USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. II > Part 30
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To follow the similitude which we have already adopted in comparing the recently admitted State of Washington to an heir just come of age, and therefore legally entitled to enter upon the enjoyment of his property, we will presume, as would naturally be the case, that the extent of that estate, its interest-bearing capital, and avenues of income would be the first object to engage the attention of its new ruler. Let us, then, examine and see from what origin and means of revenue, what investments and reasonable expectations the income of Washington is to be ac- quired.
Before the Enabling Act and kindred legislation transformed · the territorial chrysalis into the perfection of its beautiful and independent but by no means butterfly statehood, the material
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
riches of the State of Washington flowed from certain natural advantages, developed and rendered remunerative by the indus- try and skill of her settlers. The minority was a long one, and this ever-increasing fund grew tremendously. