaps six distinct coal fields
between Puget Sound and the Columbia River. I next show the advantages
which this road will have in the development of the great magnetic
iron-ore beds on both sides of the Cascade Mountains, and also the
remarkable juxtaposition of ore, flux and fuel, which are found in the
Snoqualmie Valley. Attention is also called to the business which is
likely to arise from the limestones, marble and granite for building and
monumental purposes. Finally, I call attention to the great advantage
which this road will have, or, at least, may have, in controlling the
large and increasing business connected with the mines of precious and
base metals, which are being opened north and east of this line.
_Fifth_, Cities and Towns are briefly noticed which will, or may, bear
an important relation to the Seattle Road.
_Sixth_, a supplementary chapter, giving latest information.
W. H. RUFFNER.
LEXINGTON, VA.
INDEX.
PAGE
ITINERARY 17
Great Plain, 17--Cascade Mountains, 17--Hop Ranch,
17--Snoqualmie Pass, 18--Guye Mines, 18--Mt. Logan,
18--Denny Mines, 19--Salal Prairie, 19--Moss Bay Co.,
19--Raging River, 20--Gilman Mines, 20--Blakeley Mills,
20--Wilkeson Mines, 20--Kirke's Coal Mines, 21--Portland,
23--Spokane Falls, 23--Good weather, 25.
GENERAL ACCOUNT OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY 26
HISTORICAL 26
Denny, of Denny Mines, 26--Causes of delay in settlement,
26--Population of Washington Territory, 27.
LOCATION AND MARKET 27
Majority of the human race in the countries of the
Pacific, 28--Change in the currents of trade, 28--The
China trade, 29--The trade of the Amoor River, Japan,
etc., 31--The new railroad across Siberia to St.
Petersburg, 32--The American Pacific States have decisive
advantages over all others in controlling the Pacific
trade, 33--Advantages in distances, 34.
ROUGH ESTIMATES OF DISTANCES 34
Advantage in productions, 36--Coastwise trade, 36--South
American trade, 36--Large existing trade, 37.
TABLE--Ports of the Pacific showing total value of Exports of
Domestic Merchandise for year ending June 30, 1885, June
30, 1887, and total value of Imports of Merchandise for
year ending June 30, 1885, June 30, 1887.
38
PRINCIPAL EXPORTS OF DOMESTIC MERCHANDISE, YEAR ENDING
JUNE 30, 1885 39
APPENDIX--List of Exports of Domestic Merchandise, year ending
June 30, 1885. Exported from the seven Customs Districts
of the Pacific, 39--List of Imports of Merchandise, year
ending June 30, 1885. Imported into the seven Customs
Districts of the Pacific 41
APPROXIMATE POPULATION IN THE YEAR 1887 OF THE WORLD 42
TOPOGRAPHY OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY 43
Puget Sound, 44--Lake Washington, 44--West Washington and
East Washington, 45--Coeur d'Alene Mountains, 46--The
Great Plateau, 47--Coulées, 47--Columbia and Snake Rivers,
48.
ALTITUDES IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY 49
CLIMATE 49
The climate of Washington Territory, 49--Mild and equable,
51--Rainfall, 51--No blizzards or cyclones,
53--Differences between East and West Washington,
53--Chinook wind, 55.
SOILS 55
Soils all fertile, 55.
TABLE SHOWING THE MEANS OF THE DAILY MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM
TEMPERATURES IN DEGREES FAHRENHEIT 56
TABLE SHOWING THE AVERAGE PRECIPITATION AT STATIONS OF THE
SIGNAL SERVICE 57
A remarkable soil, 60.
NATURAL VEGETATION 61
Vast vegetation, 61--Deciduous trees, 62--Larch,
62--Extraordinary evergreen forests, 63--Douglas fir, or
Oregon pine, 63--The best of ship timber, 64--White cedar,
65--Beautiful house lumber, 65--Hemlock spruce,
65--Tanners wanted, 66--White pine, 66--Balsam fir,
66--Large supply of Canada Balsam, 67--The yew, 67--The
superior timber of Snoqualmie Valley, 67--Range for horses
and cattle, 69.
LUMBERING 69
Magnitude of the lumber business, 70--Vast extent of the
lumber market, 70--The great saw-mills, 71--Profits and
prices, 73.
AGRICULTURE 73
Clearing the land, 73--Demand for agricultural products,
74--Large crops, 74--Hop-growing on a large scale, 74--The
changed agricultural conditions of East Washington,
75--Irrigation in the Yakima Valley, 75--Varied crops,
77--The Great Plain, 77--Boundaries, 78--Early history,
78--Area and population, 79--Amazing wheat crops:
surpassing all other States, 79--Railroads overwhelmed
with freight, 80--Price of wheat and cost of production,
81--Also barley and oats, 83--The soil a natural
fertilizer, 84--Quality of the wheat, 84--The market in
England, China, and other Asiatic ports, 85--Astonishing
growth of vegetables, 85--Crops without rain, 86--West
(not East) Washington to be the great cattle country,
86--Tree-planting, 87.
LABOR 88
Good supply of labor, but more wanted, 88--Wages, 88.
THE GEOLOGY OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY 90
HISTORICAL AND STRUCTURAL 90
The Western Coast regions younger than the Rocky Mountains
and Appalachians, 91--An outlying Continent, 91--The rise
of the West Coast, 92--The rocks and minerals of the
Cascade Mountains, 93--The metamorphic rocks of doubtful
origin, 93--The coal beds, 94--The volcanic mountains and
their great activity, 95--The wonderful cañon of the
Columbia River, 96--The great sheets of basalt, 96--Origin
of the rich soil of East Washington, 97--The volcanoes not
wholly extinct, 98--Glacial drift, 98.
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 99
I. Coal 99
Thickness of the Coal Measures, 99--Fifteen workable
seams, 100--Different kinds of coal described, 100--The
chemical changes in coal beds, 101--Deficient
nomenclature, 102--Lignite an unsuitable name for the
coals of Washington Territory, 103--The coking quality not
general in these coals, but found in some, 104--Analyses
of Washington Territory coals, 106.
THE COLLIERIES 106
Authorities, 106.
ANALYSES OF REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLES OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY
COALS AND LIGNITES 107
The different mines, 108.
_a._ Carbon River Group 108
Anthracite, coking and gas coals, 108.
_b._ The Green River Group 110
The Common Point, equidistant between Tacoma and Seattle,
111--Franklin and Black Diamond mines, 112--The Kirke or
Moss Bay Company (English) mines, 112.
_c._ The Cedar River Group 117
Cedar River mines, 117--Talbot and Renton mines,
118--Newcastle Mine, 118--Cost of mining, 119--Large
production, 119--Misrepresentation, 120--Correction by Mr.
Whitworth, 122.
_d._ The Squak Creek, Raging River, and Snoqualmie Group 125
Gilman Mines, 125--Structure of Squak Mountain,
125--Peculiar advantages for mining possessed by the
Gilman Mines, 127--Seattle Coal and Iron Company,
127--Seven seams, 128--Details, 128--Good coal,
128--Another good coal seam, 128--And another, 129--Large
body of valuable coal, 131--Washington Mines, 132--Raging
River coals, 132--Details, 134--Snoqualmie Mountain Coal
Group, 136--Details, 136--Good coking coal, 136--Also good
coking coal, 138--Large and valuable bed, 138--Another
good bed, 139--Geological relations, 139--This the bottom
group, 140.
_e._ The Yakima and Wenatchie Group 140
Yakima or Roslyn coal field, 140--Coal on the Wenatchie,
141--Coal under the Great Bend country, 142.
_f._ Bellingham Bay, Skagit River, and other Coal Fields 142
The first mining on Bellingham Bay, 142--Coal on Skagit
River, 142--Coal south of Puget Sound, 144--Total
shipments of coal from Washington Territory, 144.
_g._ Coal Seams in British Columbia 145
Coal on Vancouver's Island, 145.
II. Iron Ore 146
The iron ores, 146--The great magnetic ore beds of Cascade
Mountains, 147--Resembles the Cranberry ore deposits,
147--Guye Mine on Mount Logan, 148--Denny Mine,
149--Chair Peak, or Kelly Mine, 149--Middle Fork Mines,
150--All easily reached from Seattle, Lake Shore and
Eastern Railway, 150--Cle-ellum ore beds, 150--Burch's ore
bed, 152--Dudley ore bed, 153--Undoubtedly large beds of
steel ores, 153--Of superior quality, 153.
ANALYSES OF SNOQUALMIE IRON ORES 154
Proved by analysis to be unsurpassed, if equaled, 155.
COMPARATIVE ANALYSES OF STEEL ORES 155
Improved processes, 156.
III. Granite, Limestone and Marble 157
Granite, 157--Marble and Limestone, 158.
IV. The Precious and Base Metals 159
Precious metals on Cascade Mountains, 159--On Cle-ellum
River, 160--Large copper vein in Stevens County,
161--Precious metals on Methow River, 161--The rich mines
of Okanogan, 162--The mines in the Colville region,
164--The Old Dominion Mine, 165--The Daisy Mine,
165--Young America Company, 166--The Little Dalles,
166--Coeur d'Alene Mines, 167--The large tonnage from
and to the mines, 169.
SPECIAL REMARKS ON THE COUNTRY AND ITS RESOURCES ALONG THE LINE OF THE
SEATTLE, LAKE SHORE AND EASTERN RAILWAY 171
SEATTLE 171
Commercial and manufacturing advantages, 171--Good
climate, 171--Good population, 172--High civilization,
172--Railroad lines, 173--The chief ship-building centre,
174--Seattle better located than San Francisco, 174.
THE TERMINAL PROPERTY OF THE SEATTLE, LAKE SHORE
AND EASTERN RAILWAY 175
Unrivalled terminal property, 175.
SUBURBAN INTERESTS 175
But two entrances by land, 175--Superiority of the
northern suburbs, 175--Factories of the future, 176--Ship
canal, 176.
TIMBER 176
Superiority of the timber on the Seattle, Lake Shore and
Eastern Railway, 177--The forests described, 178--Forests
of Raging River, 178--Forests near Hop Ranch,
179--Superior to the Long Leaf forests of the Southern
States and of the Mississippi Bottom, 180--Trees ten feet
in diameter, 180--Average nearly five feet in diameter and
250 feet high, 181--Lumber product per acre, 181.
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS 183
Agricultural freights, 183--Produce of Hop Ranch,
183--Farming, fruit and grazing lands, 185--Hops, barley
and beer, 186--The two great railroads, 187--The Great
Bend country, 187--Douglas County, 188--Lincoln County,
189--Spokane County, 189--Price of farming lands,
189--Tonnage, 190.
COAL 191
The Seattle railway passes five coal fields, 191--Largest
shipments from the Gilman Mines, 192--Superior mining
advantages of the Gilman Mines, 193--Mr. Whitworth's
testimony, 193--Cost of mining coal, 196--Cost at Gilman
Mines, 197--Prices of coal, 197.
IRON ORE 199
Handling the iron ores, 199--Furnace sites, 199--Salal
Prairie, 200--Charcoal cheaply produced, 200--Quantity of
charcoal to the ton of iron, 201--Bessemer ores commonly
distant from fuel, 202--High cost of Lake Superior ores,
203--Cost of producing ore in Pennsylvania, 203--Cost of
Bessemer-pig in Snoqualmie Valley, 203--Large market for
steel rails, 204.
THE OTHER MINERALS 204
Limestone, 204--Marble, granite, sandstones, slates,
204--Precious and base metals, 205--Okanogan, Colville and
Kootenai, 205--Coeur d'Alene, 206--Transportation lines
to the mining regions, 206.
CITIES AND TOWNS 209
The only competition is between Tacoma and Seattle,
209--Advantages of Seattle, 210--Towns of East Washington,
210--Spokane Falls and its fine prospects, 211--Mr. Paul
F. Mohr's article, 211--Sprague, Colfax, and Lewiston,
215--Notes on the Colfax country, 216--Lewiston,
217--Walla Walla, 217.
BRANCHES AND ROUTES FOR THE SEATTLE, LAKE SHORE
AND EASTERN RAILWAY 218
Railroad branches, 218--The Palouse country,
219--Arguments for the Palouse branch, 220--Manitoba
railroad, 220.
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER, GIVING LATEST INFORMATION 222
Rapid growth of Seattle and Spokane Falls, 222--Change in
the location of the railroad, 222.
REPORT FROM F. H. WHITWORTH, ESQ., CIVIL AND MINING ENGINEER
ON SEATTLE, ETC. 223
Population of Seattle, 224--New manufacturing
establishments, 224--New steamers, 224--The iron company
at work, 225--Coking coals, 225--New discoveries of iron
ore, 227--Lumber business growing, 228--Population and
freights increasing, 228--Labor strike at Gilman Mine,
228--Gilman coal seams, 229--Progress of the West Coast
Railroad, 229--Resources of the country along the new line
across Cady's Pass, 230--Progress in building the road,
231--Cable Railway in Seattle, 231--Southern Pacific
Railroad supposed to be coming to Seattle Harbor, 231.
REPORT FROM E. A. ROUTHE, ESQ., CONCERNING SPOKANE
FALLS, ETC. 232
Growth of Spokane Falls, 232--Prodigious development of
the mining interest, 233.
REPORT FROM PAUL F. MOHR, ESQ., CONCERNING THE
CADY'S PASS AND WENATCHIE ROUTE 234
I. ENGINEERING FEATURES 234
Engineering details of the new route, 234.
II. RESOURCES 236
Mr. Mohr's account of the resources of the new route, 236
III. SCENERY 238
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
UPPER SNOQUALMIE FALLS. FRONTISPIECE.
LAKE WASHINGTON--SHOWING MOUNT RANIER IN
THE DISTANCE. FACING PAGE 44.
A VIEW OF THE FOREST. FACING PAGE 62.
INDIANS GATHERING HOPS. FACING PAGE 74.
BRIDGE OVER THE SPOKANE RIVER. FACING PAGE 88.
LOWER SNOQUALMIE FALLS. FACING PAGE 92.
ENTRANCE TO GILMAN COAL MINE. FACING PAGE 106.
COAL-BUNKERS ON SEATTLE HARBOR. FACING PAGE 128.
A TRAIN-LOAD OF LOGS. FACING PAGE 176.
HAY-MAKING IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY. FACING PAGE 184.
VIEW OF THE CITY OF SPOKANE FALLS. FACING PAGE 210.
VIEW OF SEATTLE AND THE HARBOR. FACING PAGE 222.
LIST OF MAPS.
MAP OF ASIA AND PACIFIC OCEAN. FACING PAGE 27.
MAP OF WILKESON COALFIELD. FACING PAGE 109.
MAP OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE. FACING PAGE 170.
MAP OF SPOKANE FALLS. FACING PAGE 232.
MAP OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY. IN POCKET, INSIDE BACK COVER.
MAP OF UNITED STATES. IN POCKET, INSIDE BACK COVER.
ITINERARY.
[Sidenote: Great Plain.]
[Sidenote: Cascade Mountains.]
[Sidenote: Hop Ranch.]
I entered Washington Territory, by way of the Northern Pacific Railroad,
on the morning of October 27, 1887, coming first to the valley of the
Spokane River, and spending the entire day in traversing the plains of
Eastern Washington, reaching Pasco Junction a little after nightfall. I
crossed the Cascade Mountains on the Switchback, and arrived at Tacoma
about noon of the 28th, at which point I took a Puget Sound steamer, and
landed at Seattle about four P.M. the same day. The next morning,
accompanied by Mr. F. H. Whitworth, engineer, and Mr. F. M. Guye, I went
out on the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad to the end of the road,
near Newcastle, where we took horses, and reached Hop Ranch, on the
Snoqualmie River, the same night.
October 30.--Proceeded up the south fork of the Snoqualmie River, and
reached the engineers' camp near the top of Cascade Mountain, at
Snoqualmie Pass. Distances by rail and by wagon road: Seattle to Coal
Creek, near Newcastle, twenty miles; Coal Creek to Squak Valley, five
miles; Squak to Falls City, ten miles; Falls City to Hop Ranch (or
Snoqualmie) six miles; Hop Ranch to Engineers' Camp, twenty-six miles;
Camp to Summit, five miles.
[Sidenote: Snoqualmie Pass.]
The railroad on which I left Seattle is a narrow-gauge coal road.
Between its terminus and Squak Valley is a high mountain spur. The
proportion of cleared land along this whole line is not large in
comparison with the forests of evergreen timber, but there are many
farms of great fertility, some of them large. The timber increases in
quantity and size nearly to the top of the mountain. On these points I
shall speak fully hereafter. My object in thus hastening to the Cascade
Mountains was to make my observations first at the point where I was
most likely to be interrupted by bad weather. I found the engineers,
headed by Mr. Thompson, busily engaged in making the location of the
railroad, beginning at Snoqualmie Pass (the summit), and working
westward and downward, so as to connect with their finished work in the
neighborhood of Hop Ranch.
[Sidenote: Guye Mines.]
[Sidenote: Mt. Logan.]
Spending the night of October 30 at the camp, I went next morning to the
Guye Iron Mines, which were one mile from the line of the railroad. The
outcrops of ore and limestone lie high on a mountain, which I named
Mount Logan, in honor of General T. M. Logan, who seems to have been
among the first of the Eastern men to put faith in the resources of this
remarkable region. I returned in the evening to the engineers' camp.
[Sidenote: Denny Mine.]
The next day, November 1, I spent visiting the Denny Mine, two miles
from the railroad line, and also high on a mountain, and again returned
to camp. The Chair Peak Mine (also called the Kelley Mine), thirteen
miles distant from the railroad, and Guye's Mine on Middle Fork
Mountain, six miles distant, I did not visit, owing to want of time.
[Sidenote: Salal Prairie.]
[Sidenote: Moss Bay Co.]
November 2.--First rain. We returned down the mountain, and stopped for
an hour at Salal Prairie, where we found a large camp occupied by the
employees of the Moss Bay Iron and Steel Company, of England, who
expected to build iron furnaces on this admirable location.[A] This
night we spent at Hop Ranch, a description of which is given hereafter.
[A] This wealthy company has since determined to establish its works
on Lake Washington, at Kirkland.
November 3.--Spent the most of this day in examining the coking coal
beds on Snoqualmie Mountain, three miles from Hop Ranch, and reached
Falls City that night, pausing by the way to look upon that wonderful
sight, the Snoqualmie River Falls, 267 feet high.
[Sidenote: Raging River.]
November 4.--Left the line of the railroad and went up Raging River ten
miles, where I visited the coal openings, and spent the night at the
miners' camp. The Raging River valley and mountain-sides are covered
with large timber.
[Sidenote: Gilman Mines.]
November 5.--Descended Raging River valley six miles to the line of the
railroad, which we followed to the Gilman Coal Mines, on Squak, passing
a bed of ochreous earth, which might have value for paint, and may lead
to a bed of iron-ore.
At Camp Gilman I looked at all the openings which were accessible, and
observed the preparations making for large mining. Spent the night at
Tibbett's in Squak Valley, two miles distant.
November 6.--Returned to Seattle.
November 7.--In Seattle.
[Sidenote: Blakeley Mills.]
November 8.--Crossed Puget Sound to the great Blakeley Lumber Mills, and
also examined Mrs. Guye's large collection of the minerals of Washington
Territory.
November 9.--Made short excursions in and around Seattle, including a
trip on the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway, fourteen miles out.
[Sidenote: Wilkeson Mines.]
November 10.--Went to the Wilkeson Coal Mines, where I found the only
coke ovens I saw in the Territory.
November 11.--Returned to Seattle by way of Tacoma, where I met Mr.
Peter Kirke, the partner and agent of the Moss Bay Company, who is
preparing to erect a steel plant; but whether he intended to build at
Salal Prairie or at Cle-ellum, I could not ascertain. In fact, I am not
sure that he had then determined in his own mind.
November 12.--Excursions around Seattle, especially around the borders
of the lakes.
November 13.--The first Sunday I have been able to observe like a
Christian.
November 14 and 15.--Collecting information and constructing maps.
November 16.--Out on the line of the S. L. S. & E. Railway eighteen
miles.
[Sidenote: Kirke's Coal Mines.]
November 17.--To Kirke's Coal Mines on Green River. By rail as far as
the Franklin Coal Mines, passing the Renton, Cedar Mountain and Black
Diamond mines. At Franklin Mines, took horses to the Green River Mines,
seven miles, where we spent the night at Mr. Kirke's camp.
November 18.--Last evening and to-day, examined all the openings on Mr.
Kirke's property, and one opening on Section 34, Sugar-Loaf Mountain,
owned by Mr. Whitworth and others; and took the Northern Pacific
Railroad cars at the Common Point, and got back to Seattle the same
night.
November 19.--In Seattle working on maps.
November 20.--Sunday.
November 21.--Remained in Seattle.
November 22.--Went to Portland, Oregon. I will here say that Mr. F. H.
Whitworth accompanied me on all my trips away from Seattle, and
superintended the construction of my large maps, which were made in his
own office. I found him a most obliging gentleman, and exceedingly well
informed about the country. He was untiring also in collecting for me
such information as he did not already possess. Judge Burke, Mr. Leary,
Mr. Mackintosh, Governor Squire, Judge Lewis, Dr. Minor (the Mayor),
etc., were exceedingly attentive, Judge Burke especially so. Other
citizens, such as Chancellor Jones, ex-Governor Ferry, Mr. Arthur A.
Denny (the oldest citizen on Puget Sound), Mr. F. M. Guye, Dr. Cumming,
Mr. Haller, etc., were cordial, and ready to do me any service. Indeed,
the citizens of Seattle, so far as I became acquainted with them, showed
themselves in enthusiastic sympathy with the new railroad enterprise.
[Sidenote: Portland.]
November 23.--Spent the day in visiting the Oswego Iron Works, six miles
from Portland, in company with Mr. S. G. Reed, president of the Oregon
Iron and Steel Company. The only point of special interest connected
with these unfinished iron-works, is that Mr. Reed is looking forward
impatiently to the progress of the S. L. S. & E. road, expecting to
receive from it magnetic ore for mixture, also limestone and coke.
November 24.--Ascended the Columbia River by steamer, with six miles of
portage, to the Dalles, where I took the Northern Pacific train for
Spokane Falls, having daylight from Pasco Junction.
November 25.--Nothing could be more unjust to the country than the
location of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which runs most of the way to
Spokane Falls in a _coulée_ (or dry river bed), which completely hides
most of the farming land from the traveler.
[Sidenote: Spokane Falls.]
November 26.--In Spokane Falls, which I found to be a rapidly growing
city of 7,000 to 8,000 people, who are pressing the interests of the
town with amazing energy. Mr. Routhe, president of the Board of Trade;
Mr. Cannon, president of the Bank of Spokane Falls; Mr. Paul F. Mohr,
Mr. Curtis, Mr. Nash, and quite a number of other prominent citizens,
called upon me, and showed the liveliest interest in the Seattle, Lake
Shore and Eastern Railway. I collected here a mass of valuable
information concerning the agricultural and mineral resources of Eastern
Washington; this being an important centre of trade for farmers and
miners.
November 27.--Sunday.
November 28, 29 and 30.--Went out on the Spokane Falls and Palouse
Railroad to the Palouse River country. At Garfield I took the train to
Colfax, which I found to be also a flourishing place, and wide awake in
reference to the Seattle road. The citizens here were also ready to do
all in their power to aid the enterprise.
December 1.--Arrived at Walla Walla, another of the great wheat centres,
where I found leading citizens well informed as to the new railroad, but
not indulging much hope of its coming within striking distance, except
in the remote contingency of Snake River Valley being selected as the
route of the Manitoba Railroad.
[Sidenote: Good weather.]
December 2.--In the afternoon came south fifty miles, to Pendleton, in
Oregon, and on the morning of the 3d started for home by way of the
Oregon Short Line and Union Pacific. By this time the earth was covered
with a light snow; but upon the whole, the weather during my trip was
pleasant--certainly not so much falling weather as I had a right to
expect, and no severe cold.
Thus I was five weeks and two days in Washington Territory. The entire
trip, from the time I left Lexington until my return, was seven weeks
and two days. Miles traveled, 8,500.
A GENERAL ACCOUNT OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY.
HISTORICAL.
[Sidenote: Denny, of Denny Mines.]
[Sidenote: Causes of delay in settlement.]
The first white man who ever settled near the site of Seattle (Mr.
Arthur A. Denny) now lives in that city, and can scarcely be called an
old man. The country remained unsettled so long, partly because of its
inaccessibility from the East, and partly because it was disputed
territory between the United States and Great Britain. It became a
separate Territory only in 1853. No transcontinental line of railroad
touched any part of Washington Territory until four years ago, when the
Northern Pacific passed across the eastern part of the Territory, and
united with the road along the Columbia River, which had been built by
the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, and which had barely entered
this Territory. Following this line to Portland, Oregon, and then
completing the road from Portland, northward, the railroad reached Puget
Sound at Tacoma by this circuitous route in 1883.
The Northern Pacific Railroad has, during the present year (1887),
succeeded in reaching Tacoma by a more direct, though still angular,
line, crossing the Cascade Mountains at Stampede Pass.
[Illustration: MAP OF ASIA AND PACIFIC OCEAN.]
Whilst thus comparatively unknown and inaccessible, it is not surprising
that population should at first come in slowly. Those who came to
Western Washington were chiefly lumbermen. Since that time farmers have
settled large tracts of country, commerce has become large, and now
every interest is going forward with great rapidity.
[Sidenote: Population of Washington Territory.]
The population in 1880 was 67,000. Governor Semple, in his report for
1887, puts the population at 143,669, which shows a gain in seven years
of over 100 per cent. But the Governor himself declares that the
enumerations made since 1880 are unreliable, and it is claimed by
intelligent gentlemen in Seattle that the present population exceeds
175,000. It is increasing rapidly day by day. The fact seems suddenly to
have burst upon the country at large that here, in this neglected
corner, is a wide region offering perhaps the richest inducements to
immigration of any part of the United States.
LOCATION AND MARKET.
(This should be read with a map of Asia and Pacific Ocean.)
In spite of Oriental exclusiveness, now broken down, the Asiatic trade
has always formed a large element in the commerce of the world, and has
long been sought by the great maritime powers of Europe, especially by
England. For this she conquered India, and seized upon many islands of
the ocean. For this she battered in the gates of China, and established
herself permanently at Hong Kong, at the entrance to the River of
Canton.
[Sidenote: Majority of the human race in the countries of the Pacific.]
[Sidenote: Change in the currents of trade.]
In these countries, and upon these islands, live more than half the
human race, and with all the barbarism of some, and the old-fashioned
civilization of even the best, the large majority of these people are
producers of a multitude of articles wanted by the civilized world. And
of late these peoples have become possessed with a strange desire to
avail themselves of the products of European and American art. This
market will not only grow rapidly in its demands, but the currents of
trade will be diverted from Europe to America. In fact, the settlement
of the west coast of America inaugurated a revolution greater than that
which substituted the voyage around the Cape of Good Hope for the camel
train across the Asiatic continent. It gave America a standpoint from
which she would ultimately wrest the bulk of the vast trade of the
Orient from Europe. The cutting of the Suez Canal mended the hold of
England and other maritime European states on the Oriental market, in
fact secured for them the advantage of a shorter line to the Southern
Asiatic market as far as the Malay Peninsula; but as for the rest of
that great market included in the Pacific Islands, the Chinese Empire,
Japan and Siberia, the revolutionary movement has commenced, whereby the
bulk of that trade will be taken from England and Holland by the
merchants of San Francisco and Puget Sound.
[Sidenote: The China trade.]
The trade of China alone has been estimated at $130,000,000 per annum,
the greater part of which is absorbed by England, and the annual value
of the export and import trade of England with the Pacific Islands has
been put at $75,000,000. This already immense market may and will be
enlarged, especially in China, by means of railroad and steamboat
connections, which will bring to the coast the products of the interior
sections. Much of the China trade now goes overland into and through
India, and also through Siberia, to be consumed by the way, or pushed
through to the termini of European railroads and ship-lines which are
reaching to get it. And, as the transportation becomes better, so will
the production increase. Railroad building, until lately forbidden in
China, has now commenced, and will, in the nature of the case, go on
rapidly. The result will be to bring most of the trade to the Pacific
coast, and thus reverse all the interior movements.
Even the capital of the Empire, the great Peking, and the productive
region around it, have depended largely on the overland trade to Europe,
and especially on the great Russian market opened annually at Novgorod.
It only needs a railroad from the back country, through Peking direct to
the coast, to bring this large trade under American control. Mr. James
G. Swan (Hawaiian Consul) has written a valuable pamphlet on the regions
drained by the Amoor River, in which he shows that there is an immense
trade "now lying dormant in Siberia, Mongolia, Manchooria, Northern
China, Corea and Japan, which will be brought into active life and
diverted to the American shore of the North Pacific Ocean by the great
continental railroads which will have the outlet of their commerce
through the Straits of Fuca."
He gives the population of these countries as follows:
Siberia 4,000,000
Mongolia 12,000,000
Manchooria 5,000,000
Japan 36,000,000
----------
Total 57,000,000
[Sidenote: The trade of the Amoor River, Japan, etc.]
The Amoor River, with its great Chinese tributary, the Songaree,
furnishes over 2,600 miles of steamboat navigation (a second
Mississippi), but, owing to a great bend to the south, the Amoor can be
reached by a short line of railroad from the Russian port Vladivostock,
or Poisette Harbor. Japan lies on the way from Puget Sound to the region
referred to. Major Collins, some years ago, said in a letter to
Secretary Marcy concerning this market: "One item, cotton fabrics, might
be introduced to the amount of millions yearly; then there are many
products of these countries that could be received in exchange. This
must be done through the Amoor and its affluents. It can hardly be
estimated what a revolution in trade and commerce can be effected in
this region; and the fondness of the people for luxuries and foreign
merchandise being very great, if the means of procuring them were
facilitated and the prices cheapened, the consumption would be immense,
and in a few years a trade of many millions would be effected."
Major Collins thought that these people would consume annually five
dollars per head of American goods; Mr. Swan estimates two dollars per
head. These goods would be paid for in silks, tea, rice, furs, skins,
wax, fossil ivory, plumbago, tin, precious stones, naval stores, etc.
It is said that the overland trade of North China to Russia now requires
for its transportation a caravan line of 36,000 camels and bullocks, and
100,000 horses, and that the Siberian trade is as large as that of
China. The tea sold at Novgorod amounts to $5,000,000 each annual fair.
The caravan tea is preferred to the ship tea, which is said to be
injured by the voyage through the tropics; another argument for the
North American route.
[Sidenote: The new railroad across Siberia to St. Petersburg.]
Since Mr. Swan's pamphlet, the news comes that the Russian Government is
now actively engaged in building a railroad from St. Petersburg across
Siberia to Vladivostock on the Japan Sea; and the expectation is general
that this imperial power will seize Corea so as to bring the terminus of
her railroad to Ninsen at the south point of Corea. All the great trade
which will thus be developed is in addition to the existing trade of
China and the Islands, and will probably swell the China, Japan and
Russian trade to over $200,000,000, to which is to be added the
Australian and Island trade, which already is, no doubt, over
$100,000,000.
Now comes the practical question, Who are to handle this vast trade of
$300,000,000 annually?
[Sidenote: The American Pacific States have decisive advantages over
all others in controlling the Pacific trade.]
No one nation exclusively, of course. The Dutch and other small powers
will have a little of it; but the only contest will be between England
and the American Pacific Coast. England has the lion's share now, but
this great nation will hereafter labor under too many disadvantages in
its contest with America. America has the needful capital, material,
pluck and energy, and enjoys certain decisive advantages, as, for
example--1. In distance, which of itself would in this case decide the
matter; 2. In the local production of certain staple articles which will
be in great demand, and which England cannot supply so cheaply, if at
all, such as lumber, meats, flour, canned goods, cheap cottons, and
agricultural and other machinery, which, if not cheaper, can be more
readily adapted to the wants of the market; 3. In possessing the back
country of Eastern America, whereby the entire United States become
tributary both ways to the Pacific commerce; to which may be added, 4.
The ever-flowing river in the Pacific Ocean, flowing in a circle from
Japan to the American coast and back--the famous Kuro Shiwo, or Japanese
current; a current which gives a gain to every ship of twenty miles a
day in distance; the current which brings the disabled Japanese junks to
the American coast.
[Sidenote: Advantage in distances.]
The half-way point on the Pacific side between America and England is
the Malay Peninsula. This leaves even Australia and all of Oceanica
nearer to us than to England, and all of China, Japan and Siberia
thousands of miles nearer to us. Hong Kong and Canton are the English
headquarters in China, and yet our Pacific coast is 5,000 miles nearer
to these than England is. It is also 6,500 miles nearer to Shanghai,
which is a more important port than Canton, because of its greater
nearness to the rice and tea producing sections. The advantages are
still greater in respect to Peking, Japan, Vladivostock, the terminus of
the projected Russian railway, and the entire country drained by the
Amoor. Our commerce is now within thirty days of the coast of China, and
will be in less than ten days when the fast mail and express and
passenger steamers are launched. I insert a table of distances, which is
full of significance.
ROUGH ESTIMATES OF DISTANCES.
MILES
Puget Sound to mouth of Amoor River 3,900
" " " Vladivostock 4,700
" " " Shanghai 5,750
" " " Canton 6,500
" " " Singapore 8,100
" " " S. W. point of Australia 9,550
San Francisco to Vladivostock 5,200
" " " Shanghai 6,100
" " " Canton 6,800
" " " Singapore 8,400
" " " S. W. point of Australia 9,500
" " " St. Petersburg via Vladivostock 9,700
St. Petersburg to Vladivostock 4,500
San Francisco to Calcutta 10,200
Liverpool to mouth of Amoor River 13,550
" " Vladivostock 12,700
" " Shanghai 11,750
" " Canton 10,900
" " S. W. point of Australia 10,750
" " Singapore 9,300
" " Calcutta 8,700
Liverpool and Puget Sound are about equally distant from west coast of
the Malay Peninsula.
MILES
New York to Canton, via Puget Sound 9,500
" " Shanghai " " " 7,800 to 8,000
By this it will be seen that New York, by way of Puget Sound, is 1,400
miles nearer to Canton than Liverpool is, and nearly 4,000 miles nearer
to Shanghai. Mr. Swan makes the distance from the Pacific coast less
than I have given. It should also be noted that Puget Sound has the
advantage of distance over San Francisco also.
[Sidenote: Advantage in productions.]
Puget Sound has also the advantage over all competitors of being able
to produce a large bulk of the materials for commerce in its own
vicinity. In this report there will be a large array of facts concerning
the present and future productions of Washington Territory, which will
amply confirm and illustrate the above statement. The only real
competitor of Puget Sound on the American coast is British Columbia, but
British Columbia cannot vie with Washington Territory in the production
of the materials of commerce, and Canada at large furnishes no such
background as the United States.
[Sidenote: Coastwise trade.]
It will, of course, not be overlooked, that in the great coastwise trade
which the Pacific States have and must always have with each other, they
will minister to each other's prosperity. And here it will be shown that
Puget Sound will have the advantage in supplying the wants of others.
[Sidenote: South American trade.]
In addition to these is the foreign trade along the coast of British
Columbia, Mexico, Central America, and all the Pacific States of South
America. Chili is a prosperous State. She has nearly doubled the volume
of her trade in ten years. From 1874 to 1883 her exports went up from
$32,000,000 to $73,000,000, and her imports from $35,000,000 to
$50,000,000. The United States imports over $4,000,000 of goods from
the Pacific side of South America, and exports about $8,000,000 to these
states. England, however, gets the most of the West South American
trade, so that here again we must enter the lists with Britannia.
Already the contest has begun, and our Pacific States must bear off the
palm sooner or later.
[Sidenote: Large existing trade.]
Thus it is evident that a vast field of commercial enterprise is wide
open to the people of Washington Territory as well as to Oregon and
California. And our commercial statistics show what handsome progress
has already been made. Taking both exports and imports, there is already
a business of $80,000,000 done by the seven Pacific ports of entry. San
Francisco is now far ahead of the others, and this city has nothing to
fear from any other port except Puget Sound, which will gain upon her
rapidly and ultimately surpass her. Washington Territory has all that
California has on which to trade, and a great deal besides; and has the
advantage of position. When our commercial statistics were made up,
Puget Sound had no direct railroad communication with her own back
country east, much less a transcontinental line. A very different story
will be told a few years hence. I here insert a table of summaries
which show that the commercial revolution is now in operation.
-------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------
| TOTAL VALUE OF | TOTAL VALUE OF
| EXPORTS OF DOMESTIC | IMPORTS OF
PORTS | MERCHANDISE | MERCHANDISE
OF THE PACIFIC. | FOR YEAR ENDING | FOR YEAR ENDING
+------------+------------+------------+------------
| JUNE 30, | JUNE 30, | JUNE 30, | JUNE 30,
| 1885. | 1887. | 1885. | 1887.
-------------------+------------+------------+------------+------------
Humboldt, Cal. | $ 201,500 | | $ 1,731 |
Oregon | 1,928,829 | | 161,170 |
Puget Sound, W. T. | 1,877,485 | | 238,036 |
San Diego, Cal. | 65,654 | | 71,106 |
San Francisco, Cal.| 37,082,520 |$32,027,995 | 35,040,350 |$40,707,708
Willamette, Oregon | 4,142,156 | | 277,386 |
Wilmington, Cal. | 252,673 | | 187,348 |
-------------------+------------+------------+------------+------------
|$45,550,817 | |$35,977,127 |
-------------------+------------+------------+------------+------------
In the latest report to which I have access, San Francisco is the only
one of the Pacific ports mentioned separately.
Much of the exports above reported to the credit of Oregon really came
down the Columbia River from the eastern part of Washington Territory;
and the great bulk of the exports from San Francisco consists of wheat,
flour, and other breadstuffs, an item in which Washington Territory can
surpass all competitors. The following table shows the principal items
of export from the Pacific ports.
Let it be noted that in respect to the production of the larger items,
to wit, wheat and flour, wood and its manufactures, animals, iron and
steel and their manufactures, machinery of all sorts, fish, etc.,
Washington Territory can surpass all competitors.
PRINCIPAL EXPORTS OF DOMESTIC MERCHANDISE, YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1885.
-------------------+------------+-------------------------------------
PORTS ON THE | APPROXIMATE|
PACIFIC. | VALUES. |
-------------------+------------+-------------------------------------
Humboldt, Cal. | $ 165,000 | Wood, and Manufactures of.
| |
|{ 1,493,600 | Canned Salmon.
Oregon, Oregon |{ 400,000 | Wheat and Flour.
|{ 32,000 | Wood, and Manufactures of.
| |
|{ 830,000 | Wood, and Manufactures of.
Puget Sound, W. T. |{ 240,000 | Wheat and Flour.
|{ 160,000 | Animals.
| |
|{ 58,000 | Animals.
San Diego, Cal. |{ 4,000 | Wood, and Manufactures of.
|{ 1,800 | Machinery.
| |
|{27,226,000 | Wheat, Flour, and other Breadstuffs.
|{ 1,211,000 | Manufactures of Iron and Steel.
|{ 900,000 | Fish.
|{ 745,000 | Ginseng.
San Francisco, Cal.|{ 700,000 | Cotton Manufactures.
|{ 650,000 | Wood, and Manufactures of.
|{ 430,000 | Fruit.
|{ 375,000 | Gunpowder, etc.
|{ 358,000 | Medicines, etc.
| |
|{ 3,339,153 | Wheat.
Willamette, Oregon |{ 704,000 | Flour and Breadstuffs.
|{ 37,000 | Wood, and Manufactures of.
| |
Wilmington, Cal. |{ 211,928 | Wheat.
|{ 33,600 | Honey.
-------------------+------------+-------------------------------------
NOTE.--Humboldt, Oregon, San Diego, Willamette, and Wilmington have
almost no exports except those included in this list. Puget Sound and
San Francisco have a great variety of exports.
APPENDIX.
LIST OF EXPORTS OF DOMESTIC MERCHANDISE, YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1885.
EXPORTED FROM THE SEVEN CUSTOMS DISTRICTS OF THE PACIFIC.
Agricultural Implements.
Animals.
Art Works.
Bark, and Extract for Tanning.
Billiard Tables, etc.
Blacking.
Bones, Hoofs, Horns, etc.
Books, Maps, etc.
Brass, and Manufactures of.
Breadstuffs, Wheat, etc.
Bricks.
Broom-corn, Brooms and Brushes.
Candles.
Carriages, and parts of.
Cars, passenger and freight.
Casings for Sausages.
Chemicals, Drugs, Dyes, and Medicines.
Clocks and Watches.
Coal.
Coffee and Cocoa, ground or prepared, and Chocolate.
Copper, and Manufactures of.
Cotton, Manufactures of.
Earthen, Stone, and China Ware.
Eggs.
Fancy Articles.
Fertilizers.
Fish.
Flax, Hemp, Jute, and Manufactures of.
Fruits.
Furs and Fur-skins.
Glass and Glassware.
Glucose, or Grape-Sugar.
Glue.
Grease, and all Soap Stock.
Gunpowder, and other Explosives.
Hair, and Manufactures of.
Hides, and Skins other than Furs.
Hay.
Honey.
Hops.
Ice.
India-rubber and Gutta-percha, and Manufactures of.
Ink.
Instruments and Apparatus for Scientific purposes.
Iron and Steel, and Manufactures of.
Jewelry, and Manufactures of Gold and Silver.
Lamps, etc.
Lead, and Manufactures of.
Leather, and Manufactures of.
Lime and Cement.
Malt Liquors.
Marble and Stone, and Manufactures of.
Matches.
Musical Instruments.
Naval Stores.
Oakum.
Oil-cake and Oil-cake Meal.
Oils.
Ore, Gold and Silver bearing.
Paraffine and Paraffine Wax.
Paints and Painters' Colors.
Paper, and Manufactures of.
Plated Ware.
Provisions (comprising Meat and Dairy Products).
Quicksilver.
Rags.
Rice.
Salt.
Seeds--Timothy, etc.
Silk, and Manufactures of.
Soap.
Spermaceti and Spermaceti Wax.
Spices, ground and prepared.
Spirits, Whisky, etc.
Spirits of Turpentine.
Starch.
Stationery, except Paper.
Stereotype and Electrotype Plates.
Straw and Palm-leaf, and Manufactures of.
Sugar and Molasses.
Tin, Manufactures of.
Tobacco, and Manufactures of.
Trunks, Valises, etc.
Umbrellas, etc.
Varnish.
Vegetables.
Vessels sold to foreigners.
Vinegar.
Wax (Bees').
Wine.
Wood, and Manufactures of.
Zinc (pigs, bars, plates, and sheets).
LIST OF IMPORTS OF MERCHANDISE, YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1885. IMPORTED INTO
THE SEVEN CUSTOMS DISTRICTS OF THE PACIFIC.
Animals.
Articles, the growth, produce or manufacture of the United States,
returned.
Art Works.
Art Works, the production of American artists.
Books, etc.
Brass, and Manufactures of.
Brushes.
Buttons, some kinds of.
Cement.
Chemicals, Drugs and Dyes.
Clays, etc.
Clocks, and parts of.
Coal, bituminous.
Cocoa, Coffee.
Confectionery.
Copper, and Manufactures of.
Corsets.
Cotton, Manufactures of.
Cotton, unmanufactured.
Dairy Products.
Diamonds, uncut.
Earthen, Stone, and China Ware.
Eggs.
Fancy Articles.
Farinaceous Substances, and preparations of.
Fish, a few.
Flax, Hemp, Jute, etc., and Manufactures of.
Fruits and Nuts, some.
Furs and Fur-skins, undressed.
Furs, dressed, and Manufactures of.
Glass and Glassware.
Household and Personal Effects, Clothing, Tools, etc., of persons
arriving from foreign countries.
Hair, Hats and Bonnets, etc.
India-rubber and Gutta-percha.
Iron, Steel, and Manufactures of.
Jewelry, Manufactures of Gold, Silver, and Precious Stones.
Lead, and Manufactures of.
Leather, and Manufactures of.
Malt Liquors.
Marble and Stone, Manufactures of.
Meats, prepared, of all kinds, and Extracts, etc.
Metals, some.
Musical Instruments, and parts of.
Oil, animal and vegetable.
Opium, and other Medicines.
Paints and Colors.
Paper, and Manufactures of.
Paper Stock, crude.
Plaster-of-Paris, unground.
Rice.
Salt.
Seeds.
Silk, Manufactures of.
Silk, unmanufactured.
Soap.
Some Breadstuffs.
Spices, ground.
Spices, unground.
Spirits, Distilled and Spirituous.
Sponges.
Sugar and Molasses.
Tea.
Tin (bars, blocks, etc.).
Tobacco, and Manufactures of.
Vegetables, some, in natural state, in brine, preserved, etc.
Wines.
Wood, and Manufactures of.
Wood, unmanufactured.
Wools, Hair of the Alpaca goat, etc., and Manufactures of.
Zinc, Spelter or Tutenegue, and Manufactures of.
APPROXIMATE POPULATION IN THE YEAR 1887 OF
The World 1,500,000,000
Japan, Siberia, Chinese Empire, Anam, Siam,
Oceanica, India 792,500,000
Mexico, Central America 11,800,000
U. S. of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia,
Chili, Patagonia 11,700,000
Canada 4,500,000
-----------
TOTAL 820,000,000
TOPOGRAPHY OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY.
Washington Territory will make one of the largest States of the Union.
It is larger than England and Wales combined, as will be seen by the
following table:
Washington Territory 66,880 square miles.
New York 47,620 " "
Virginia 40,125 " "
England and Wales 58,320 " "
The shape of the Territory is regular, having the general form of a
parallelogram, with its longer axis running east and west. Its relief is
simple. Along the Pacific coast runs the Coast Range of mountains from
the mouth of the Columbia River to the Straits of Juan de Fuca. In this
range there is only one practicable opening from the interior, which is
the trough of the Chehalis River, which terminates in Gray's Harbor. The
bar here, as at the mouth of Columbia River, forms a serious obstruction
to the entrance of vessels drawing more than twenty feet of water.
Sixty miles east of the Coast Range, and parallel to it, runs the
Cascade Range, which divides the Territory by a north and south line. It
is a lofty range, presenting a serrated outline, whose lower depressions
are 3,000 to 4,000 feet above tide, while summits of 5,000 to 8,000
feet are common; and at intervals still higher peaks raise their
snow-covered heads from 8,000 to 14,500 feet.
Between the Cascade Mountains and the Coast Range lies Puget Sound, with
its outlet through the Strait of Fuca. South of this sound, and on each
side, are wide spaces of flat and rolling country, with numerous and
somewhat disconnected mountains of comparatively small size, though some
of them rise as high as 1,500 feet. These mountains show many natural
terraces, which may be the result of land-slides.
[Sidenote: Puget Sound.]
[Illustration: LAKE WASHINGTON--SHOWING MOUNT RANIER IN THE DISTANCE--ON
LINE OF SEATTLE, LAKE SHORE AND EASTERN RAILWAY.]
[Sidenote: Lake Washington.]
The Puget Sound basin is exceedingly well supplied with streams and
lakes; whilst the Sound itself, with its sheltered position, its deep
water, and indented shore-line, is one of the most interesting and
valuable inland bodies of water in the world. It has a broad outlet to
the ocean. Lake Washington is a beautiful and navigable sheet of water.
There are numerous other lakes scattered over the Territory, enlivening
its scenery and often affording convenient waterways. Quite a number of
the rivers emptying into Puget Sound are partially navigable for small
steamers. The rivers and creeks generally have bottom-lands, which are
sometimes narrow, and sometimes wide. Cowlitz River flows south into
the Columbia River. It has fine bottom-lands, and its valley may be
regarded as a prolongation and complement of the Willamette Valley,
Oregon.
[Sidenote: West Washington and East Washington.]
All the country lying west of the crest-line of the Cascade Mountains is
known as West Washington, and is quite different in topography, as in
many other respects, from the country known as East Washington, which
name applies to all of the Territory lying east of the Cascade axis.
East Washington is a rectangular plateau, set in a frame of mountains,
and drained by the Columbia River and its tributaries. The Cascade Range
being the west side of the frame, the north side is formed by irregular
spurs which run out at right angles from the Cascade Mountains along the
Canada border, and connect with the Cabinet Mountains. The east side of
the frame is in Idaho, and consists chiefly of the Coeur d'Alene
Mountains. On the south lie the Blue Mountains, which are partly in
Washington Territory, but chiefly in Oregon. The mountains on the north
have a few peaks 5,000 to 9,000 feet high, and many of the dividing
ridges are high, steep and rugged. Much of the region is described,
however, as high plateau country, dotted over with small, conical
mountains. It abounds in streams of water, generally small. A strip of
arable land runs on the east side of the Columbia River from the mouth
of the Spokane River to the mouth of the Colville River and the valleys
of Colville and the Little Spokane River are highly spoken of as
agricultural regions. The elevation of these river valleys is from 1,200
to 1,600 feet above tide-water.
[Sidenote: Coeur d'Alene Mountains.]
Passing to the east side, we find the plateau country at its north
corner extending to the Idaho line where the foot-hills of the Rocky
Mountains begin, and soon rise into the Coeur d'Alene Mountains,
which--being the local name for part of the Bitter Root Range--is a part
of the western branch of the Rocky Mountains. The Coeur d'Alene River
and Lake belong to the Columbia River basin, and are so naturally
connected in mining and trading interests with Washington Territory,
that in another connection I shall have much to say of the Coeur
d'Alene country, as also of the Colville country, and other parts of the
mountain rim. South of the Coeur d'Alene Lake the plateau country
extends far into Idaho, and gives to that State its best farming lands.
The Blue Mountains which mark the southern limit of the plateau in
Washington Territory do not extend more than half-way across the plain,
leaving a long projection of the plateau to extend southward into
Oregon.
[Sidenote: The Great Plateau.]
[Sidenote: Coulées.]
The shape of the plateau in Washington Territory is an irregular square
with a diameter each way of about 150 miles. Followed into Idaho and
Oregon, the diameters would reach 200 miles. Its surface is generally
smooth, but there are frequent patches of rock, and sometimes large
areas are roughened by rocky outcrops. The plateau is elevated and
rolling, rising from 1,000 to 3,000 feet above the surface of Columbia
River. Its elevations usually are mere swells, except along the
precipitous edges of coulées. I know of only one mountain upon it, and
that is quite a small one; but it served as a refuge for Lieutenant
Steptoe and his handful of soldiers when attacked by the Indians; and
hence is called Steptoe Butte. The surface of the plain is scarred in a
number of places with coulées, or dry river-beds, which are cut down
twenty to one hundred feet, and sometimes more, and their sides are
usually marked by bluffs, often of rock. These coulées are an advantage,
or a disadvantage, in road-making, according to whether the road goes
with, or across, the coulée. The Northern Pacific Railroad found it
convenient to use one of them for a long distance. The deepest cuts in
the plateau are made by its rivers. Of these the Columbia is chief. This
river, as already intimated, has cut a channel for itself along the
north and west edge of the plain from 1,000 to 2,000 feet below the
general level. The Snake River, which is the largest affluent of the
Columbia, has numerous branches, all cut deep into the basalt which
underlies the plain.
[Sidenote: Columbia and Snake Rivers.]
The Columbia and Snake are both steamboat rivers, but navigation is
interrupted by rocky rapids, which prevent through lines of steamers.
The Columbia is one of the largest rivers in the world, and has abundant
water for steamboats from its mouth to a point in Canada, north of
Farwell, where it is crossed by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and
steamboats run at intervals to the most northerly point; and there are
navigable stretches not yet used for boats which will have steamers in
connection with future railroads. The steamers on Snake River are very
useful, and run to Lewiston, in Idaho, and perhaps further.
This plateau, or Great Plain of the Columbia, as it is called sometimes,
is a most interesting and important region, concerning which I shall
have much to say under subsequent heads.
ALTITUDES IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY.
FEET.
Mount Ranier (Tacoma) 14,444
Mount Baker 10,827
Mount Adams 9,570
Mount St. Helens 9,750
Natchess Pass 4,900
Stampede Pass, Summit 3,980
Tunnel, Stampede Pass 2,885
Snoqualmie Pass 3,110
Kechelus Lake 2,388
Kachess Lake 2,158
Ellensburg 1,518
Yakima City 990
Ainsworth 351
Palouse Junction 858
Sprague 1,200
Spokane Falls 1,910
Colville 1,917
Fort Spokane 1,300
Okinagane Lake 1,163
Great Plain of Columbia River 1,000 to 3,000
Snake River, N. P. R. R. 358
Colfax 1,941
Dayton 1,360
Walla Walla 1,000
Wallula Junction 326
CLIMATE.
[Sidenote: The Climate of Washington Territory.]
Climate is a matter of temperature, moisture and atmospheric dynamics.
The general law of temperature is that the farther north the colder the
weather; and yet currents of water and prevailing winds may give to the
country a climate geographically belonging to quite a different
latitude. We know how this is with England, which, judged by latitude,
ought to be colder than Maine, but which, in fact, has one of the
mildest and most equable climates in the world. England is farther north
than Washington Territory, which latter is in the latitude of France;
but it is also in the latitude of Montana, Dakota and Maine, States
remarkable for sudden changes and for terrible cold. But it is well
known that our Pacific States, at least on their western borders, have a
temperature free from extremes in both summer and winter. Taking July
and January as the hottest and coldest months, it will be found that the
average temperature at San Francisco and Puget Sound is from 7° to 14°
cooler than it is in the Rocky Mountains and in New England during the
same months. And on the other hand, taking January as the coldest month,
we find that Bismarck, Denver, New England, etc., are 30° to 40° colder
than the points on the Pacific. In other words, that the range of the
thermometer between extremes averages near 50° more in the East than it
does in the West in the localities named; a very great difference when
we consider comfort, health, cost of living, and opportunity to labor
in the open air.
[Sidenote: Mild and equable.]
This greater mildness and equability of temperature on the Pacific Coast
is to be ascribed to the winds and currents of the great ocean. During
the summer the winds come from the northwest, and during the winter from
the southwest and south. Much influence in tempering the cold of winter
is ascribed also to the Japan Current, mentioned under a former head. It
does for the Pacific Coast what the Gulf Stream does for England.
The same causes regulate also the rainfall on the Pacific Coast. In one
respect there is the same peculiarity along the whole coast, namely, dry
summers and, comparatively, wet winters. There is, however, a gradual
increase in the amount of rainfall northward from San Diego to Sitka; so
that when we reach Washington Territory we do not find the excessive
dryness which characterizes the summer climate of California.
[Sidenote: Rainfall.]
The figures of different authorities do not agree exactly as to the
precipitation on the Pacific Coast: for example, in the older volume on
Rain Tables, published by the Smithsonian Institution, the annual
rainfall and melted snow on Puget Sound, measured at Steilacoom, near
Olympia, from 1849 to 1867, amounted to 43.98 inches. Governor Semple,
however, gives from Sergeant McGovern, in charge of the station, a total
of 53.89 inches annually, measured at Olympia from 1878 to 1886. But I
find in the report of the chief signal officer to the War Department for
1884, that the average from July 1, 1877, to December, 1883, for
Olympia, was 62.81 inches. This difference of nine inches is partly
accounted for by the fact that the precipitation in the subsequent years
not included in the report of the Signal Service Bureau, namely, 1884,
1885 and 1886, averaged only 41.88 inches, which would, in great
measure, relieve the discrepancy. It will probably turn out on further
observation that 53 inches is about the total annual rainfall for Puget
Sound. But according to the report of the chief signal officer for 1884,
we have the following annual totals: San Diego, 9.40; San Francisco,
23.32; Portland, Oregon, 54.16; Puget Sound, 62.81; Sitka, Alaska, 97.28
inches.
Comparing these with points farther east, we have Bismarck, Dakota,
21.35; Denver, 14.97; Sandusky, Ohio, 41.43; New Haven, Connecticut,
51.55; Norfolk, Virginia, 52.14 inches.
The value of rainfall depends more on its distribution among the months
than on its annual aggregate. England has but 25 inches rain per annum,
but it comes at such times as makes it most effective. The rains on the
Pacific Coast are not distributed in the most favorable way for
agriculture--the summers being too dry. At San Diego there is less than
one-third of an inch in the three summer months, and still less at San
Francisco. On Puget Sound, for that time, the fall is 2.57. In
Washington Territory the spring rains are as abundant as in the Atlantic
States, and the summer breezes seem laden with moisture.
[Sidenote: No blizzards or cyclones.]
[Sidenote: Differences between East and West Washington.]
In respect to cold waves, winds and storms, Washington Territory is
singularly favored. There is nothing to correspond with the blizzards,
northers, hurricanes and cyclones which trouble some other States. Even
ordinary thunder-storms are rare. The climate of East Washington is
different from that of West Washington, and yet, when compared with that
of Montana and Dakota, it will be seen that it is really transitional
and intermediate between the climates on each side. The range of
thermometer from the heat of July to the cold of January is, at
Bismarck, 65°; at Spokane Falls, 45°, and on Puget Sound, 22°. And, in
like manner, the amount of rain is intermediate between the heavy
rainfall of the Sound and the lighter rains of the Rocky Mountain
country. The explanation of this is, that while the Cascade Range, like
all high mountains, condenses the moisture of the air on the windward
side and changes its temperature, yet this range is not sufficiently
high and cold to have the effect of the Himalayas or the Andes in
depriving the leeward lands of rain.
The mountain rim of the plateau country has not the moisture which
distinguishes the west side of the Cascade, and it varies in its amount
at different places.
Some statements have already been made in reference to the dryness and
summer heat of the Yakima Valley on the east flank of the main mountain.
The mountains running along the Canada line have probably a better
summer climate than the east side of the main mountain. I do not know
how it is with the Coeur d'Alene and Blue Mountains, but the climate
of the plateau has no unusual character in the matter of temperature.
Half of the States of the Union have as great or greater extremes; but
the plateau has less than half the precipitation of Puget Sound, as
shown in the tables given on pages 56 and 57. And the rainfall in the
summer is so scant that one would not, _a priori_, expect any form of
vegetation to progress at all. These meteorological phenomena render
almost unaccountable the facts of agriculture, which will be given
hereafter.
[Sidenote: Chinook wind.]
The Chinook wind, which springs up in winter and melts the snow on the
plateau, and to some extent in the mountains, is simply a southerly
wind, such as is common in the Mississippi Valley and even on the
Atlantic seaboard. In the Pacific States it does not, from the
descriptions, appear to differ from the breezes of the coast, except in
its greater strength and steadiness. I heard an intelligent gentleman,
residing in Spokane Falls, say that he thought the Chinook was a
disadvantage in winter, as it caused a disagreeable thaw, and so relaxed
the human system as to render it more sensitive to cold; but generally
the Chinook is enjoyed in East Washington.
SOILS.
[Sidenote: Soils all fertile.]
The arable soils of Washington Territory, so far as I could see, or
otherwise learn, may be classified as follows, to wit: _a._ Humus; _b._
Alluvium; _c._ Drift; _d._ Loam; _e._ Basalt.
_a._ HUMUS. In West Washington the whole country is top-dressed with
vegetable mould, derived obviously from the heavy growth which has
covered the surface for ages. Of course there are bare spots, and where
the growth has been light, the top-dressing is thin; but the mountain
sides, the hills, and notably the low grounds, are overlaid from one to
ten inches, and often much more, with this vegetable mould.
TABLE SHOWING THE MEANS OF THE DAILY MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES IN
DEGREES FAHRENHEIT.
The Means are obtained by dividing the sum of the daily readings of the
Maximum and Minimum Self-registering Thermometers by the number of days
in the month.
====================+=========================================+
| 1883 |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| July. | Aug. | Sept. |
STATIONS. +-------------+-------------+-------------+
| Mean. | Mean. | Mean. |
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Max. | Min. | Max. | Min. | Max. | Min. |
--------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
Bismarck, Dak. | 79.5 | 55.8 | 78.6 | 54.8 | 69.4 | 43.7 |
Dayton, W. T. | 87.3 | 53.6 | 85.1 | 53.2 | 77.5 | 45.2 |
Denver, Col. | 82.6 | 58.7 | 83.6 | 58.8 | 74.7 | 50.2 |
Lewiston, Idaho | 90.0 | 59.1 | 87.1 | 57.6 | 76.0 | 47.7 |
New Haven, Conn. | 80.3 | 62.4 | 77.6 | 57.9 | 70.4 | 50.6 |
Norfolk, Virginia. | 87.9 | 71.1 | 82.4 | 68.9 | 76.4 | 63.8 |
Olympia, W. T. | 76.1 | 48.2 | 71.3 | 55.1 | 67.0 | 48.1 |
Portland, Oregon. | 80.0 | 57.0 | 73.8 | 54.2 | 72.3 | 52.6 |
San Diego, Cal. | 75.5 | 64.0 | 75.9 | 63.5 | 78.2 | 62.9 |
Sandusky, Ohio | -- | -- | 77.1 | 62.8 | 69.2 | 55.8 |
San Francisco, Cal. | 64.5 | 55.0 | 64.4 | 53.9 | 69.9 | 56.3 |
Sitka, Alaska | 57.9 | 48.1 | 59.3 | 48.8 | 58.9 | 48.5 |
Spokane Falls, W. T.| 85.0 | 53.4 | 83.2 | 72.5 | 72.4 | 44.2 |
Washington City. | 87.7 | 67.2 | 82.4 | 62.7 | 74.8 | 56.2 |
====================+======+======+======+======+======+======+
====================+=========================================+
| 1883 |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| Oct. | Nov. | Dec. |
STATIONS. +-------------+-------------+-------------+
| Mean. | Mean. | Mean. |
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Max. | Min. | Max. | Min. | Max. | Min. |
--------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
Bismarck, Dak. | 48.3 | 33.4 | 38.7 | 15.0 | 25.0 | 4.5 |
Dayton, W. T. | 57.8 | 34.7 | 51.6 | 33.3 | 35.8 | 18.5 |
Denver, Col. | 57.6 | 36.8 | 56.1 | 31.1 | 36.8 | 17.4 |
Lewiston, Idaho | 57.9 | 39.5 | 57.6 | 35.5 | 41.7 | 29.3 |
New Haven, Conn. | 58.4 | 40.4 | 50.5 | 34.1 | 38.3 | 21.5 |
Norfolk, Virginia. | 68.4 | 56.7 | 62.2 | 45.0 | 53.9 | 38.8 |
Olympia, W. T. | 57.3 | 42.9 | 50.2 | 44.9 | 45.9 | 35.4 |
Portland, Oregon. | 58.4 | 45.8 | 52.8 | 72.0 | 49.0 | 36.8 |
San Diego, Cal. | 69.0 | 54.7 | 67.7 | 50.2 | 65.7 | 49.0 |
Sandusky, Ohio | 59.2 | 47.3 | 52.5 | 37.2 | 39.8 | 27.5 |
San Francisco, Cal. | 62.9 | 52.9 | 58.8 | 49.4 | 55.5 | 46.2 |
Sitka, Alaska | 50.6 | 41.0 | 38.6 | 27.3 | 41.6 | 30.5 |
Spokane Falls, W. T.| 53.7 | 35.0 | 46.6 | 32.0 | 35.6 | 22.4 |
Washington City. | 65.5 | 49.3 | 56.2 | 39.4 | 63.1 | 45.3 |
====================+======+======+======+======+======+======+
====================+=========================================+
| 1884 |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| Jan. | Feb. | March. |
STATIONS. +-------------+-------------+-------------+
| Mean. | Mean. | Mean. |
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Max. | Min. | Max. | Min. | Max. | Min. |
--------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
Bismarck, Dak. | 14.5 | 7.6 | 8.9 | 9.8 | 29.9 | 10.5 |
Dayton, W. T. | 31.0 | 11.5 | 24.9 | 4.8 | 35.6 | 19.6 |
Denver, Col. | 25.7 | 5.3 | 30.8 | 10.8 | 43.0 | 25.7 |
Lewiston, Idaho | 39.1 | 25.9 | 35.1 | 18.8 | 53.6 | 34.7 |
New Haven, Conn. | 32.6 | 15.8 | 40.8 | 24.3 | 42.4 | 26.6 |
Norfolk, Virginia. | 46.7 | 29.9 | 59.0 | 41.0 | 58.1 | 42.1 |
Olympia, W. T. | 44.7 | 35.2 | 42.1 | 27.5 | 52.5 | 34.4 |
Portland, Oregon. | 46.2 | 33.3 | 44.4 | 29.4 | 55.6 | 37.8 |
San Diego, Cal. | 64.5 | 45.6 | 62.9 | 48.6 | 62.9 | 50.4 |
Sandusky, Ohio | 26.9 | 12.9 | 39.0 | 24.4 | 41.6 | 28.7 |
San Francisco, Cal. | 54.7 | 46.6 | 55.9 | 45.6 | 59.2 | 49.8 |
Sitka, Alaska | 43.8 | 34.2 | 37.8 | 25.8 | 42.5 | 33.3 |
Spokane Falls, W. T.| 32.6 | 17.5 | 30.2 | 12.7 | 46.4 | 27.8 |
Washington City. | 49.7 | 31.8 | 65.6 | 47.0 | 67.8 | 51.6 |
====================+======+======+======+======+======+======+
====================+=========================================+
| 1884 |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| April. | May. | June. |
STATIONS. +-------------+-------------+-------------+
| Mean. | Mean. | Mean. |
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Max. | Min. | Max. | Min. | Max. | Min. |
--------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
Bismarck, Dak. | 47.6 | 30.2 | 67.1 | 44.1 | 81.2 | 54.8 |
Dayton, W. T. | 43.9 | 29.6 | 59.5 | 40.7 | 73.7 | 51.8 |
Denver, Col. | 58.2 | 39.6 | 71.5 | 50.2 | 81.2 | 61.3 |
Lewiston, Idaho | 66.6 | 42.1 | 79.3 | 48.9 | 80.8 | 57.3 |
New Haven, Conn. | 54.1 | 37.2 | 65.8 | 47.2 | 78.2 | 55.4 |
Norfolk, Virginia. | 61.9 | 47.0 | 76.9 | 58.8 | 81.8 | 64.6 |
Olympia, W. T. | 61.7 | 41.6 | 70.1 | 43.9 | 71.5 | 48.9 |
Portland, Oregon. | 65.1 | 45.3 | 73.6 | 48.7 | 74.9 | 53.7 |
San Diego, Cal. | 64.4 | 51.1 | 67.5 | 56.1 | 72.1 | 58.4 |
Sandusky, Ohio | 52.1 | 39.3 | 68.8 | 51.3 | 77.9 | 62.7 |
San Francisco, Cal. | 61.2 | 50.7 | 65.3 | 53.4 | 65.2 | 55.3 |
Sitka, Alaska | 51.7 | 37.7 | 51.9 | 40.8 | 57.9 | 46.4 |
Spokane Falls, W. T.| 62.2 | 39.0 | 74.5 | 46.0 | 78.7 | 53.9 |
Washington City. | 73.6 | 54.8 | 81.4 | 63.0 | 87.4 | 68.5 |
====================+======+======+======+======+======+======+
TABLE SHOWING THE AVERAGE PRECIPITATION AT STATIONS OF THE SIGNAL
SERVICE,
COMPUTED FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF OBSERVATIONS AT EACH, TO AND INCLUDING
DECEMBER, 1883.
TAKEN FROM THE REPORT OF THE CHIEF SIGNAL OFFICER TO THE WAR DEPARTMENT
FOR 1884.
==========================+================+======+======+======+
STATIONS. | ESTABLISHED. | Jan. | Feb. |March.|
| | | | |
--------------------------+----------------+------+------+------+
Bismarck, Dak. | Sept. 15, 1874 | 0.57 | 0.66 | 1.21 |
Dayton, Wash. Terr. | July 1, 1879 | 4.11 | 3.64 | 2.04 |
Denver, Colorado | Nov. 19, 1871 | 0.69 | 0.43 | 0.86 |
Lewiston, Idaho | July 1, 1879 | 2.45 | 1.53 | 1.16 |
New Haven, Conn. | Dec. 10, 1872 | 4.20 | 4.22 | 5.29 |
Norfolk, Virginia | Jan. 1, 1871 | 3.89 | 3.85 | 4.35 |
Olympia, Wash. Terr. | July 1, 1877 | 9.36 |10.67 | 6.20 |
Portland, Oregon | Nov. 1, 1871 | 7.34 | 8.11 | 7.27 |
San Diego, Cal. | Nov. 1, 1871 | 1.85 | 2.07 | 0.97 |
Sandusky, Ohio | Aug. 2, 1877 | 2.19 | 3.13 | 2.90 |
San Francisco, Cal. | March 8, 1871 | 5.10 | 3.95 | 2.88 |
Sitka, Alaska | March 30, 1881 | 9.44 |11.64 | 9.76 |
Spokane Falls, Wash. Terr.| Feb. 5, 1881 | 3.34 | 3.02 | 0.85 |
Washington City | Nov. 1, 1870 | 3.16 | 2.85 | 4.04 |
==========================+================+======+======+======+
==========================+======+======+======+======+======+
STATIONS. |April.| May. | June.| July.| Aug. |
| | | | | |
--------------------------+----------------+------+------+---+
Bismarck, Dak. | 2.94 | 3.31 | 3.64 | 2.21 | 2.71 |
Dayton, Wash. Terr. | 3.26 | 2.02 | 0.86 | 0.79 | 0.49 |
Denver, Colorado | 1.71 | 3.05 | 1.60 | 1.89 | 1.54 |
Lewiston, Idaho | 1.28 | 1.12 | 0.94 | 0.76 | 0.36 |
New Haven, Conn. | 4.32 | 3.71 | 3.80 | 4.86 | 5.62 |
Norfolk, Virginia | 4.29 | 3.54 | 4.15 | 5.39 | 6.11 |
Olympia, Wash. Terr. | 4.34 | 2.76 | 0.88 | 0.86 | 0.83 |
Portland, Oregon | 3.48 | 2.44 | 1.82 | 0.71 | 0.81 |
San Diego, Cal. | 0.68 | 0.26 | 0.05 | 0.02 | 0.23 |
Sandusky, Ohio | 2.79 | 3.34 | 5.06 | 4.06 | 4.27 |
San Francisco, Cal. | 1.80 | 0.71 | 0.16 | 0.01 | 0.01 |
Sitka, Alaska | 4.40 | 3.23 | 3.13 | 5.82 | 5.82 |
Spokane Falls, Wash. Terr.| 1.99 | 1.38 | 1.00 | 1.04 | 0.25 |
Washington City | 3.07 | 2.98 | 4.23 | 4.08 | 4.97 |
==========================+======+======+======+======+======+
==========================+======+======+======+======+=======+
STATIONS. | Sept.| Oct. | Nov. | Dec. |TOTAL |
| | | | |INCHES.|
--------------------------+------+------+------+------+-------+
Bismarck, Dak. | 1.34 | 1.33 | 0.71 | 0.72 | 21.35 |
Dayton, Wash. Terr. | 0.67 | 2.64 | 2.55 | 4.95 | 28.02 |
Denver, Colorado | 0.96 | 0.79 | 0.74 | 0.71 | 14.97 |
Lewiston, Idaho | 0.52 | 1.93 | 1.66 | 3.40 | 17.11 |
New Haven, Conn. | 4.15 | 3.85 | 4.15 | 3.38 | 51.55 |
Norfolk, Virginia | 5.23 | 3.96 | 3.58 | 3.80 | 52.14 |
Olympia, Wash. Terr. | 2.98 | 5.60 | 8.16 |10.17 | 62.81 |
Portland, Oregon | 1.62 | 4.95 | 7.34 | 8.27 | 54.16 |
San Diego, Cal. | 0.05 | 0.40 | 0.70 | 2.12 | 9.40 |
Sandusky, Ohio | 3.54 | 3.50 | 3.68 | 2.97 | 41.43 |
San Francisco, Cal. | 0.15 | 1.13 | 2.70 | 4.72 | 23.32 |
Sitka, Alaska | 9.97 | 9.33 |11.87 |12.87 | 97.28 |
Spokane Falls, Wash. Terr.| 1.14 | 2.90 | 2.22 | 2.06 | 21.19 |
Washington City | 4.42 | 3.00 | 2.84 | 2.92 | 42.56 |
==========================+======+======+======+======+=======+
_b._ ALLUVIUM. This includes the transported matter of the bottom-lands,
the swales, and the tidal flats. Here we have humus, not only as a
top-dressing, but also intermixed, and sometimes constituting a large
proportion of the soil for a considerable depth. No land could be richer
than this, and its relative proportion to the whole is larger than would
be inferred even from the great number of streams, for it includes the
lowlands about Puget Sound and the lakes. The mountain streams have,
with some exceptions, but little alluvial land. There are areas of
swale, or wet bottom-lands, which may be drained to advantage. The tidal
flats along the Sound are peculiarly fertile, because enriched by both
vegetable and animal matter, including calcareous shells and fish bones.
Owing to this great fertility, and the ease with which large areas are
reclaimed by dykes, their convenience to transportation, and, it may be
added, the labor of clearing the forest lands, the work of dyking these
flats has been commenced, especially in Snohomish and Skagit counties,
and it is thought that two hundred thousand acres may thus be redeemed
from the water. Alluvial lands constitute but a small feature in East
Washington.
_c._ DRIFT. The origin of these gravel soils is given hereafter, under
the head of Geology. They constitute the hill lands, as distinguished
from the bottom lands and Sound flats on the one hand, and the mountain
lands on the other. They are composed of sand, clay, gravel, and some
large boulders. Rarely the gravel predominates so as to render the land
unfit for cultivation. Sometimes there are only clay and sand, and
sometimes chiefly clay. This soil, though not equal to the alluvium, or
to the basaltic land, is much better than glacial precipitate usually
is. It gave all the indications of a fertile soil, resembling the best
hay lands of Massachusetts, which have the same glacial origin. Its
natural growth is luxuriant, and when cleared it inclines to clothe
itself in white clover and the grasses. It is said to be specially
adapted to fruits and vegetables.
_d._ LOAM. I mean by this a clay soil containing fine-grained sand
enough to make it friable. This is the soil made by the slates and
sandstones of the coal measures, and is generally found on the
highlands above the drift. It is a medium land as to quality, but
valuable for the tendency to grass, which characterizes all the lands of
West Washington. Much of it will make good cropping land. There is a
great deal of it. It is found high on the cretaceous hills and
mountains, often extending to the top.
[Sidenote: A remarkable soil.]
_e._ BASALT. This is the magic soil of the Great Plain (or plateau) of
the Columbia. And it is found also in large areas on the Cascade
Mountains. It has an ashy look and texture; sometimes black, but
generally of ashen hue. Rarely it is compact and clayey. There are
perhaps twenty thousand square miles of this basaltic land; enough of
itself to make a medium-sized State. Of course there are inequalities in
the productiveness of this land. The basaltic rock in many places crops
out, as mentioned under the head of Topography, and there are coulées
and galled spots. I cannot say what proportion of the surface is
rendered valueless by these irregularities. The outcropping basalt does
not destroy the value of the land; for the soil spaces between the rocks
may be greater than the rock spaces, and whilst unfit for the plough,
they may be suited to trees, or cattle range. But, judging by all that I
saw and heard, I should think that the smooth land considerably
predominates over the rough. Certainly there is more smooth,
comparatively level, fertile, productive, and easily cultivated land
here in proportion to the whole area than I have ever seen elsewhere.
The great plain of East Colorado is a vast and beautiful stretch of
country, but it is unproductive without irrigation. Taking everything
into consideration, the plateau of East Washington seems to me to be
unequaled in combined extent and productiveness.
This subject of soils will be incidentally continued in connection with
the next two heads.
NATURAL VEGETATION.
[Sidenote: Vast vegetation.]
Here the two sides of the Cascade Mountains must again, as under other
heads, be considered separately. The natural vegetation of the west side
is vast rather than varied. Wherever the sun touches the ground, one may
expect to see grass; chiefly white clover and green sward, which seem to
be indigenous to the country. There are, of course, many herbs and
shrubs which need not be mentioned in a report like this. The ferns of
the Snoqualmie bottoms, for size, remind one of the tree ferns of the
carboniferous period, though, of course, not so large. Many of them
were seven feet high, which is five feet higher than I ever saw
elsewhere. The Sal-al is a low shrub, almost herbaceous, and
semi-procumbent, of brown foliage, bearing a berry and belonging to the
wintergreen family, though much larger than the wintergreen of the
Alleghenies. The Sal-al abounds on the little prairie which bears its
name. The mosses are most abundant and luxuriant in the deep, moist
shades of the evergreen forests, and I noticed that the Cayuse ponies
fed upon them as eagerly as reindeer upon the Iceland mosses.
[Sidenote: Deciduous trees.]
Deciduous trees are rare, but not wholly wanting. The cottonwood grows
to rather extra size. The alder, which is only a large bush in the
Alleghenies, here becomes a tree, perhaps thirty feet high. I saw some
small maples. It is said that there are groves of oak and maple of
sufficient size to cut for lumber.
[Illustration: A VIEW OF THE FOREST ON THE LINE OF THE SEATTLE, LAKE
SHORE AND EASTERN RAILWAY.]
[Sidenote: Larch.]
The Larch (tamarack) is interspersed among the evergreens on the Cascade
Mountains, and attains good size. The American larch is rather more
slender in habit than the European variety, but it has a heavy,
close-grained wood, and is regarded as specially suited for railroad
ties--an important point in this country. It is also reported to make
durable fence-posts and ground sills. In Europe its bark is valued for
tanning next to oak bark, and the two are used together. The Venice
turpentine comes from the resinous sap of the larch. The older trees are
better than the younger ones for durability. But with regard to this
class of trees, results depend much on incidental circumstances. Larch
is one of the woods used in Europe for making gas. These are the only
deciduous trees I know of in Washington Territory, except fruit trees.
[Sidenote: Extraordinary evergreen forests.]
Evergreens constitute the bulk of the great forests, and I shall name
these in the order of their importance: Douglas (or red) fir, white
cedar, hemlock spruce, white pine, balsam (or white) fir and yew.
[Sidenote: Douglas fir, or Oregon pine.]
[Sidenote: The best of ship timber.]
The Douglas Fir constitutes the greater part of the forests, but not so
large a proportion as seven-eighths, as stated in the Census report, but
more than one-third, which is the proportion given in Hough's Forestry
Report. The wood of this tree is yellow when young, and hence some
persons make two varieties out of the same tree. When older, it becomes
an orange color, but not red like the heart of the sweet gum and red
cedar. It is, however, usually called the red fir. The tree yields a
clear yellow resin, which is not at present collected. Its timber is of
the best quality, greatly superior to that of the fir tribe generally,
probably superior to that of any other fir-tree in the world. The firs
shade into each other by an almost insensible gradation, and are much
modified by soil and climate, and names have been multiplied
unnecessarily. The fir, like the larch, must be studied in each locality
in order to determine its value. The firs of Sweden and Norway make good
masts and spars, and soft, light boards; but the boards are apt to split
and are not strong enough for ship-work. But the timber of the Douglas
fir is heavy, strong and firm, and well suited to ship-building, as has
been abundantly demonstrated on Puget Sound. For all ordinary building
purposes this timber has a world-wide reputation. It is often called the
"Oregon Pine." Its growth as a tree is luxuriant on good soil, and often
gigantic. I saw many single specimens which I estimated at 300 feet in
height and 10 to 12 feet in diameter. When disconnected, they have the
usual conical shape of the firs, with limbs branching from the ground,
but it is rare to see such specimens in Washington Territory, as the
forests are so dense there is no room for limbs, except near the top.
The trunks stand as straight and regular as posts set with a plumb-line.
This crowding often prevents the full development of the trunk also,
except on the most moist and fertile lands. The absence of lower
branches insures a great length of lumber free from knots.
[Sidenote: White cedar.]
[Sidenote: Beautiful house lumber.]
The White Cedar is a variety of the well-known arbor vitæ of the Eastern
States, but there is a wonderful difference in the size and habits of
the tree on the two sides of the Continent. On the Atlantic side it may,
under very favorable circumstances, reach fifty feet in height, but
usually it is dwarfish and crooked. But in Washington Territory the
white cedar is the peer of the Douglas fir, and its largest specimens
perhaps exceed the latter somewhat in diameter. It is also next in
abundance and value. Its wood is soft, light and cream-colored. It
splits with remarkable ease and regularity, so that the pioneer with axe
and frow can prepare all the timbers needed for his house. For shingles
it is fully equal to its congener, the cypress; and for house-facings
and some kinds of furniture it is the favorite wood.
[Sidenote: Hemlock spruce.]
[Sidenote: Tanners wanted.]
Hemlock Spruce is not so abundant, but it constitutes a noticeable
element in the Snoqualmie Valley forests. It seems to be exactly the
same tree which so abounds in our Eastern and Northern Lake States, and
is common in the moist valleys all along the Appalachian Mountains. It
is called hemlock in the Northern States, and spruce in the Southern.
Its wood, though unsuited for many purposes, is largely used in the
North for the frames of cheap buildings and also for fencing-plank, and
its bark is in great demand for tanning, especially for making the red
sole leather. It is also used for tanning upper leather and calf-skins,
though its light leather is not so good as that made from the oak barks.
The hemlock bark has not been considered quite equal to the chestnut-oak
(or rock oak) bark for any tanning purposes, but in Virginia the price
is usually the same. It certainly makes good sole leather. The logger in
Washington Territory neglects this tree, and there are no tanneries yet
to call for it, but this will soon be changed, and the hemlock will take
its position, not only as the most beautiful of the evergreens, but as
among the most useful. This tree does not attain as great size as the
two above mentioned, but I observed many specimens ranging from four to
five feet in diameter.
[Sidenote: White pine.]
The general character of the White Pine is well known. I saw but a few
of them, and they not specially good. I doubt whether this tree forms an
important feature in these forests.
[Sidenote: Balsam fir.]
[Sidenote: Large supply of Canada Balsam.]
The Balsam (or White) Fir abounds on the higher slopes of the Cascade
Mountains, and it is so balsamic that it will receive attention from
the collectors of "Canada Balsam," which is becoming increasingly
popular for many purposes, especially in mounting specimens for the
microscope. Such forests as lie near the Snoqualmie Pass will not long
remain unnoticed. The wood is white and easily worked, but the trees do
not rank in size or value with those previously mentioned.
[Sidenote: The yew.]
The Yew is found sparingly on the mountain heights; but, though
interesting, it seems to have no economic value.
[Sidenote: The superior timber of Snoqualmie Valley.]
As to the extent of these evergreen forests, they may be said to cover
West Washington with almost unbroken continuity, though they vary in
density and the size of the trees, some tracts containing little or no
mill-timber. In my travels, which were, of course, quite limited, I saw
no forests which answered the usual unqualified descriptions, except in
the Snoqualmie Valley, and here they far exceeded my expectation, as
will be shown in the detailed description, given hereafter, of the
country lying along the line of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern
Railway. The finest forests lie between Puget Sound and the crest of the
Cascade Mountains, though even in this area there are variations. And
after all the chopping and sawing--of which more will be told
later--the forests as yet show but little diminution.
East of the Cascade Range the forests are smaller, and confined to the
mountain sides. There are some narrow belts of pine along the northern
edge of the Great Plain of the Columbia, which furnish a little lumber
for local uses; but these will soon be worked out. The mountain rim
lying along the Canada line is said to be covered with forest, some of
it heavy. The Douglas Fir, the Yellow Pine, the White Pine, and the
Larch are all to be found there. There are also skirts of the same
timber along the Spokane River. And, at wide intervals, there are strips
and bunches of scrubby yellow pine on the Great Plain, which is,
however, generally treeless.
The spurs and ridges of the Blue Mountains are thinly covered with small
pines and larches. There are some areas of mill-timber on the east and
southeast flanks of the Cascade Mountains.
[Sidenote: Range for horses and cattle.]
The flora of the great plateau presents a strange appearance to the
traveler. The vegetation is short and scanty, the chief growth being the
"sage-brush," a dwarfish, dead-looking shrub, with a hard, crooked stem,
of no value as forage, but which is sometimes used for fuel when
nothing else is to be had. There are said to be some medicinal, and also
some edible, plants; but the only thing of any value is the dry, thin,
short, bunch grass which furnishes a fattening food for horses and
cattle; though many acres are required to support an animal, and close
grazing is rapidly destroying this resource. Indeed, the tract is so
barren and desert-like in appearance that in the geographies of my
boyhood it was put down as a part of the Great American Desert. And yet,
as will be seen hereafter, this is probably the most productive upland
in America.
LUMBERING.
Lumbering was the first industry of Washington Territory. Even food was
imported for a time. Logging began on Puget Sound, and went up such
streams as afforded transportation and water-power. Steam-power soon
became the chief reliance for sawing, but water-power will be largely
used when the railroads penetrate inland.
Logging and sawing are separate branches of business, which may or may
not be carried on by the same parties. And so with transportation to the
mill and to market. Large concerns carry on all the branches, even to
the building and owning of ships.
[Sidenote: Magnitude of the lumber business.]
Governor Semple gives the capacity of the Washington Territory saw-mills
in 1887 as 645,500,000 feet of lumber per annum, of which the Puget
Sound mills produce 344,500,000 feet. Of this, they (Puget Sound mills)
sent 200,000,000 feet to California; 2,600,000 to Boston, Mass.; 500,000
feet to other Atlantic ports, and over 100,000,000 feet to foreign
ports. Among foreign ports, London received 551,500 feet, and the rest
went to Mexico, South America, China, Australia, and other Pacific
Islands.
Mr. Cyrus Walker, of the Puget Mill Company, Port Ludlow, in a letter
which I have from him, says:
[Sidenote: Vast extent of the lumber market.]
"It is safe to say that the lumber market of the Sound may be considered
all countries and ports on the Pacific Ocean."
But it may make a more vivid impression of the Pacific market for me to
give a list of the ports to which shipments have been actually made in
the last year by the lumber dealers of Puget Sound. This list I get not
only from public documents, but directly from the millers and port
officials:
Melbourne,
Callao,
Sydney,
Guaymas,
Iquique,
Taku,
Hilo, H. I.,
San Francisco,
Townsville,
West Coast,
Brisbane,
Sandwich Islands,
New Caledonia,
Mollendo,
Montevideo,
Honolulu,
Valpa,
Suava, Feejee Is.,
Kahalui,
Cadera, Chili,
San Diego,
San Pedro,
Hong Kong,
Enseneda, Mex.,
Falmouth,
Shanghai,
Autofogasta,
Rio de Janeiro,
Broken Bay,
Adelaide,
Coquimbo.
This is not a complete list of all the ports visited by the lumber ships
of Puget Sound, and by no means represents the business of the future,
which will increase as fast as the mills can be built to furnish the
lumber.
[Sidenote: The great saw-mills.]
No one without seeing it can have an adequate idea of the magnitude of
the operations of one of the great saw-mills of Puget Sound. The Puget
Mill Company, for the first ten months of last year, sawed on an average
290,000 feet every day of ten working hours. I visited the Port Blakely
Mills, just across the Sound from Seattle. There I found a fleet of
ships in the harbor, owned chiefly by the company; also, ships building
on the stocks; railroads going out to the logging camps; a basin for
receiving the logs, and a mill, with four separate tracks, bringing the
logs in at one end, and carrying out the lumber at the other. A high
iron trestle carried off the slabs to an enormous fire which never
ceased to burn, where all this waste was consumed.
Around the mill was quite a town, in which a large number of races and
nationalities were represented. This mill cut about 59,000,000 feet in
1887. Up to the 10th of November it had shipped as follows: To
California, 32,464,763 feet; to South America, 6,847,427 feet; to
Sandwich Islands, 1,799,891 feet; to Australia, 6,681,668 feet; to
Feejee Islands, 511,815 feet; and used at home for ship-building,
railroads, etc., 2,312,000 feet.
The Tacoma Mill Company and the Washington Mill Company produced the
following lumber, etc., during 1886 and the first ten months of 1887:
LUMBER. LATH. PILES.
FEET. NO. LINEAR FT.
Tacoma Mill 103,448,350 28,815,095 642,385
Washington Mill 42,195,478 8,772,800 266,403
There were other large mills whose statistics I was not able to get in
time. Mr. Walker thinks that the cut of all the mills on Puget Sound
averages 1,200,000 feet per day; all of which finds ready sale.
[Sidenote: Profits and prices.]
I was not able to ascertain the profits of these mills, but there can
be no doubt that, with proper management, the profits are very good. The
Seattle wholesale prices were as follows:
Lumber, common, per thousand feet $12 00
" sized, " " " 14 00
" Flooring $15 00 to 20 00
Dressed lumber, per thousand feet 14 00 to 30 00
Laths 2 00 to 2 25
Shingles 1 50 to 2 00
AGRICULTURE.
[Sidenote: Clearing the land.]
[Sidenote: Demand for agricultural products.]
[Sidenote: Large crops.]
[Sidenote: Hop-growing on a large scale.]
After hearing of the forests in West Washington, one cannot be surprised
to learn that the agricultural interest develops slowly in this part of
the Territory. Even after the logger has taken what he wants, there
remains a heavy mass of vegetation which is expensive to clear away. A
thorough clearing, including the removal of stumps, costs $75 to $100
per acre; and yet this is sometimes done for hops, hay and vegetables.
But the common way is to "slash and burn," at an expense of ten to
fifteen dollars an acre. This clears off everything but stumps, and such
trees as may be reserved for the mill or other purposes. There are fine
farms in every direction, but I had no means of ascertaining the
proportion of cleared land, or of the agricultural population. The
natural fertility of the soil, the high prices of produce, and the
rapidly growing demand, both foreign and local, will tempt to a wasteful
destruction of timber in order to prepare the ground for crops. There
need be no doubt as to the extraordinary productiveness of the soils,
even beyond that of the same quality of lands elsewhere; because the
climatic conditions are extra favorable for the growth of all crops
suited to the country. There are some crops, such as corn, lima beans
and sweet potatoes, which are contra-indicated. The cool summer nights
check the maturing of these. Wheat, also, is not suited, though produced
to some extent. But for almost everything else the conditions favor
extra production. The conditions could scarcely be better for grass and
hay. The scantiness of the summer rains is more than compensated for by
the long growing seasons in fall and spring. No soil and climate could
be better for oats and potatoes. The reported yield of these three
staples would be called fabulous if not established by good testimony.
Three tons of hay, 100 bushels of oats, and 600 bushels of potatoes per
acre are above the average, but by no means reach the maximum on the
best lands. Most fruits do well. In the production of hops West
Washington has become celebrated as to quality and yield per acre.
This is probably the largest of the agricultural interests in this part
of the Territory, and was at one time enormously profitable. Present
prices are thought to leave some margin, but not much.
[Illustration: INDIANS GATHERING HOPS, WASHINGTON TERRITORY, ON LINE
OF SEATTLE, LAKE SHORE AND EASTERN RAILWAY.]
[Sidenote: The changed agricultural conditions of East Washington.]
[Sidenote: Irrigation in the Yakima Valley.]
As heretofore remarked, the agricultural conditions change suddenly on
crossing the Cascade Mountains to the eastward; and this change begins
at the crest line, and is more marked on the mountain side and near its
base than anywhere else. The winters are longer and more severe, and the
summers drier and hotter. There is natural pasturage similar to that of
the plateau country, coming up to the timber line, the lower edge of
which is high on the mountain. Much of this mountain land, though
covered scantily with sage brush and bunch grass, is really fertile,
and, besides supporting cattle, can be made to bring fair crops of wheat
and other things; but the rainfall is so insufficient that irrigation is
necessary for the development of any large agricultural interest.
Fortunately, in the large basin of the Yakima, irrigating streams are
abundant, and its enterprising people are availing themselves of this
happy resource. By reference to a good map it will be seen that the
Yakima River is made up of an unusual number of streams. A group of
these come together near Ellensburg, and another group near the town of
North Yakima; and there are said to be large bodies of land susceptible
of irrigation by these streams. The Ellensburg valley is thirty miles
long, and about ten miles wide; and is the best agricultural section in
Kittitas County. It is claimed that forty bushels of wheat to the acre
can be produced here without irrigation; and that 1,000,000 bushels of
wheat were actually produced in this basin in 1887. Hay, hops,
vegetables, berries and fruits also do well naturally, but with
irrigation the product is uniformly large. There are four irrigating
canals in the valley. The Teanaway Ditch Company has one fifty miles
long which can water 75,000 acres of land. The Ellensburg Ditch Company
has a ditch ten miles long, covering 10,000 acres. Mr. Bull has one six
miles long, and the owners of the new roller mill have two and a half
miles of ditch.
Next below Kittitas is Yakima County, which contains a number of fertile
valleys, and also good uplands, and is well supplied with irrigating
streams, which have already been brought into use. Two large ditches are
drawn from the Natchess River. Ditches are also taken from the Ahtanum,
which is the principal hop-raising section. A plateau, three by ten
miles, between the Cowiche and Natchess, will all be irrigated. The
Moxee Valley is largely owned by Eastern and other capitalists, who seem
to be expending much money in the improvement of the country. This
company has fourteen miles of ditch.
[Sidenote: Varied crops.]
By the help of these ditches the people of Yakima Valley are producing
corn, which under the hot sun of the locality perfects its product.
Tobacco has been tried also with fair results. And the Moxee County will
try the dairy business. There is a disposition also to try improved
breeds of cattle. The spirit of enterprise has resulted largely from the
passage of the Northern Pacific Railroad along the Yakima Valley; but at
the same time the greatest obstacle in the way of irrigation lies in the
ownership of alternate sections by this railroad. The Yakima Indians
have good lands, and Klickatat County is well spoken of. Sweet potatoes,
tomatoes, peaches, grapes, and other things requiring much heat, are
said to thrive in the lower parts of the Yakima Valley.
[Sidenote: The Great Plain.]
[Sidenote: Boundaries.]
We enter now the last grand division of the country, the Great Plain,
or, more strictly, plateau of the Columbia River. In spite of its
unpromising aspect, this is the chief agricultural region of the Pacific
States. To get the exact boundary, find the point (a little below
Wallula Junction) where Washington and Oregon both corner on the
Columbia River. From this point, follow the Columbia up to the mouth of
Spokane River; follow Spokane River up to the Idaho line; follow the
Idaho line south to the Oregon line; follow the Oregon line due-west to
the beginning, and within these lines lies the region which is destined
to be the granary of the Pacific States.
[Sidenote: Early history.]
The settlement of this plain began near Walla Walla, where a Christian
mission was established by Whitman, the hero and martyr, who saved this
country to the United States. Hence the most thickly populated part of
the plain is between the Oregon line and Snake River. This region was
supplied with transportation by the Oregon Railway and Navigation
Company. The largest agricultural production is here.
[Sidenote: Area and population.]
Immigration next moved north of Snake River into the valley of the
Palouse River, and here we have the next largest area of production.
When the Northern Pacific Railroad came in from the east, the new-comers
entered the Great Bend country, which is the northern half of the
plain. The chief settlement here is in Spokane and Lincoln counties,
which cover nearly half of the Great Bend. Douglas County covers the
remainder, and is beginning to be settled. There are ten counties on the
plateau, with an aggregate area of 20,000 square miles and a population
of 52,000. Of this population, 20,000 is south of the Snake River,
14,000 north of Snake River, and 18,000 in the Great Bend, including
Spokane Falls.
[Sidenote: Amazing wheat crops: surpassing all other States.]
The great staple of this country is wheat, though almost every crop is
grown, and most of them with remarkable results. Corn is grown only
south of Snake River, where it yields thirty bushels to the acre. The
average yield of wheat year by year for the entire Territory is put by
Governor Squire at twenty-five bushels, and no one who knows the country
can regard this otherwise than as a moderate estimate. This average
places Washington Territory beyond comparison first among the States of
America, and, so far as I can learn, second only to England among other
nations. England, by the highest manuring, has brought her wheat product
up to thirty bushels, which is double the average of former years. By
the census of 1880, Washington Territory, as a whole, leads all the
other States. The following tables give the average of ten of the chief
wheat-producing States:
WHEAT, PER ACRE. BUSHELS.
California 15.8
Dakota 10.6
Minnesota 11.3
New York 15.7
Ohio 18.0
Pennsylvania 13.4
Virginia 8.6
Washington Territory 23.5
Oregon 16.8
Illinois 15.5
The year 1886 was the worst wheat year ever known in Washington
Territory: its crop averaged sixteen and a half bushels.
[Sidenote: Railroads overwhelmed with freight.]
It is thought that the wheat crop of East Washington for 1887 will
exceed 10,000,000 bushels. It certainly went far beyond the ability of
the railroads to carry it away before winter. The most amazing glut of
freight I have ever seen was along the railroads in Walla Walla County.
Not only were the depots crowded to the roof, but piles of sacks larger
than the depots stood outside. It was a common sight through the whole
Snake River country to see 10,000 sacks of wheat in one pile outside of
the depots.
[Sidenote: Price of wheat and cost of production.]
The price of wheat runs from 40 cents to 60 cents a bushel; whilst the
cost of production on good land need not exceed 25 cents a bushel. Mr.
Hamilton, of Colfax, has a farm which he cultivates entirely by hired
labor, and he told me that the cost of his wheat was from 20 cents to 25
cents, and that his profit was $5 per acre. Good farms about Colfax can
be rented out at $2.50 per acre for the whole farm. Mr. Miles C. Moore,
of Walla Walla, probably the most exact business man of that region,
farms largely by hiring labor. He gave me the following statement of his
own operations:
WHEAT GROWING AND DELIVERING.
_Dr._ Cost of ploughing, per acre $1 50
Cost of twice harrowing and sowing 1 00
Seed, 1-1/4 bushel 62
Thirteen sacks at 8 cents 1 04
Keeping up fences 10
Harvesting and hauling five miles to
depot, 17 cents per bushel 4 76
------
$9 02
_Cr._ By 28 bushels per acre at 50 cents $14 00
Cost of production 9 00
------
Profit $5 00
This product could not be expected on inferior lands, but with the
working farmer the cost of production is less. The yield of wheat on
the best lands of East Washington is large--almost beyond belief. Mr.
Houghton, attorney for the Spokane Falls and Palouse Railroad, told me
that he had known of 800 bushels of wheat being raised on ten acres;
that it was measured by a committee. Mr. Miles C. Moore has known 1,000
acres to average fifty bushels. A farmer (apparently honest) told me
that he had raised seventy-five bushels to the acre over his whole wheat
area. His crop was harvested by the acre, and the area measured by the
county surveyor. It was all sold, except seed. Thus he got both area and
product accurately. Many more instances were stated to me on good
authority. But there are different grades of fertility in these lands as
in other lands, and the amount of rainfall makes a difference also.
Wallula has but twelve inches of rain, and is unproductive. There must
be fifteen inches for wheat. Walla Walla has seventeen, and is
productive. Nearer to the Blue Mountains the rainfall is thirty to
thirty-five inches; here are the largest crops. Spokane Falls has
twenty-one inches. Yet where else on the earth can such crops be raised
even occasionally? I have been growing wheat for thirty-five years on
good land in the Valley of Virginia, and I never could reach thirty
bushels to the acre on a single field; and I do not believe that my
neighbors can do better than I do. We count twenty bushels an extra
crop.
[Sidenote: Also barley and oats.]
Besides wheat, these lands produce barley of superior quality, weighing
fifty pounds to the bushel, at the rate of fifty to sixty bushels per
acre, and oats weighing thirty-eight pounds to the bushel at the same
rate per acre. The weight of wheat is sixty pounds to the bushel. Barley
sells at 90 cents per 100 pounds, and is largely shipped East to be made
into beer.
The wheat usually grown is the Little Club, a short, strong white wheat;
but the Little Giant, Red Chaff and Chili Giant are productive. Spring
wheat is generally sown, but winter wheat is probably best. Blue stem
brings five cents extra in Portland. Freight, $5 a ton from Walla Walla
to Portland; thirty-three bushels counted a ton.
The wheat here has no enemies--no fly, nor rust, nor weeds, nor lodging.
[Sidenote: The soil a natural fertilizer.]
Much of the land has been cultivated for sixteen years without rest or
manure, and without diminution of crop; but the best farmers prefer to
rest and cultivate in alternate years. By the latter system the
ploughing is done in the off-year, and the land left a naked fallow.
This is thought to cleanse the land and renew its strength. And in some
cases in which lands have an excess of alkali, their productiveness
increases with cultivation. Sometimes the land contains as much as
eighteen pounds of potash to the cubic yard; which fact, by the way,
suggests the possibility of leaching the land to procure potash and
other alkalies.
[Sidenote: Quality of the wheat.]
The wheat of the Pacific coast has 4 per cent. less gluten in it than
the Eastern wheat, and this practically shuts it out of the Eastern
market. Nitrogen in Washington Territory wheat is 22 per cent. to 26 per
cent., whilst in the Eastern it is 34 per cent. to 40 per cent., and
inferior in quality. The true gluten is too brittle. It is better than
the California wheat, however, which has 4 per cent. to 6 per cent. less
nitrogenous matter, and the gluten inferior in quality. But the
California wheat makes a whiter flour than the Washington Territory
wheat, which is an advantage in selling. It should be remarked that the
term nitrogen, when applied technically to wheat, includes true gluten,
the phosphates, and all albuminoids, and excludes starch, sugar and
water, which latter comprise about seventy-two per cent. of the wheat.
Still, the Washington Territory wheat-grower has the advantage in
quantity per acre, which gives him a better profit than is now made in
California or any Eastern State. The price at Spokane Falls varies from
45 cents to 60 cents per bushel, which would give the farmer $10 to
$12.50 per acre for his crop, which is more than the average Eastern
farmer gets, whilst the cost of production ought to be, and ultimately
will be, less.
[Sidenote: The market in England, China, and other Asiatic ports.]
Flour is sent to England, by Cape Horn, at a cost of $1.30 per barrel
from Spokane Falls, and in Liverpool brings within 20 cents a barrel as
much as the Minneapolis flour, and it is also shipped to China and other
Asiatic ports, where it seems destined to supersede rice for bread.
China raises wheat, but not nearly enough for home consumption. The
Asiatic and Oceanic market will, ultimately, want all the wheat of our
Pacific States.
[Sidenote: Astonishing growth of vegetables.]
[Sidenote: Crops without rain.]
Besides the cereals, vegetables of nearly all kinds grow to great size
on this plateau. Those requiring a more uniformly warm temperature, such
as tomatoes, sweet potatoes, beans and peanuts, do best in the region
lying south of the Snake River, which is much less elevated than the
country north and east. And this is true also of peaches, grapes, and
other fruits requiring similar conditions. But as regards most
vegetables, especially roots, and also fruits, the plateau generally is
very productive. This is almost unaccountable in view of the fact that
after the first of June there is little or no rain until late in the
fall. Whilst rain seems to be necessary to start the small seeds, large
crops of potatoes are sometimes raised without a drop of rain. The
moisture must come partly from the soil, which has retained the winter
water, and partly from the deposition of moisture by the sea-air which
comes through the gap in the Cascade Mountains and penetrates the deep,
loose soil. Mr. Paul F. Mohr has measured a parsnip four feet long and
eight inches across the top. I saw potatoes in Colfax, thirty of which
filled a bushel measure.
As before intimated, I doubt whether the plateau can ever become a good
grass and hay country. For long forage, besides straw, the people must
depend upon the cereals mowed in the green state.
[Sidenote: West (not East) Washington is to be the great cattle
country.]
For this reason the plateau, as will also be the case with the great
plains eastward, can never carry the number of cattle that can be grazed
in a grass country. A farmer told me it required fifteen acres of bunch
grass to support one horse or steer, whilst in a grass country three
acres are ample, and on the best sods one acre is sufficient. Still, the
bunch grass is, and ought to be, utilized. And the areas of unimproved
land are so vast that the herds of cattle, horses and sheep which range
upon them altogether constitute a large item of wealth. And on these
treeless plains the effort seems to be to train the cattle and horses to
live like buffaloes and wild horses in both summer and winter.
[Sidenote: Tree-planting.]
The tree problem will, I think, work out satisfactorily, though, of
course, no such trees can ever be produced there as abound in West
Washington. Walla Walla is embowered in trees of artificial growth. The
Lombardy poplar seems to have been most successful. At various points I
saw plantations of box elder, and was told that this tree is easily
grown. The cottonwood is said to grow readily. Captain John McGowan
reports the successful culture of locust, walnut, maple and catalpa in
Lincoln County. He says, also, that the plum, peach, apricot, apple,
pear and grape succeed: and so with strawberries, raspberries and
blackberries. All these fruits are grown about Spokane Falls, but I
think that the grape and peach sometimes fail to mature. A good many
plantations of trees have been set out under the timber-culture act of
Congress, but it is thought that much imposition has been practised on
the Government by the failure to take proper care of the trees after
they were planted. The truth about the whole matter seems to be that,
with proper care, trees of most varieties may be grown on the plateau,
but that they will grow slowly and not attain large size. I might add
many details concerning the products of this wonderful country, but
these will suffice as illustrations.
LABOR.
[Sidenote: Good supply of labor, but more wanted.]
Under this head I will merely say that, though the laboring population
of Washington Territory is very mixed and has not the settled character
of labor in the old States, and though many more laborers could find
employment, there does not seem to be any special deficiency of this
class, and the high wages that are paid will, no doubt, bring in more
workmen as they are wanted.
[Sidenote: Wages.]
Governor Squire, in his report for 1885, page 41, gives quite a detailed
list of wages, which shows that the rates are at least fifty per cent.
higher than in the Middle States, and double what is paid in the
Southern Atlantic States. Farm laborers get from $25 to $30 a month and
board. Loggers pay from $35 to $40 per month to common hands, and $65 to
$70 to teamsters. Skilled labor receives high wages, and railway
contractors sometimes have to pay $2 to $2.50 per day for common
hands. Servant girls are scarce, and wanted, at $15 a month and board.
Hotel servants get from $20 to $25 a month. Chinamen are extensively
employed for family servants. Many of them are tolerable cooks, and get
$30 a month and board. Indians are working more than formerly. The men
"slash" the forests, pick hops, etc. Squaws always were industrious--had
to be! The Sandwich Islands, as well as China and Japan, furnish some
laborers. The employers are favorable to this class of immigrants,
whilst the white laborers are bitterly opposed to them. Canada will
continue to employ cheap Chinese labor, and thus place our Pacific
States at a disadvantage, if the present policy of excluding Chinese
labor is continued.
[Illustration: BRIDGE OVER THE SPOKANE RIVER, SEATTLE, LAKE SHORE AND
EASTERN RAILWAY.]
THE GEOLOGY OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY.
HISTORICAL AND STRUCTURAL.
I shall not say much about the historical geology of Washington
Territory, because it contains some problems which have never been
adequately studied, and which I had no opportunity to investigate. It is
to be hoped that the regular work of the Government Survey may soon be
extended to this important region. Hitherto it has been neglected. A few
able geologists such as Joseph Le Conte, Pumpelly, Newberry, Bailey
Willis, and some others, have made visits to the country on special
errands; but except the treatise of Bailey Willis in Vol. XV. of the
Census Reports, and some brief allusions to the country in systematic
works on general geology, I had nothing to guide me as to the structure
of the country, or the age of its deposits. For all practical purposes,
however, I had no difficulty in understanding the work I had to do.
[Sidenote: The Western Coast regions younger than the Rocky Mountains
and Appalachians.]
[Sidenote: An outlying Continent.]
[Sidenote: The rise of the West Coast.]
All agree that the country west of the Rocky Mountains proper, and
including nearly all of California, Oregon, and Washington Territory,
is geologically younger than the main range, and younger than the
Appalachian country. At the close of the carboniferous period proper,
the Rocky Mountain range constituted a separate continent, with a sea
covering what is now the main Mississippi Valley, including the wide
plains immediately east of the Rocky Mountains, and connecting,
probably, with the polar sea, whilst the Pacific Ocean washed the
western edge of this Rocky Mountain continent; so that until after that
period there were no Wahsatch and Uintah mountains, no Sierra Nevada and
Cascade Range, no Coast Range, and, of course, none of the intervening
country. It is quite possible, however, that there was a third continent
lying west of the present continent in what is now ocean, from whose
waste the sediments were derived which were afterwards elevated and
became the land now included in the three States bordering the Pacific,
whilst the mother continent, which furnished the sediments, sank beneath
the ocean. If there were such an outlying continent, additional force is
given to the views of Dr. George F. Becker, endorsed by Dr. C. A. White,
and to some extent anticipated by Prof. J. D. Whitney, which render it
probable on other grounds that the two great lines of mountains, viz.,
the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range and the Coast Range, began their
upward movement simultaneously during the early ages of the Juro-Trias.
The rise of these mountain lines was gradual and marked by reverse
movements, whereby, after appearing above the surface, they sank and
rose alternately, receiving fresh sediments, which, especially in the
Washington Territory region and part of Oregon and California, when
above water, became clothed with an enormous vegetation which was packed
into coal-beds, layer after layer. In the lapse of time these all came
above the surface. The mountains grew higher and higher, attended by
intense heat in the axes of the ranges, and at different periods, down
almost to the present, exhibiting volcanic action on an enormous scale.
At other periods, a large portion of the region was visited by
ice-floods, succeeded by water-floods, which top-dressed great areas
with a mingled deposit of gravel, sand and mud, and carried away vast
blocks of the rocky substance of the country, and cut deep channels in
all the highlands.
As Washington Territory is now presented to us, it exhibits a scene of
mountains, lowlands, and elevated plateaus, which are full of interest
and variety. Some general account of its topography has already been
given.
[Illustration: LOWER SNOQUALMIE FALLS, 268 FEET HIGH, ON LINE OF
SEATTLE, LAKE SHORE AND EASTERN RAILWAY.]
[Sidenote: The rocks and minerals of the Cascade Mountains.]
The core of these high ranges is chiefly rock originally stratified,
which has been metamorphosed by heat, and perhaps inside of all, with
branches bursting out at various places, are plutonic rocks which have
never been stratified. This is the state of things on the top of the
Cascade Range, near Snoqualmie Pass, as well as on some subordinate
peaks and ranges. On Mount Logan, the Denny Mountain, etc., are large
bodies of syenitic granite whose age I have no means of determining.
Associated with this are quartzites of fine grain, and extremely hard,
porphyries, and serpentinoid and chloritic rocks of different sorts, in
which are imbedded the magnetic iron ores; and also large beds of
crystalline limestone, both fine and coarse grained. Crossing these, at
various angles, are veins containing the precious and base metals.
[Sidenote: The metamorphic rocks of doubtful origin.]
Whether these rocks are Palæozoic or Archæan in their origin, or whether
they are simply the metamorphosed strata of the upper Juro-Trias, or the
lower Cretaceous, is a question for future study. These plutonic and
metamorphic rocks are believed to extend through the mountainous region
lying north of the Columbia River; and they are reported also in the
Coeur d'Alene Mountains. It is quite certain that on both flanks of
the Cascade Mountains we find in their natural state Cretaceous
conglomerates, sandstones, and shales bearing coal, at least in their
upper beds. The deposits on the east side of the mountain have been much
grooved and denuded, until we find only small areas of the Cretaceous
strata on the Yakima and the Wenatchie rivers, and the Peshastan ridge
between, with a patch of the coal-bearing rocks on the Yakima, and
another on the Wenatchie. On the west side of the mountain range, the
Cretaceous and coal-bearing areas are much larger.
[Sidenote: The coal beds.]
The coal deposits of all the Cretaceous regions of the West are regarded
as belonging to the Laramie period which closed the Cretaceous age, and
constitutes a transition period between the Cretaceous and Tertiary. But
I do not regard this question as settled. The inferior lignites of the
Rocky Mountains, and the semi-lignites which constitute the upper beds
of the Washington Cretaceous coal properly belong to the Laramie period;
but to include the underlying bituminous coals in the same group may be
a matter of question. More will be said in reference to these coal beds
under the next head. The Western coal-bearing rocks begin on outlying
mountains, standing at the west foot of the main Cascade Range. These
outlyers are irregular in size, height and direction; but many of them
are 1,000 to 1,500 feet in height, and they are found in groups,
separated by denuded spaces, from the Cascade Mountains to the Pacific
Ocean, and from the Canada line nearly to the Columbia River. The
largest and most important field, however, lies south of the Snoqualmie
River and between Puget Sound and the Cascade Mountains. Some of the
coals found in the most southern part of the field, and on the Coast
Range, are referred to the Tertiary period.
A smaller and wholly undeveloped field lies on the Skagit River, and
another on, and west of Bellingham Bay. Similar beds are found on
Vancouver's Island. Coal-bearing strata are found also on the Chehalis,
Des Chutes, Nisqually and Cowlitz rivers. Whilst some of these southern
and western strata are referred to the Tertiary period, there has been
no systematic study of their geologic relations.
[Sidenote: The volcanic mountains and their great activity.]
It seems to be settled, however, that the lofty volcanic mountains which
form conspicuous features in the scenery of the Cascade Range, were
active in the Tertiary period, and not only built their own crests 9,000
to 15,000 feet high, but inundated much of the surrounding country with
lava to an amazing breadth and depth. In this region, Mount Baker, Mount
Ranier (also called Mount Tacoma), Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams in
Washington Territory, and Mount Hood in Oregon, were the centres of the
grandest operations; and so continued for ages.
[Sidenote: The wonderful cañon of the Columbia River.]
We see gigantic results of this activity in the cañon 1,000 to over
3,000 feet deep, which the Columbia River has cut through this volcanic
matter in its passage through the Cascade Mountains. This volcanic
deposit consists of brown basalt, which in cooling crystallized into
vertical, polygonal prisms, or columns, which have been sculptured by
the weather into endlessly varied forms, beautiful, fantastic, and
grand; altogether presenting a scene, or succession of scenes, for
twenty-five miles, such as can nowhere else be equaled on the American
continent, unless it be near by, on a tributary of the Columbia, the Des
Chutes River of Oregon.
[Sidenote: The great sheets of basalt.]
This great pile of basalt was built up by a succession of overflows of
lava, the joints of which are plainly visible. The basaltic area, though
perhaps thickest here, continues with a thickness of 1,000 to 1,500 feet
up the Columbia for hundreds of miles; indeed the whole plateau, or
prairie country of East Washington, which is a quadrilateral of some 200
miles in diameter, is but a continuation of the great lava-sheet seen at
the Cascades and the Dalles. Through it the Columbia and Snake rivers
have cut deep channels; and other, though shallower channels, have been
cut across the surface of the plateau by departed streams.
[Sidenote: Origin of the rich soil of East Washington.]
Whether the extremely fertile soil which overlies the basalt in East
Washington is a top-dressing of volcanic ashes, or is decomposed basalt,
cannot readily be determined. It cannot be referred to the Glacial
period, as I observed no appearance of drift anywhere except in the
valley of Spokane River. Such a wide spread of lava is not unexampled in
view of somewhat similar overflows now occurring at intervals in the
Sandwich Islands, where lava runs and spreads itself like water. These
Hawaiian flows are mentioned by Captain C. F. Dutton in his report of
the Zuni Plateau.
A ledge of sandstone belonging to the Meiocene Tertiary is visible under
the basalt at the lower cascade in the Columbia River; and a stratum of
iron ore and vegetable matter is found on the Willamette at Oswego,
lying horizontally between great masses of basalt, showing a long
interval between overflows.
[Sidenote: The volcanoes not wholly extinct.]
These eruptions probably continued with diminishing force until near the
present time. It is reported that Mount Hood has sent out smoke or steam
since the settlement of Oregon. The crater of Mount Ranier was visited
by two gentlemen within a few years, and a night spent in its bottom by
the side of a jet of steam. Such, at least, is the account given by one
of them, Mr. Stevens.
[Sidenote: Glacial drift.]
The Quaternary or Drift Period has left abundant, though by no means
universal, traces of its presence. As before intimated, I saw no relics
of it in East Washington, except a deposit of rather small, generally
very small, and well-rounded quartz gravel, thickly strewing, and really
forming, the flats bordering Spokane River. This gravel macadamizes the
streets of the City of Spokane Falls, and the neighboring roads, so as
to make them firm at all seasons. These gravelly bottoms are not
tillable except in a few spots.
The undulating country north and east of Puget Sound is in many places
deeply covered with drift material which shows the effect of both ice
and water. Blocks of partially rounded granite several feet in diameter
are found on the hills around Seattle. This gravel deposit is not often
found on high points, but there is a ridge in the Cascade Mountains,
near Salal Prairie, which is thickly bestrewed at an elevation of 1,000
feet. This, however, was quite exceptional, and may be the lateral
moraine of a local glacier. The deposit around Seattle is not only easy
to cultivate (its soil being a light blue loam), but seems fertile. The
bottom lands are free from gravel.
So much for the general geology.
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.
NOTE.--The location of the coal-fields and collieries mentioned in
the following pages may be seen on an accompanying map.
Under the head of Economic Geology, I shall describe with more detail
the mineral beds which have a commercial value, and in the following
order:--I. Coal; II. Iron Ore; III. Granite, Limestone, and Marble; IV.
Precious and Base Metals.
[Sidenote: Thickness of the Coal Measures.]
I. COAL.--The thickness of the Coal Measures of the Puget Sound basin is
estimated by Bailey Willis at something like 14,000 feet, though he
admits the obvious possibility of error in the calculation by reason of
undiscovered faults. We may fairly expect them, however, to be thicker
than the same group in the Rocky Mountains, which measure about 9,000
feet. As heretofore remarked, the sediments become thinner from west to
east. Of course, the maximum thickness is not to be expected in every
locality. Mr. Willis's estimate was made in the Wilkeson and Green River
fields, and really did not reach the limit of the coal-bearing rocks.
The coal rocks of the Cedar River and Snoqualmie basin have never, so
far as I know, been estimated, but probably this group is equal in
thickness to that of any other part of the field. The difficulty of
measurement arises from the numerous fractures and changes of strike
which exist.
[Sidenote: Fifteen workable seams.]
The number of distinct workable seams of coal of three feet and upwards,
belonging to the measures, may safely be put down at not less than
fifteen.
[Sidenote: Different kinds of coal described.]
Before considering the quality of these coals, I will, for better
understanding, make some prefatory statements in regard to the character
of coals generally. Charcoal has greater purity than mineral coals
usually have, because there is nothing in the charcoal except what
naturally belongs to the woody matter. Mineral coal, however, having
been buried in water, mud, and sand, must, almost of necessity, have
some mixture of foreign matter, either slate, which is simply hardened
mud; silica, which may have been derived from sand; iron and sulphur,
some of which may have been in the wood, but most of it, probably,
introduced in solutions; to which should be added, unexpelled oxygen,
which is not only useless as fuel, but which combines with a portion of
the contained hydrogen, and forms water in the substance of the coal.
The proportion of ash in coals of the same class is usually determined
by the amount of slate in the coal, in addition to the mineral matter
which belonged originally to the vegetable material from which the coal
was formed. In the pure state, the proportion of ash increases as the
transformation of woody fibre goes on from peat to anthracite.
[Sidenote: The chemical changes in coal beds.]
It is worth while to note what are the changes which take place in the
vegetable matter during the process. It may be described in a word as a
progressive loss of oxygen, and by this loss the coal becomes richer,
for the reason just given. The deoxidizing process is carried on by
means of chemical changes in the substance of the coaly matter. The
oxygen combining with a certain proportion of the carbon, forms carbon
di-oxide, or carbonic acid gas; and a certain other portion, combining
with hydrogen, forms water. Both of these are volatile in their
character, and gradually escape. Another loss is effected by the
combination of hydrogen and carbon, forming marsh gas. We have deadly
proof that these combinations are in progress in all coal mines by the
occurrence of "choke-damp" and "fire-damp," which are the miners' names
for these gases.
[Sidenote: Deficient nomenclature.]
Unfortunately, we have no settled nomenclature for the varieties of
coal, excepting the broad names lignite or brown coal, bituminous coal,
and anthracite. Even the term "bituminous" is scientifically inaccurate,
there being, in fact, no bitumen in any coal. But it is applied to such
coals as contain more oxygen and volatile combustible matter and water
than anthracite, and less of these elements than lignite. The term
lignite is made to include a great variety of substances, covering the
lignites of the Juro-Trias of James River (Dutch Gap), which retain not
only the structure, but the appearance of decaying wood; the lignites of
the State of Mississippi, which are of the same geologic age as those of
the Rocky Mountains, but which, owing to their watery and crumbly
character, are unfit for market; the lignites of the Grand and Moreau
rivers of Dakota, which are reported to have no commercial value; the
lignites of Bozeman, Montana, which are really valuable, but soon break
down into chips and grits; the lignites of Green River, Wyoming, which
are firm, bright, lump coals; and the lignites of King County,
Washington Territory, many of which are hard, bright, steam and shipping
coals. And when brought to the laboratory, it is found that chemically
these lignites vary even more than they do optically.
[Sidenote: Lignite an unsuitable name for the coals of Washington
Territory.]
This want of a varied nomenclature is to be regretted, because it
sometimes handicaps a good coal with an inferior name. It is only of
late that the Laramie or Cretaceous coals of Washington Territory have
been divided into lignites, bituminous coals, and anthracites. These
grade into each other so insensibly that it would be impossible to
classify them sharply. None of the lignites which I saw were as low in
grade as the typical lignite. The woody structure was quite discernible
in some samples of the Franklin coal, and less in the Newcastle and
Green River; but in respect to the two latter, I could not with the
naked eye discern more of the woody structure than I have seen in some
of the West Virginia coals, which belong to the Carboniferous period. I
sat by fires of Newcastle and neighboring coals for a month, and
observed no unusual amount of smoke, and no peculiar odor. By analysis,
these coals show a larger percentage of oxygen than the typical
bituminous coal, but decidedly less than is found in the brown coal of
Germany, or in some of the lignites of Montana. They need a new name.
Their heating power is not so great as that of the bituminous coals of
the same region. Their streak and powder are less black, and their
fracture more conchoidal, but not decidedly so.
The bituminous coals have the usual cubical fracture. The Wilkeson
readily breaks down into small cubes. The lignites are black and
lustrous. They come out as lumpy as ordinary coal, and, when exposed to
weather, do not break up into powder and grits like ordinary lignite.
This is true, at least, of the Newcastle coal.
[Sidenote: The coking quality not general in these coals, but found in
some.]
The coking quality of these coals cannot be determined by calculating
the proportion between the fixed carbon and the volatile, combustible
matter. I am not sure that Professor Fraser's fuel ratio tables are a
safe guide in any case. So far as now known, only a few of the
Washington Territory coals can be made into good coke. On this point,
however, we have only laboratory and rough field tests, excepting at the
Wilkeson mines, where twenty-five ovens were turning out a superior
quality of coke, as proved by every test save the use of it in high
furnace stacks, in which there had been no opportunity for trial. It is
claimed by many persons that seams on Green River, Skagit, Yakima, and
Snoqualmie will furnish good coking coal. The coal on Snoqualmie
Mountain, near Hop Ranch, has not been studied, but it certainly has the
external characteristics of good coking coal, and Mr. Peter Kirke made a
rough trial of it in an earth-pit with decidedly encouraging results.
Somewhat similar coal is found on Raging River, but where opened, so
much slate was interleaved with the coal that washing would be necessary
before use. More will be said hereafter with regard to these coals; but
the remark may be repeated here in respect to the entire Puget Sound
basin, that much additional examination is necessary before its coals
will be fully understood. The variations in character of these are not
owing entirely, or even chiefly, to their relative ages, but also to the
conditions to which they have been subjected, especially in respect to
heat. This metamorphic agency has acted not only in the body of the
Cascade Mountains, but all through the coal-fields, where faults,
flexures, and intrusive rocks have occasioned changes in the original
condition of the coal-beds, giving results along the whole scale of
metamorphism from lignite to anthracite.
[Sidenote: Analyses of Washington Territory coals.]
I here introduce (on the opposite page) a table of analyses made in
Washington City from representative samples of Washington Territory
coals and lignites selected by Mr. Bailey Willis during the examination
which he made of this field for the Census Bureau, and found in Vol. XV.
of the Census Reports.
THE COLLIERIES.
I will now give some account of the principal coal seams which have been
worked in Washington Territory, namely, those in the field lying east
and southeast of Puget Sound; and in so doing I shall add to my own
knowledge all information from any reliable sources. Unfortunately, the
sources of information are few.
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO GILMAN COAL MINE ON THE LINE OF THE SEATTLE,
LAKE SHORE AND EASTERN RAILWAY.]
[Sidenote: Authorities.]
In the Report of Bailey Willis to Professor Pumpelly for the Census
Bureau, we have the best account extant of the Carbon River and Green
River basins. Mr. Willis spent three years in his examination, assisted
by topographical engineers. He made numerous trial-pits and borings with
diamond drill, and forwarded samples to Washington City for analysis.
Mr. F. H. Whitworth, of Seattle, accompanied me in my excursions, and
prepared maps which are filed herewith. Mr. Whitworth has probably more
practical knowledge of the Puget Sound coal basin than any one else. A
small volume on the Pacific coal field was prepared some years ago by
Mr. W. A. Goodyear. And Governor Squire's lucid and intelligent reports
contain valuable information upon the coal, and all the other interests
of Washington Territory. Governor Semple has also, in his Report for
1887, given us the latest official information.
ANALYSES OF REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLES OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY COALS AND
LIGNITES.
Key for Sites:
A Miles City, Dakota.
B Newcastle, Washington Territory.
C Vein (?) G. R. C.
D Vein 33, G. R. C.
E Vein (?), G. R. C.
F Vein xviii. G. R. C.
G Vein ix. G. R. C.
H Vein vi. G. R. C.
I Vein iii. G. R. C.
J Upper Yakima River, Wash'n Ter.
K Carbon Station, Wyoming Territory.
L Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory.
M Wingate Vein, Carbonado.
N Vein cxxiii. W. C.
O Vein xviii. W. C.
P Vein v. W. C.
Q Vein i. W. C.
R Vein lviii. B. B. C.
S Vein xliv. B. B. C.
T Vein _d_, Carbon River, W. C.
U Skagit River, Washington Territory.
V Raton, New Mexico.
W El Moro, New Mexico.
Abbreviations for final row (Coke):
Wls Worthless
Exc Excellent
B&F Black and Friable
Ra Poor Rather Poor
======================+=============================+=================+
| LIGNITES. | BITUMINOUS | BITUMINOUS |
| | LIGNITES. | COALS. |
+-----+-----+-----------------+-----------------+
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| A | B | J | K | L | U | V | W |
----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Original Sample No. | 79 | 24 | -- | -- | -- | 76 | -- | --
----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Moisture |14.10| 4.16| 0.80| 8.10| 7.00| 1.17| 2.0 | 1.66|
Volatile Hydro-Carbons|36.95|44.84|36.02|34.70|36.81|14.40|37.1 |34.48|
Fixed Carbon |35.76|43.86|28.48|51.65|54.46|64.56|51.6 |60.08|
Ash |13.19| 7.14|28.23| 5.55| 1.73|19.87| 9.3 | 3.78|
F. C.--V. H. C. | 0.97| 0.98| 1.48| 1.48| 1.23| 4.48| 1.39| 1.74|
| | | | | | | | |
Coke | None| None| Fair| ----| ----| Ra | Good| Good|
| | | | | | Poor| | |
======================+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+
======================+=========================================+
| LIGNITES. |
+-----+-----+-----------------+-----------+
| Green River Field, Washington Ter. |
|-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| C | D | E | F | G | H | I |
----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Original Sample No. | 59 | 56 | 50 | 27 | 42 | 43 | 45 |
----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Moisture | 7.27| 9.98| 8.68| 2.50| 4.82| 3.34| 3.24|
Volatile Hydro-Carbons|36.02|40.63|35.90|45.71|42.02|39.39|39.52|
Fixed Carbon |28.48|41.07|47.07|48.37|37.12|41.49|48.39|
Ash |28.23| 8.32| 8.35| 3.42|16.04|15.78| 9.85|
F. C.--V. H. C. | 0.79| 1.01| 1.31| 1.06| 0.88| 1.05| 1.22|
| | | | | | | |
Coke | None| None| None| Poor| None| None| Wls |
| | | | | [B] | [C] | |
======================+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+
[B] Produced fragile coke in field test.
[C] Produced fragile coke in field test.
======================+===============================================+
| BITUMINOUS COALS. |
+-----------------------------------------------+
| Wilkeson Field, Washington Territory. |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----------+
| | | | | Altered by| | |
| | | | | Intrusive | | |
| | | | | Rocks. | | |
| | | | +-----+-----+ | |
| M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T |
----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Original Sample No. | 12 | 125 | 17 | 64 | 37 | 136 | 135 | 68 |
----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Moisture | 1.80| 3.98| 1.33| 1.16| 1.54| 0.61| 0.44| 2.56|
Volatile Hydro-Carbons|42.27|28.64|25.88|29.09|28.17|29.58| 5.84| 8.43|
Fixed Carbon |52.11|54.10|60.67|60.38|59.70|56.18|73.98|83.27|
Ash | 3.82|13.28|12.12| 9.37|10.59|13.63|19.74| 5.74|
F. C.--V. H. C. | 1.23| 1.88| 2.34| 2.07| 2.12| 1.89|12.67| 9.87|
| | | | | | | | |
Coke | Very| None| Exc | Exc | Poor| B&F | None| None|
| good| [D] | | | [E] | | | |
======================+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+
[D] Produced first-class coke in field test.
[E] Produced first-class coke in field test.
NOTE.--G. R. C.--Green River column. W. C.--Wilkeson column.
B. B. C.--Busy Brook column.
[Sidenote: The different mines.]
In my brief sketches, I shall group the coal-beds as follows: _a_,
Carbon River Group; _b_, the Green River Group; _c_, Cedar River Group;
_d_, the Squak, Raging River, and Snoqualmie Groups; _e_, the Yakima and
Wenatchie Group; _f_, Bellingham Bay, Skagit River, etc.; _g_, British
Columbia Group.
[Sidenote: Anthracite, coking and gas coals.]
_a. Carbon River Group._--These beds lie on South Prairie Creek and
Carbon River, tributaries of the Puyallup River. Anthracite coal in thin
beds is reported high up on Carbon River, near the base of Mount Ranier;
the result of metamorphism. Also undeveloped outcrops of soft coal at
numerous points on the same river. There are, however, only three
collieries at work in this group. One is called the Carbonado mines,
which are on the Carbon River. Three miles north, a little east, are
the famous Wilkeson mines; and two miles northwest of Wilkeson, are the
South Prairie mines, on South Prairie Creek. (See Map.)
[Illustration: MAP OF WILKESON COALFIELD]
These coal-beds stand at high angles (fifty degrees and upwards), and
dip in different directions. At Carbonado, there are four seams in
pairs, separated by Carbon River, two of which dip to the south, and two
to the north. At the South Prairie mines there are two seams, one of
which dips to the east, and the other to the west. At Wilkeson there are
three seams, all of which dip to the west. Mr. Willis interprets this
coal-field as being a dome-like anticlinal, with compressed and crumpled
sides, whose major axis runs nearly north and south. The Wilkeson and
South Prairie mines are on the line of the major axis, whilst the
Carbonado mines are in a group of subordinate short folds lying south of
the main line. The anticline extends to Nisqually River, and shows two
other coal areas south of Carbon River, the coal of which is said to
resemble the Wilkeson coal.
The Carbon River coal-field first having been almost engulphed by
volcanic uplifts and overflows, and almost buried by glacial drift, is
now visible only in narrow strips along creeks, and at intervals along
the Carbon River.
Owing probably to the heating of its beds, we find in this little field
the coal which stands highest in reputation for coking and heating
qualities. There are some differences in the coal at the three mines.
That at South Prairie was sold chiefly for making gas. The best of the
Wilkeson coal is made into coke, and is in demand beyond the supply. The
price is $7.00 a ton at the ovens. The entire product of the Carbonado
mines is said to go to the Central Pacific Railway. It is impossible to
say what may be under the Drift; but, to all appearance, the amount of
coal here is not large, and the beds are sadly faulted, and pitch deep
into the ground.
[Sidenote: The Common Point, equidistant between Tacoma and Seattle.]
_b. The Green River Group._--I include in this group the Black Diamond
and Franklin collieries, the Kirke or Moss Bay Company mines, and the
Sugar Loaf Mountain beds. This, as well as the Carbon River field, is
nearly equidistant from Tacoma and Seattle, being about thirty miles in
a right line from each place. The Carbon River basin is geologically
associated with Mount Ranier; the Green River basin with the outliers or
foot ridges of the Cascade Mountains. The latter are much more
approachable than the former. At the east edge of this field, the
Northern Pacific Railroad emerges from the Cascade Mountains, having
come down the cañon of Green River. This point is known as "The Common
Point," because the cities of Tacoma and Seattle are about equally
distant, and the routes afford equally good grades from this point.
The narrow gauge road from Seattle now comes to the Franklin mines, and
by continuing it a few miles to connect with the Northern Pacific there
would be railroad connection to Seattle as well as to Tacoma. The river
here cuts through the Coal Measures, leaving the less valuable part of
the field on the south side. The area of this field is roughly estimated
at fifty square miles. It contains all, or nearly all, the grades of
coal from lignite to bituminous; the variety of coal depending upon the
degree of local disturbance. As a rule, so long as the coal is not
crushed, the more pitched and flexed the rocks, the better the coal;
which fact indemnifies the miner for extra expense in mining. Here, the
tendency is for the seams to become steeper and more broken from west to
east; _i.e._, as they approach the foot-hills of the Cascade Mountains.
The strata in Lizard Mountain on the south side, however, form an
exception. Here the strata are nearly horizontal.
[Sidenote: Franklin and Black Diamond mines.]
The Franklin mines are on the north bank of Green River and at the south
edge of what has been known as the McKay basin, and the Black Diamond
mines are on, or near, the north edge of the same small, oval synclinal
basin. From this basin the dips become steeper toward the mountain,
where Kirke's beds stand at a high angle. On the west edge of the Green
River basin, say a mile west of Franklin, there is an outcrop of
lignite. The coal of the Franklin and Black Diamond mines is bituminous
lignite. The Kirke coal, or at least part of it, as judged by the eye,
may be called bituminous coal, though not so much deoxidized as the
Wilkeson. The coals mined in this basin are firm, black and shiny; they
burn freely, and make but little dust. They have not, however, so far as
tested, the heating power or coking qualities of the Wilkeson coal. Two
seams are worked at Franklin, and three at Black Diamond. All of the
seams worked are above four feet. A number of volcanic dikes and flows
are found in and around this basin.
[Sidenote: The Kirke or Moss Bay Company (English) mines.]
The Kirke or Moss Bay Company mines are six miles east of Franklin, and
within a mile of Green River. They lie against the mountain. The strike
of the mountain is northwest. The coal beds dip toward the mountain at
a high angle. There are five seams of from five to fifteen feet in
thickness; one of them (No. 2) may be said to be over forty-seven feet
in thickness, though not all good coal, as the details given below will
show. The top of the outcrops above sea-level are as follows:
FEET.
No. 1 970
No. 2 1,160
No. 3 1,350
No. 4 1,461
No. 5 1,513
Some places on the outcrop rise much higher. The base of the mountain is
about five hundred feet above sea-level. No shipping has been done from
here. A gang of miners was at work opening the beds, with the special
view of testing their coking qualities in order to be used, if
practicable, by the Moss Bay Company for smelting the steel ores of the
Cascade Mountains.
The only seam well opened when I was there (Nov. 17th and 18th) was No.
3, which is a large bed and shows an excellent quality of bituminous
coal. The bed shows the side and end (or "tooth") structure. The coal is
very black and moderately lustrous, and breaks readily into small
rectangles of less than an inch. Its coking qualities have not been
tested. Nos. 4 and 5 are said to be softer and more powdery, and may
possibly be better for coke than No. 3. They have an available thickness
of about ten feet each. The details of No. 3 are as follows:
Roof, Black Shale. FT. INS.
Coal 0 9
Bone 1 6
Coal 0 7
Hard Slate 2 0
Coal 0 8
Bone 0 2
Coal 0 5
Bone 0 1
Coal 1 2
Soft Parting 0 1/2
Coal 1 0
Bone and Coal 0 7
Coal 1 0
Bone 0 1
Coal 1 3
Bone 0 1/4
Coal 0 5
Bone 0 1/2
Coal 0 7
Bone and Coal 1 8
Coal 0 4-1/2
Bone 0 1
Coal 0 7
Sandstone bottom. -----------
Total 15 ft. 3/4 ins.
There is a natural exposure of No. 2, the "Big Seam," which I saw on the
mountain-side above the miners' camp, and took the following details:
No. 2, Big Seam, descending. FT. INS.
Coal 1 2
Bone 0 2-1/2
Coal 0 5
Bone 0 4
Coal 1 4
Bone 0 1-1/2
Coal 1 0
Bone 0 1/4
Coal 0 8
Bone 0 1-1/2
Coal 0 7
Bone 0 1
Nigger-head and Coal 0 6
Bone 0 1-1/2
Coal 1 8
Bone 0 1/4
Coal 2 0
Bone 0 4
Coal 1 10
Bone 0 1
Coal 0 7
Bone 0 1-1/2
Coal 1 0
Bone 0 1/4
Coal 1 2
Bone 0 2-1/2
Coal 0 6
Bone 0 1-1/2
Coal 0 3
Bone 0 1/4
Coal 1 3
Bone 0 1/4
Coal 1 8
Shale 0 1-1/2
Coal 0 6
Bone 0 4
Impure Bituminous Matter 21 5-3/4
Coal, clean and good 5 6
-----------
Total 47 ft. 6 ins.
The Kirke mines are sixteen miles from Salal Prairie, and two miles from
the Northern Pacific Railroad at the Common Point. The route has been
surveyed by the Northern Pacific Railroad.
Adjoining the Kirke, or Moss Bay Company property, is a section of coal
land (No. 34) on Sugar Loaf Mountain, owned by parties in Seattle, who
offer it at $50,000. There are a number of seams on the property, but I
could examine only one which had been opened near the foot of the
mountain. It is a good seam of bituminous coal, of the same character
with the Kirke coal. I took the following details:
Sandstone Roof. FT. INS.
Coal 1 6
Soft Shale 0 1/4
Coal 0 2
Soft Clay 0 1/4
Coal 0 1
Soft Material, mining. 1 2
Coal 0 6-1/2
Slate 0 1/4
Coal 1 0
Bone 0 1/2
Coal 0 10
Bone 0 1/2
Coal 0 5
Bone 0 1/2
Coal 0 7
Bone 0 1
Coal 0 4-1/2
Bone 0 2-1/2
Coal 1 4
Hard Slate Floor. ----------
Total 8 ft. 5-3/4 ins.
_c. The Cedar River Group._--This group consists of the Cedar River
mines, nineteen miles from Seattle by rail, the Renton and Talbot mines,
ten miles, and the Newcastle, eighteen miles. These coals are in the
same river basin, and are all high grade lignites.
[Sidenote: Cedar River mines.]
The first shipment made from the Cedar River mines was in July, 1884.
There are two good seams here, one of which measures eleven feet. The
outcrop curves from a south to a southwest strike. The dip is 20° toward
the east.
[Sidenote: Talbot and Renton mines.]
The Talbot and Renton mines, ten miles from Seattle, are on the same
seam, but, owing to faults and other causes, they have not been worked
of late. The seam is seven to nine feet of good coal, resembling the
Newcastle, but has a bad roof, and soon reaches water. The dip is to the
southeast at the grade of 10° to 25°. The outcrop curves as at Cedar
Mountain. This always bodes trouble.
[Sidenote: Newcastle Mine.]
The principal mine in this basin is the Newcastle, from which more coal
by far has been mined than from any other. Its present annual output is
equaled only by the Carbonado mines, which are pressed to their full
capacity by the Central Pacific Railroad. The Newcastle coal is a high
grade lignite, of firm texture, shining black color, and angular
fracture. It is not a coking coal, but has a wide and established
reputation for grate, stove, and boiler uses. It is the typical
"Seattle" coal, and is sold chiefly in Oregon and California. (To-day,
owing to scarcity, it would bring $25 per ton in Los Angeles). It has
not the heating power of bituminous coal, but it is greatly superior to
many of the lignitic coals. Many difficulties have been met with in the
mining at Newcastle, the most of which seem to have been owing to the
necessity for mining on the down grade, or fall of the coal; and the
mines being now 1,000 feet deep.
I was twice at these mines, but, owing to the just previous destruction
of the hoisting machinery, I could not make an examination.
An additional difficulty was that the mine had taken fire.
[Sidenote: Cost of mining.]
The cost of mining at Newcastle has ranged from 85 cents to $1.50 per
ton, averaging about $1.10.
[Sidenote: Large production.]
According to Governor Squire, in 1884, the beds mined at Newcastle were,
beginning at the lowest, 14 feet, 10 feet, and 5 feet in thickness. The
dip is 30° to 40° northward, and the trend north 80° west. Governor
Semple gives the following as the output of the Newcastle mines from
June 30, 1878, to June 30, 1887:
1879 127,381
1880 128,853
1881 149,602
1882 158,340
1883 218,742
1884 149,948
1885 149,050
1886 85,561
1887 140,701
---------
Total 1,308,178
Average per year 145,353
"The great falling off in the output for 1886 is attributable mainly to
the labor troubles of that year, the mine being closed for several
months; also the abandonment of the workings from the No. 4 vein."
The slope has now been sunk to a depth of 950 feet, and the mine is
being operated entirely from this level. When this lift is finished, it
is thought that several others of equal depth can be sunk as the basin
is likely to be very deep.
[Sidenote: Misrepresentation.]
After writing the foregoing, I received a volume issued annually by the
United States Geological Survey on the Mineral Resources of the United
States for 1886; and on page 364 I read with surprise the following
statements in regard to the Newcastle mines of Washington Territory:
"Considerable iron pyrites is present in this coal, which fact, added to
the chaff-like character of the coal for igniting, causes much annoyance
and cost to the mine from fires. Coal, or the mine refuse, piled in
large quantities quickly ignites."
I knew when I was in the Territory that the mine was on fire, as I have
heretofore stated; but I heard no intimation of spontaneous combustion.
In fact, I was told that it was accidental.
I wrote at once to Mr. David T. Day, of the Government Survey, who is
the present editor of this valuable work, asking his authority for such
statements concerning this mine as had never, so far as I knew, been
made before; though the mines have been described, or mentioned, in all
the preceding volumes of the same work, and were mentioned with approval
by Bailey Willis, Goodyear, and all other writers on the resources of
Washington Territory. Moreover, that I had spent weeks in the
neighborhood of the mines, and never heard anything of iron pyrites or
spontaneous combustion.
Mr. Day replied that he had no personal knowledge on the subject; but
that those statements had been furnished him by Mr. James F. Jones, who
is connected with some mining operations along the Northern Pacific
Railway.
I wrote also to Mr. F. H. Whitworth, of Seattle, calling his attention
to the above statements, and asking what was the truth of the matter. I
received his reply just in time to insert in this Report. I copy below
all that he says on the subject, which puts a different face on the
matter.
[Sidenote: Correction by Mr. Whitworth.]
"No, I do not think there is any of any consequence of iron pyrite
in the Newcastle mines. Nor do I consider that the fires in the
mine originated in the decomposition of the pyrites. The fire in
the mine originally started in the 'gob,' close to the furnace used
for ventilation, and where the ashes of the furnace were thrown.
Therefore, I have always believed that the fire was not spontaneous
in its origin. The fire originated in the upper water level 'lift.'
But it was led down into the second and third 'lifts' by carelessly
breaking through the chain pillar, and thus letting the fire down.
Several years before the fire started in the mine, and about
three-quarters of a mile, or a mile, west of the point where it
started, by careless mining and drawing of pillars, there was a
'squeeze,' and the mine heated; the result, I think, of the crush;
but the mine did not fire. While you were out here the mines were in
danger of firing, and when the cause was not the proximity of the
present fire--but that, too, I think, was brought on by reckless
mining. Running their 'breasts' 75 feet wide and more, and leaving
only skeleton pillars, a 'squeeze,' of course, resulted, and the
crushing produced the heat, and it did finally fire. The crushing
being so great that the top work came down to within five or six
inches of the bottom, you see easily producing crushing sufficient
to cause fire.
"But the coal does fire outside spontaneously, or rather the slack
does, when it is piled in considerable quantities, and after a year
or more of exposure. The combustion in the slack piles usually
commences in the firing of the shaley cap rock, which is thrown in
with the slack as the rock disintegrates, or as that process goes on
with the 'nigger-heads' thrown into the slack pile. And yet I feel
satisfied that the slack piles fire when there appears to be almost
none of the rock or 'nigger-head' in it. Two conditions, I think,
are required: first, that the slack particles be small, and second,
that large quantities of water be present. And I have supposed the
heat and firing was caused by changing of the conditions; small
particles of slack by disintegration to much smaller particles.
"And yet it may be possible that there may be sulphur in the form of
pyrite present in sufficient quantity to do its work. Very
semi-occasionally, very seldom, I have seen in the sulphur streaks
some slight indications of pyrite; but generally the sulphur
streaks, or balls, seem to be composed almost entirely of sand, with
very little sulphur, and some coaly matter.
"The coal never has fired on shipboard.
"I remember that, several years, ago Mr. Howard, of the O. I. Co.,
had collected and stored in his yard in San Francisco, Cal., in one
pile, several thousand tons of Newcastle coal, and was carrying it
for some time in stock, and that he complained that his coal was
heating, and feared fire. Since then they [have not] stowed in such
large piles, nor carried stock so long.
