USA > Washington > King County > History and progress of King County, Washington > Part 4
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Dairying is one of the principal resources about which many of the leading towns of King County have been built. In the fertile White River Valley, Kent and Auburn are each the location of a large condenser, while O'Brien, Thomas, Christopher and Orillia, near-by places, are the serne of much trade in dairy products. Enum- claw and Issaquah, two towns whose Jumbering and coal mining brought them to the front, support good-sized creameries and are the centers of well developed sections where logged-off lands have been cultivated. North Bend. Fall City, Bothell, Redmond, Renton, Kirkland, Maple Valley and Tukwila are all growing towns where oppor- tunities are excellent for the new dairy farmer.
King County is naturally a dairying county. Its broad, rich aeres afford splendid opportunities for pas- turage: the available markets offer profits to those en- gaged in the industry and the close interest that is taken by Seattle and the milk consuming creameries and con- densed milk plants ensure scientifie handling of the supply.
Seattle took the first steps to insist upon a pure milk supply and a rigid enforcement of Sanitary Laws has com- pelled the dairy interests to take every precaution to keep the supply free from impurities.
The condensed milk Factories at Auburn and Kent, the latter controled by the manufacturers of the Gail Borden brand and the former by the Pacific Coast Condensed
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HISTORY AND PROGRESS of
Municipal regulation provides authority to a deputy in the Board of Health to examine the milk of each dairy Milk Co., take most of the milk produced in the county. at any time he deems advisable. Board of Health re- quirements when fulfilled guarantee absolute purity and the board enforces its mandates to the letter.
Up to 1885, although Seattle was not a large city. the milk demand was greater than the supply, because the farmers had not turned their attention to raising and
keeping milch cows. At that time what milk was soll in the city was brought in by local milk dealers. In 1890 the first separator was brought to Seattle by one of our prominent dairy companies. At that time it was the only one in the state. and hundreds of cattle and dairy men rame to the city to see it work. It was not long before many more were introduced, and now they can be found all through the western part of the state. Fully one- half of the butter consumed now in the state is home prodnet, while prior to 1890, 99 per cent was shipped in from California and the East.
King County Excels for Fruit and Berries
King County is the land of the small farmer and fruit grower. It has the advantages of a fertile soil. an excellent climate and good home and foreign markets. The county is well watered and has the best transporta- tion facilities. It matters not what section of King Conn- ty is selected for a home, the truck farmer, fruit grower and specialist in modern agriculture finds an ideal spot for building his family castle and accumulating an inde- pendent bank account. The valley lands are rich in stor- ed plant foods and the uplands present desirable places for every branch of intensified agriculture.
Many rich districts in the borders of King County remain in an undeveloped condition and offer splendid sites for homebuilders. That condition exists because of the fact that other occupations have attracted the atten- tion of the people. In the early days the first settlers built homes on the streams in the valley. They did not consider the uplands worth clearing of stumps and logs left as the relie of the timber gatherers. Only small tracts were put under cultivation for the reason that men en- gaged in fishing, Inumbering and other branches of natural commerce peculiar to a new comitry.
Agriculture has passed through various stages of de- velopment in the different sections of King County. Years ago the pioneers of the White River Valley planted their farms to hops. Then they harvested big crops and dis- posed of the product at fabulous prices. But the hop growing acreage of the country increased, the various pests entered the fields and prices dropped to a standard that did not give returns sufficient to justify a continua- tion of the industry. One by one the hop fields were abandoned and the vines dug ont to give room for new erops of potatoes. Then the White River potato became famous on the markets. Fruit growing gives good results in every section of King County. It is the natural land of the cherry that produces wonderful erops every year. Many choice varieties of marketable apples are grown in the orchards of valley and upland. The climate is so mild and uniform that no fruits are killed by frost or cokt weather. The wood makes a rapid growth and trees come into bearing at an early age. Some of the best varieties of pears are produced in the orchards of King County.
The berry industry is one of the most valuable money producers of King County. Raspberries, blackberries and strawberries grow to perfection on all classes of soil.
Vashon Island is one of the richest spots of the county in which the strawberry attains perfection. Strawberry farmers require only small traets of land but reap large profits on their investments.
King County presents the ideal land for floral suc- ress. It is the evergreen spot of where the flowers bloom ont of doors every week in the year. The greenhouse in- dustry is a profitable business in King County. It may be established in the valley or on logged off lands of the forest. Wherever proper attention is given the work preenhouses pay handsome profits. Vashon island pre- sents an object lesson in building and operating green- houses. A few years ago that fertile spot was a part of the great Puget Sound forest. The logs were cut away and sent to the mills of commerce and the stumps taken from the ground. Then began an era of development. Vashon now has sixty-seven commercial greenhouses and room for many more of the same nature.
Poultry raising reaches its highest point of perfor- tion in King County. It combines with the small fruit in- dustry and enables the farmer to get profits from both sources at the same time.
Many special branches of horticulture have been test- ed and shown to be profitable in King County. Owners of small tracts have discovered that there is good profit in growing horseradish for the general market.
That root attains perfection in the valley lands of this county. It is in demand at the pickle factories and on the publie market of Seattle. It requires but little at- tention other than good enltivation, but yields sufficient to pay the gardeners $400 to $600 an arre.
King County offers ideal sites for seed farms of the highest type. The soil and climate conditions are such as to insure the best cabbage and cauliflower seeds. That faet has been discovered by eastern dealers who purchase 100,000 pounds of cabbage seed annually from growers in the Puget Sound country. Garden peas and sweet peas grow in abundance and of choice varieties, in the fields of King County. The world is open as a market for these erops. There are large and small tracts of land that can be purchased, on reasonable terms, in the most fertile spots in King County. In fact the county calls loudly for men and women who will go upon the land and reap the bounties.
THE FRANKLIN BRIDGE CROSSING THE GREEN RIVER-HIGHEST BRIDGE IN KING COUNTY AS WELL AS THE MOST SCENIC. BUILT BY CHARLES G. HUBER
King County
T HIS is the leading county of the state in point of population, commerce and finance. It has a strategie advantage of location, being central in Western Washington, with over a 40-mile main- land frontage on Puget Sound. Its total area is 2.111 square miles with a widely varied contour.
King County is 58 miles in length, east and west and 42 miles in width, covering an area of 2,145 square miles. The eastern and the western boundaries are irregular, the one following the summit of the Cascade Mountains, the other the shore line of Puget Sound. From the eastern line, the county is very mountainous until a point about 20 miles from the divide is reached, whence the foothills disappear and low fertile hills and wide valleys appear,
and the rushing torrents of melted ice and snow broaden out into quiet rivers. From this point to the shores of the Sound, the land is as fertile as any to be found in the world, and many thousands of aeres are under cultivation.
Topography: Beginning at sea level on the west, many fertile valleys, the largest of which trend north and south, alternate with wide plateaus of varying altitude until they are finally enveloped in the foothills of the Cas- cade mountains, whose tree-elad ridges, with a maximum elevation of 7,000 feet, form a zig-zag terminal line at the eastern boundary of the county and separate it from Kittitas and Chelan counties. The most important valley is the continuons one formed by the White and Duwamish Rivers and used as the main portion of the thoroughfare
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HISTORY AND PROGRESS of
between Seattle and Tacoma. Tributary to this, but trending generally east and west, are the valleys of the Black, Cedar and Green Rivers. Another considerable area is formed by the Snoqualmie and its tributaries be- hind the second chain of hills trending toward the north. There are also a number of lakes with wide areas of tribu- tary agrienltnral land. The most important is Lake Washington, from one to three miles wide and nineteen miles long, parallel to and a few miles back from the Sound. the country to the west forming the site of the City of Seattle. This lake is now connected with the Sound by a government canal which utilizes Lake Union, in the heart of the city, as a part of its conrse. Lying behind it is Lake Sammamish, about eight miles long, and con- neeted with the lower lake by a series of sluggish sloughs.
Population: The census of 1910 gives the county 284,638; that of 1900, 110,053 ; showing an increase for the decade of 158.6 per cent. The United States Census Bu- rean estimate July 1, 1915, was 376,717. Local conserva- tive estimators now elaim nearly 500,000. Ontfitting for Alaska, wintering here of large fishing and mining con- cerus of the North, together with much tourist travel, have contributed also to a large floating population.
Land: The whole region was once dense forest and
much of it is still covered with valuable timber, while another large portion is in the logged-off state. The most important timbered portion is the mountainous region in the eastern part included in the Rainier and Snoqualmie forest reserves.
There is no so-called prairie land in the county, but thousands of aeres lie as level as conld be desired, es- preially in the valleys already noted, and on a few elevat- ed mountain plateans there are many fertile slopes suit- able for fruit, pasture and stock raising.
Fifty per cent of the county would be suitable For agriculture and much of the remainder splendid for graz- ing.
The approximate land area of the county is 1,351,040 acres. Forest reserves take 463,120 acres, state lands in- elude 64,523 acres, while 75,752 are nnappropriated and unreserved federal lands. The last census shows 3,287 farms, containing 148.417 acres, or 11 per cent of the county. Only 54,923 aeres, or 37 per cent of this were im- proved. According to estimates by the county assessor, there are at present 67,000 acres improved valley lands and 225.000 aeres unimproved valley lands besides 161,- 280 acres of mountainous and unsurveyed lands.
Organization of King County
On December 15, 1852 Col. I. N. Ebey gave notice that he would soon introduce bills for the creation of four counties out of what was then Thurston County. This he did and there could not have been any opposition for on the 21st, King County had been set off, and on the 22nd Pierce, Jefferson and Island followed. Col. Ebey had the honor of naming one of the best counties on Puget Sound. The laws effeeting this readjustment of the map were approved by Gov. John P. Haines.
So on December 21st, 1852, King County was ent off from the Northern part of Thurston County with the fol- lowing boundaries: commeneing at the northeast corner of Pierce County thence north along the summit of the Cascade Mountains to a parallel of latitude passing through the middle of Pilot Cove: thence from the point last aforesaid west along said parallel of latitude to the Pacific Ocean; thence south along the Coast to a point dne west of the head of Case's Inlet: thenee from the point last aforesaid east to the head of Case's Inlet : thence east along the northern boundary line of Pierce County
to the place of beginning. An election precinct was es- tablished temporarily at the home of D. L. Maynard.
January 6. 1853, the county seat was also located on the land elaim of Maynard, and Arthur A. Deny, John N. Lowe, and Luther M. Collins were appointed a board of commissioners and C. D. Boren, sheriff, and Il. L. Yesler probate clerk. It was named in honor of William R. King of Aalabama.
William R. King was born in Sampson County, North Carolina, April 6, 1786: was the son of William King and descended from revolutionary ancestors. He was selected president pro tem. of the Senate May 6, 1850, and on the leath of President Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore becoming president, he became the acting vice-president and served to December 20, 1852. He was elected vice- president that year on the ticket with Franklin Pierce but did not live to enter the duties of that office. He went to Cuba for the benefit of his health but receiving none he returned to Capaba, Dallas County, Aalabama, where he died April 18, 1853.
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KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON
M. L. HAMILTON County Commissioner for Sonth District
Marcus DeLafayette Hamilton, the present chairman of the Board of County Commissioners, was born in Blackstone, Livingston County, Illinois, in 1862, and came to Seattle in 1886, engaging in railway construction work.
At the time of discovery of gold in Alaska, he was one of the first to cast his lot with the pioneers of that country and spent several years at Dawson and vicinity. Returning to Seattle, he engaged in business, organizing une Georgetown Water Company, and has been identified with the improve- ment and upbuilding of the city and King County from that day to this. He was never a candidate for public office until the fall of 1910, when he was elected county commissioner for the short term for the Second district, comprising the southern portion of the City of Seattle and the County of King, including Vashon Island. His experience in railroad and street construction work stood him in good stead in re- building and maintaining the roads of bis district, and more has been accomplished in that direction during the short per- iod of his incumbency as county commissioner than during the preceding twenty years. Over fifty miles of hard surface roads have been completed and nearly all the dirt roads have been reconstructed, graveled and widened, their total distance being approximately 1,400 miles, His ability along this line was soon recognized by the residents of his district and he was reelected in the fall of 1912 by a largely increased ma- jority for the long term, and when he retires from office next January, the highways of the southern portion of King County will be the wonder and pride of the whole state. He will have supervised the expenditure of over $4,350,000 on public high- ways, streets and bridges in the south district alone during his six-year term os county commissioner.
Aside from Mr. Hamilton's active personal superinten- dence of road construction, he has the following constructive, progressive legislation to his credit as a member of the Board of County Commissioners during the period from January, 1911, to date:
He introduced and voted for a resolution submitting to the people a $3,000,000 bond issue for the purpose of con- structing highways, roads, streets, avenues and bridges, which bonds were duly voted in November, 1912. It was he in con- junction with County Engineer J. R. Morrison and County Commissioner A. L. Rutherford that defined the exact location where this large sum should be expended. He insisted on the abandonment of the old Potter's Field for the burial of pauper dead at Georgetown, and voted for the erection of a modern crematory to take its place. The result is an up-to-date plant on the Poor Farm grounds for the disposition of pauper re- mains, which is also largely used by the general public for a stipulated fee, one-fifth of what is usually charged at private crematories.
In July, 1911, he voted for a resolution submitting to a vote of the people, a bond issue of $1,500,000 for the purpose of constructing a new court house. This was defeated at the polls at the fall election, and a year later he introduced an- other resolution for the same purpose, except that the amount was reduced to $950,000. This bond issue was carried, but its validity was attacked before the bonds could be sold, and in May, 1913, two judges of the King County Superior Court held the issue illegal on technicalities. This decision was gen- erally accepted by the public and by one member of the board as final, but not by Hamilton. He insisted that the case be appealed to the Supreme Court, which was done on his motion, and the decision of the lower court was reversed, the bonds wre sold, and the new court house about to be occupied is the result.
In the negotiations with the Board of County Commis- sioners of Pierce County in the matter of the joint improve- ment of the Stuck and Puyallup Rivers, it was Mr. Hamilton's persistence that enabled the two counties to enter into a joint agreement on a basis of payment by Pierce County of 40 per cent and King County of 60 per cent, rather than a pay- ment by King County of 75 per cent as was demanded by Pierce County, and acquiesced in by certain other members of the King County Board. A saving of over $200,000 was thus effected.
In the purchase of the Duwamish Dock site, funds for which were provided before Mr. Hamilton took office, he
effected a saving of over $45,000 by making his own deal with the owners of the property, rather than accepting the appraisal of three expert real estate appraisrs appointed for the purpose by both parties in interest.
Through his efforts, fifty acres of the Poor Farm at Georgetown has been platted into industrial sites to be leased to new industries desiring locations in Seattle, at nominal rentals. This property has both water and rail facilities and is very desirable as factory sites, and already four different industries have been located and added to the city's pay roll.
He was artive in the construction of the new Juvenile De- tention Home, the finest structure of its kind in the West. Also in rebuilding the Alms House at Georgetown, and the Stockade at Bothell for county prisoners, and in the construc- tion of a new ferry to connect Vashon Island with the main- land.
These are a few of the big things that have come before the board for solution, and gives some idea of Mr. Hamilton's activities and his liberal and progressive scope of vision look- ing to the future growth and expansion of the county.
Mr. Hamilton is a man of tireless energy, boundless ac- tivity, is absolutely fearless, an enthusiast and an optimist, and he has a way of infusing the same spirit in those around him. No pull is strong enough to keep a man on a pay roll controlled by him who does not show some of the same char- acteristics to get results. He never temporizes or side-steps, is quick to make up his mind and reach conclusions, is very outspoken, making bitter enemies and warm friends. He is married and lives in Georgetown, having a summer home at Des Moines.
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HISTORY AND PROGRESS of
M. J. CARRIGAN Comty Commissioner for Central District
*
M. J. Carrigan, county commissioner from the First Dis- triet, King County, hails originally from Chillicothe, Ohio, where before coming to Washington he was one of the editors and owners of the largest and most influential Republican newspapers in Southern Ohio-the Chillicothe Leader.
He has been a resident of Washington for twenty-five years, and has resided in Seattle for the past fourteen years. He is married, having three children, and his home is at 1723 Harvard Avenue. He is a large property owner and taxpayer, and politically a life-long Republican.
Mr. Carrigan's career in this state has been one of great activity, both in private and public life. Directly after com- ing to Washington, he became heavily interested in Clallam County timber lands and in the development of Port Angeles. He was elected mayor of that city in 1896, and was N. S. Col- lector of Customs of that port from 1897 to 1901, when he resigned from that position to move to Seattle.
He has been an active, steadfast and helpful friend of the Good Roads movement from its inception in this state, and has had much to do with shaping the excellent road laws now on our statute books.
He served as county commissioner for King County dur- ing the years 1909-1910, and later became a member of the State Board of Tax Commissioners, State Board of Land Com- missioners, State Board of Equalization and State Capitol Com- mission.
Mr. Carrigan was again elected to the Board of County Commissioners of this county in 1914, for the two-year term. He served as chairman of the board, and as chairman of the Board of Equalization during 1915. He devotes all of his time to the multitudinous duties of the office, and gives to the people of the county the full benefit of his wide experience in administering public affairs.
The past year has been one of notable activity in the office of the county commissioners. An unprecedented amount of road, bridge and river improvement work has been accom- plished, totaling $1,200,000.
The splendid new Court House at the corner of Third and James Street has been brought to a state of practical completion within the bond issue of $1,300,000 voted there- for. A twenty-year lease has been negotiated with the city for the use of a portion of this spacious building at an annual rental of $37,000,
A fine new Juvenile Detention Home has been erected, equipped and put in operation at a cost of $52,000.
Two hundred voting machines of the latest model have been purchased under a plan permitting of their being paid for out of the savings effected by their use, as against the cumbersome, old style paper ballot system.
A new Stockade bas been built at Bothell, to accommo- date seventy-five prisoners, who are working on the county roads.
Important improvements have been made at the County Hospital; a Department of Public Welfare has been established and is being efficiently administered, and $2,200,000 has been distributed in the current business of the county.
SEATTLE'S RECREATION SYSTEM
Seattle is the foremost city west of Chicago in the provi- sion of public recreation places. All parks, playgrounds, boulevards and public squares are under the jurisdiction of the park commission, which during the last ten years has de- veloped a comprehensive plan, involving the expenditure of approximately $6,000,000 of public funds, of which $4,000,000 was anthorized in bonds voted by the people.
The net result of this investment has been to provide Seattle with an ertensive recreation system, embracing ap- proximately 2,000 acres in area and including practically every feature of a modern recreation system, municipal bath- ing beaches, bath houses, public golf course, social centers, equipped and supervised playgrounds and the usual parks and boulevards.
The small park idea has been carried out by the location of community parks in every district of the city with several large parks for general use. There are thirty-eight parks in the city, of which more or less are improved and of service to the community. Seattle has twenty-five playgrounds, not including children's playgrounds in parks. Twenty of these playgrounds are improved and in use, and twelve of them have modern outdoor gymnasium apparatus and equipment and are provided with trained supervisors during the sum-
mer months. Four of these playgrounds are provided with social center buildings of field house, which operate the year around, and are provided with reading rooms, club rooms, public gymnasiums, baths, assembly halls for social functions, etc. Seattle ranks third of the cities of the United States. regardless of size in the provision of playground facilities.
Seattle boulevards are novel in that they are constructed largely through wooded areas, serpentine in fashion, connect- ing many of the parks and practically belting the city. The boulevards follow along the shores of lakes along high ridges, overlooking the lakes and salt waters of Puget Sound with panoramic views of mountains, lakes or beautiful landscape always in view. These scenic driveways, thirty miles in length, are the crowning feature from the tourist's viewpoint of Seattle's remarkable recreation system.
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