"No, sir; the sulphur that we rooted [out] at Gilman was not in form
of pyrite, nor have I seen any so far. I do not fear spontaneous
combustion, because in the Newcastle, when it has occurred, it has
resulted from carelessness."
This statement from Mr. Whitworth is certainly satisfactory on the main
point, namely, that there is nothing in this suggestion which need
diminish the reputation of the Newcastle coal as a stocking and shipping
coal.
In 1884, Mr. Jones (the same man) made a special report to Governor
Squire on the coals of Washington Territory, in which he describes the
Newcastle coal, speaking of it most highly, and saying nothing of
spontaneous combustion. He uses the following language concerning the
Newcastle coal: "The coal is taken from three beds, and is commercially
known as the 'Seattle lignite,' having a bright lustre and good
fracture. It is a good and choice fuel for steam generating and for
domestic use. The condition of the coal adds much to its value."
[Sidenote: Gilman Mines.]
_d. The Squak Creek, Raging River, and Snoqualmie Group._--These are not
all in the same hydrographic basin, but they are considered together
because they are the coals which will be reached by the Seattle, Lake
Shore and Eastern Railroad. A great outcrop of coal seams occurs in the
valley of Squak Creek in the mountain spur which lies between Squak and
the Newcastle mines. These seams are now being opened by the Seattle
Coal and Iron Company, and are known as "The Gilman Mines."
[Sidenote: Structure of Squak Mountain.]
The geological structure of the Squak Mountain and its coal seams is
peculiar. With all their local irregularities, the general trend of the
coal-bearing rocks in Washington Territory is north and south; so
determined by the line of the Cascade Mountains, which is the main axis
of elevation, with numerous subordinate and parallel axes. But on Squak
Mountain we find the whole group of rocks and coal seams whirled at
right angles to the general line. In other words, their general
direction is east and west, instead of north and south, and the rocks
lie in regular order against their central axis, dipping northward at a
high angle, and showing no fault, so far as I know, except, possibly, a
vertical fracture somewhere in the mountain, as suggested by a change of
38° in the strike at a point about one mile west of the outcrop on
Squak. If the fracture exists, it does not follow that there is any
serious dislocation. These coal seams are thus carried almost squarely
across the spur from Squak Creek to Coal Creek, or from the Gilman Mines
to the Newcastle Mines.
The simple explanation is, that, in the upheaval of the country, the
Squak Mountain was made by a cross axis of elevation which runs east and
west, or at right angles with the Cascade Mountains. Its metamorphic
core shows itself along the crest of the mountain.
[Sidenote: Peculiar advantages for mining possessed by the Gilman
Mines.]
The part of the mountain which holds the coal seams is a high spur which
puts off at right angles northward from the crest or backbone, and
continues to Lake Washington, a distance of five miles. At the point
where the spur leaves the backbone, it may be 1,000 or 1,200 feet high,
and it declines gradually to the lake, and then makes a bluff
shore-line. On the east side of the spur on Squak Creek it is steep,
whilst on the west side, next Newcastle, it drops off more gradually.
This difference of grade occasions a great difference in the economy of
mining on the two sides. On the east, or Squak Creek side, the ends of
the seams are boldly presented, showing in diagonal parallel lines
extending from the top of the spur to the creek level, an average
exposure of, say, 900 feet in elevation. Here the entries are being
driven in horizontally near the water level, and the future progress of
the mining will be inward and upward instead of downward and sidewise,
as at Newcastle. The entries will all be on the horizontal line crossing
the seams. The extreme distance, 1,300 feet. The length of the seams on
the company's land is about two miles. Depth below water level,
indefinite.
No shipments have yet been made from Squak Creek, Raging River, or
Snoqualmie Mountain, but active developing work has been in progress
since September last at the Gilman Mines (forty miles from Seattle), and
shipping will begin shortly. A switch of only 600 yards in length is
required from the main line of railway to reach the outcrop of the coal,
and there is every natural advantage for mining.
[Sidenote: Seattle Coal and Iron Company.]
[Sidenote: Seven seams.]
[Sidenote: Details.]
The Seattle Coal and Iron Company own this property, which consists of
1,300 acres underlaid by seven coal seams, five of which will be mined
ultimately, three in the beginning. I was able to examine three seams
which will be mined at first, and give the following details.
Top Seam, No. 4, descending:
Roof, rich Bituminous Black Slate,
containing streaks of-- FT. INS.
Coal 2 3
Bone 0 1-1/2
Coal 0 7
Slate, variable 0 0-1/2
Coal 0 11
Clay 0 0-1/2
Coal 2 0
Clay, variable 0 1-3/4
Coal 1 1
Clay, mining 0 3
Coal 1 1
----------
Total, good 6 ft. 3-1/4 ins.
[Sidenote: Good coal.]
This is a good seam of coal, five feet six inches of which can be
depended on for shipping. The coal is dull-black in color, and easily
mined. The bottom is soft sandstone. Overlying the roof-slate, is
sandstone. The seam here is said to be one foot thicker than it is at
Newcastle.
[Sidenote: Another good coal seam.]
Seam No. 2 has been uncovered by the diggings on the railroad, and
happens to be at an
[Illustration: COAL-BUNKERS OF THE SEATTLE, LAKE SHORE AND EASTERN
RAILWAY, ON SEATTLE HARBOR.]
unfortunate place for showing the coal. A stump, partly silicified, with
part of its bark lignified, had been taken out of the coal bed, and on
each side of it was a tapering band of "Nigger-head," tapering from
eight inches at the stump to nothing at the distance of five feet six
inches from the stump. Selecting an average place, I got the following
section, descending:
Good roof of Argilaceous Sandstone. FT. INS.
Bone 0 1
Coal 0 6
Nigger-head, local 0 5
Coal 1 10
Coal, sulphurous 0 3
Coal 1 3
Bone 0 0-1/2
Coal 2 0
Black slate floor. ----------
Total 6 ft. 4-1/2 ins.
Judging from this outcrop, which I suspect does not do full justice to
the bed, at least six feet of merchantable lignitic coal may be depended
on from this seam.
[Sidenote: And another.]
Andrew's bed could only be seen at a point 200 feet above the railroad.
It is nearest to the metamorphic axis of the mountain, and hence is the
bottom seam in the group. It is said to be wanting at Newcastle. The
coal is in two benches, descending:
UPPER BENCH.
Slate roof: FT. INS.
Coal 0 5
Bone 0 0-1/16
Coal 0 4
Bone 0 3
Coal 1 8
Pyrite 0 1-1/2
Coal 1 2
Slate 0 5
Coal 4 4
----------
Total 8 ft. 8-9/16 ins.
LOWER BENCH.
FT. INS.
Fire-clay 0 6
Coal 1 4
Clay 0 1
Coal 0 4
Clay 0 0-1/2
Coal 1 1
Bone 0 1
Coal 1 9
----------
Total 4 ft. 8-1/2 ins.
The lower bench would probably be neglected for the present, but the
upper bench is worthy of immediate development. The coal is of good
quality. Perhaps on analysis it would be classed with bituminous coals,
although the woody structure is discernible in places. It burns freely.
The outcrop of this bed is visible lower down the creek in a crushed
condition.
[Sidenote: Large body of valuable coal.]
My visit was rather premature for a proper study of the group; but there
can be no doubt that there is here a large body of valuable coal. The
quantity is estimated by the mining engineer, Mr. Whitworth, at
10,500,000 tons. I saw no other coal beds in the territory so favorably
situated for mining and loading. Of course, coal standing at an angle of
forty degrees cannot be mined so cheaply as if it were horizontal; but
all the mines in Washington Territory must contend with this
disadvantage, and in all cases coming under my observation, except this
one, the mining had to be done on the down grade, which involved much
hoisting, pumping, bad air, etc., which can be avoided at the Gilman
Mines.
An incidental advantage, also, is that the Squak Valley furnishes any
amount of timber for building, propping, railroad ties, etc., and when
more generally cultivated, a superabundance of agricultural products.
The experience of Newcastle, and the rapid growth of the market,
indicate that these mines may be enlarged in their operations, almost
without limit.
[Sidenote: Washington Mines.]
Washington Mines, on one of the upper branches of Squak Creek, show the
outcroppings of three seams of lignite coal, dipping S. of W. I did not
visit this place, but was informed that a company, known as the
Washington Coal Company, was engaged in cutting these seams; but I am
not informed as to what are their prospects.
[Sidenote: Raging River coals.]
The Raging River Coals. Six miles east of Gilman Mines, where the
railroad enters the Raging River Valley, is found another group of coal
seams, older than the Squak coals, and perhaps corresponding in age with
the Franklin and Black Diamond coals, though apparently more bituminous
than they. Raging River is about twelve miles long, and the railroad
first approaches it about midway its length. There are indications of
local metamorphism, if not intrusion, visible in the rocks between Squak
Creek and Raging River, and this is further indicated by an outcrop of
anthracite at the north end of the coal seams, within a mile of the
road. Mr. Whitworth represents this anthracite seam as five feet thick,
but crushed and fragile. Its structure is laminated, and it breaks into
small cubes. He spoke, also, of another seam of anthracite high up on
Raging River, three feet thick, with three inches slate six inches from
the top. He mined in on this for thirty feet without observing any
change. The outcrop of this group of coal seams extends from near the
line of the railroad, up the west side of the valley, parallel with the
river, and about a mile from it, and lying in high hills. This coal
property is also owned by the Seattle Coal and Iron Company. The
principal mining camp is near the head of the valley, ten miles above
Falls City, six miles above the line of railway. Here I saw the coal
seams, which had been uncovered without having been cut into
sufficiently to determine fully their character. One seam is open in a
ravine, half way up the mountain, but most of them near the top, at an
elevation of about 800 feet above the river. There are at least six
seams, and if the one on the mountain side be a different seam, there
are seven. The coal generally is of good quality: bituminous, with
cubical fracture; but its value is greatly diminished by numerous slate
partings, and some of the seams are too thin for profitable mining. The
dip is to the southwest at high angles: about eighty degrees on the
mountain side--less in the top seams.
[Sidenote: Details.]
The seam on the mountain side showed a total thickness of seven feet
with sandstone over and under; but of this there was only about 2 feet 8
inches of good coal in a body, and the rest coal and slate interleaved.
Near the top of the mountain there are six seams open near a rivulet,
and quite near together. Reaching the top of the mountain, I found the
upper opening (geologically the under opening), No. 1, to contain about
two feet of good black coal, with one slate parting of an inch thick.
No. 2. This seam shows a total thickness of eight feet, but it contains
so many slate partings that I could not estimate the bed highly.
No. 3. Here I saw fifteen inches of coal, with slate partings.
No. 4. An irregular bed, four to seven feet in thickness, crushed, and
probably dislocated, and so slaty as to be of doubtful value.
No. 5. Another crushed and irregular exposure, four to six feet thick.
The coal looks better, and promises to be a good seam when found in its
natural state.
No. 6. A two-foot seam resembling No. 1.
Mr. Whitworth furnished me the following details of an opening near the
camp on Raging River, which was not in a condition to be seen during my
visit, but which has since been gone in upon for about fifteen feet.
From bed-rock, ascending:
FT. INS.
Clay 0 2
Coal, crushed 0 5
Black bone 0 1
Coal, crushed 0 11
Black bone 0 1
Coal, hard 0 6
Sand rock 0 3
Coal, good 0 10
Bone 0 2
Coal, good 0 6
Bone 0 1-1/2
Coal, good 0 6
Bone 0 1
Coal, crushed 0 36
Clay and rock (diminishing) 4 6
Coal, crushed 3 0
Strike, north, 76-1/2° east.
Dip 22° to south.
Mr. Whitworth says that the coal improved as he went in, and he is quite
hopeful about this seam. But his record reads to me like the description
of a slide; still it may not be so.
The show upon the whole, as seen by me, was not satisfactory--and yet
the beds might possibly improve inward; and if the coal should coke
well, it might pay to wash it; as could easily be done at Raging River.
[Sidenote: Snoqualmie Mountain Coal Group.]
The Snoqualmie Coal Group outcrops some hundreds of feet up the west
side of Snoqualmie Mountain, and about three miles southwest of Hop
Ranch. The outcrop has been traced perhaps one mile. There are five
seams here running north and south with the strike of the mountain
rocks. The seams dip west at an angle of 45°, _i.e._, away from the axis
of the mountain.
[Sidenote: Details.]
[Sidenote: Good coking coal.]
Seam No. 3 is the third seam from the bottom. A side entry had been
driven in on the coal for 60 feet, but water now barred the entrance and
prevented a thorough scrutiny of the seam. Its thickness was about 3
feet 6 inches, of which there was a band of lignitic coal of
three-quarters of an inch near the top, and five inches of the same near
the bottom. The weathered outcrop of this, as of the coal-beds of
Washington Territory generally, had a brownish hue, but the fresh
surfaces showed a good black bituminous coal. It lies firm and regular
in its bed. When dug and handled, it goes to small pieces, and may
generally be crushed to powder in the hand; which, of itself, is no bad
sign of a good coking coal.
Seam No. 4, the second seam from the bottom, descending:
FT. INS.
Roof, Slate 2 0
Bone 2 0
Coal 0 6
Fine-grained Sandstone, average 2 2
Natural Coke 0 6
Bituminous Shale 0 6
Coal 4 2
Bottom, Sandstone.
The coal of this seam is soft, black and lustrous. An entry was driven
in 50 feet, which required much propping, the roof being bad. At the end
of this distance we came squarely against a wall of sandstone, showing a
fault. At this point six inches of the top coal is thrown up vertically,
which showed that the seam thus far had dropped, and that the
continuation was to be looked for at a higher level. Mining upward
through the soft material, the coal had been again struck at an
elevation of 16 feet, but not the full thickness of the seam, and not in
its true position; but after following it upward 4 feet more the seam
was found in its natural state.
There seems to be no slate in this seam, but occasionally there is found
in it a ball of "nigger-head," or hard sulphurous matter, from the size
of a man's head down.
[Sidenote: Also good coking coal.]
An experiment of coking this coal in a small pit at the mouth of this
bank was made by Mr. Kirke and his coal-bank manager, with as
satisfactory results as could be expected from so imperfect a trial. I
found pieces of the coke lying near, and saw better samples which have
been brought from here. While, of course, the coke thus made is not the
best quality, it certainly promises well.
[Sidenote: Large and valuable bed.]
Seam No. 2, descending:
Roof, fine-grained Sandstone, under
which is seven inches Black Slate. FT. INS.
Coal 0 6
Slate 2 0
Coal 0 7
Slate 0 4
Coal 0 5
Slate 0 5
Argillaceous and Ferruginous Rock 1 7
Coal 0 1-1/2
Bone 0 5
Coal (main bench) of good quality 7 0
Nigger-head 0 2
Coal 1 0
Slate 0 1-1/2
Coal, good 0 6
Slate and Clay 0 7
Lignite (brown coal) 2 1
Bituminous Slate 1 8
Coal 0 1/2
Nigger-head 0 4-1/2
Clay and Bony Slate 0 7
Coal 0 1
Nigger-head 0 1-1/2
Coal 0 1/16
Bituminous Slate 1 2
Coal 0 1
Slate 0 7
Coal 0 7
Slate and Sandstone bottom. ---------------
Total 23 ft. 1-9/16 in.
[Sidenote: Another good bed.]
Seam No. 1 is only partially exposed, the workings having caved in; but
enough of the seam was visible to show that it was a bright, soft,
friable, bituminous coal, of good quality, containing some slate and
nigger-head. Its fracture would be called _dicey_ by some geologists,
because it breaks readily into small cubes, even smaller than dice. The
seam is probably about five feet in thickness.
[Sidenote: Geological relations.]
This group probably corresponds geologically with the Kirke Mines, on
Green River; but, judging by the eye, it is a more bituminous coal and
better suited to coking. The large bed here may correspond with one of
the large beds at the Kirke Mines.
I fear that faults are numerous in the coal rocks of this group, which,
of course, would add to the expense of mining. But if, as expected, it
furnishes a good smelting coke, the field will be extremely valuable
from its contiguity to the magnetic ores of the Cascade Mountains and
the scarcity of coking coals.
This property was for sale when I visited it, and would have been sold
but for a claim of ownership set up by the Northern Pacific Railroad,
which, however, in the opinion of good lawyers, had no foundation.
[Sidenote: This the bottom group.]
This is the bottom group of the Washington Territory coal field. It will
be seen that, taking the Gilman group, the Raging River group, and the
Snoqualmie group on one line, and the Cedar River, Carbon River, and
Green River group on another line, it may be fairly claimed that there
are at least fifteen working seams of three feet and upward in the
Washington Territory coal field.
_e. The Yakima and Wenatchie Group._ This field lies on the east flank
of the Cascade Mountains, on the waters of the Yakima and its
tributaries, Cle-ellum and Teanaway. It is believed to extend also into
the Wenatchie Valley, although the area here is probably disconnected
from the Yakima area. I purposely refrained from visiting this region,
and for my statements I am indebted chiefly to Bailey Willis, F. H.
Whitworth, Charles Burch, and Mr. Jamieson of the Kirke Mines.
[Sidenote: Yakima or Roslyn coal field.]
The Yakima area lies north of the Yakima River, near to the Northern
Pacific Railroad, and to the projected line of the Seattle, Lake Shore
and Eastern Railway, and extends about sixty miles east and west, and
six miles north and south. Its dip is gentle, say twelve to twenty
degrees. It holds three coal seams of 2 feet 6 inches, and 5 feet and 5
feet respectively. There is not much evidence of fracture in any part of
the field. The total thickness of the coal-bearing rocks is estimated by
Bailey Willis to be 1,000 feet. This is evidently the lower part of the
coal series, the upper part having been carried away. The best seam is
mined at Roslyn, four miles north of the Northern Pacific Railroad, in
the interest of that railroad.
The seam here furnishes upward of four feet of good coal. The coal is
bituminous, dull black, firm, and free burning. Mr. Jamieson thinks it
will not make good coke. Others, however, think that it will, and these
are supported partially by the laboratory test in Washington City, D. C.
(See Table of Coal Analyses, page 107.) It is called in the table Roslyn
coal.
This coal is used chiefly in the locomotives; but the popular demand for
it is very great in the plateau country of East Washington.
[Sidenote: Coal on the Wenatchie.]
I have no knowledge of the coal on Wenatchie River except what I
obtained from Mr. Burch, who says that there are two seams of coal
exposed in that valley, one of eight feet and one of three feet. The
coal-bearing rocks extend for thirty-five miles up the river, and have a
width of ten miles.
[Sidenote: Coal under the Great Bend country.]
The coal is reported by Mr. Burch to appear east of the Columbia River,
opposite to the fields just described, and to disappear under the
basalt. If so, here is a resource for the future. Concerning the
importance of this coal field to the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern
Railway, I will speak in another connection.
[Sidenote: The first mining on Bellingham Bay.]
_f. Bellingham Bay, Skagit River, and other Coal Fields._ The first
shipping of coal from Washington Territory was done from the Seahome
Mines, on Bellingham Bay, Puget Sound, about twenty-five miles south of
the Canada line. The mines were very badly managed; they took fire on
several occasions. The coal was of the lignitic grade, but not of the
best quality, and when other mines of better coal were opened the
Bellingham Bay mines were closed. It is reported that coking coal has
been found some distance back from the bay.
[Sidenote: Coal on Skagit River.]
Coal has also been found on Skagit River, which, I suspect, from a
sample which I saw and from what I heard (some of it), is good, and
possibly might coke well. One of the coal properties is held by A. Ford
and others. The following description is furnished by Mr. Norman B.
Kelly.
It is found about three miles north of the Skagit River, and about five
miles from Sedro. The country is hilly. There are at least six or eight
coal seams, perhaps more. Those examined run from eighteen inches to
thirty inches, and are thought to be clean coal. The seams lie between
sandrocks. The outcrops begin near the level of the valley, and continue
in a series to an altitude of 550 feet above the valley. The highest
outcrops are those of the lowest seams geologically. The strike is north
sixty degrees west. At the foot of the hill, the seams dip forty-five
degrees to the southwest, but the angle becomes steeper on the mountain
side, until finally they are vertical. All the outcrops are within 1,500
feet horizontal distance. Blacksmiths use the coal and pronounce it
equal to Cumberland. It cokes readily in the open fire; burns with a
bright, hot, but small flame, and seems to leave but little ash.
Of course, the thinness of these seams is an objection. There is coal,
also, upon the south side of the river; but there has been but little
development in this field. An analysis of this coal is given in the
table preceding, but I cannot say from what seam the sample was derived.
The following analysis of coal of the Crystal Mine, near Sterling, is
said to have been made by Mr. Wm. G. Tenne, assayer, of Portland,
Oregon:
Coke 71.31
Combustible gases 23.17
Ash 5.31
Moisture .21
A very fine showing.
[Sidenote: Coal south of Puget Sound.]
It has long been known that there are
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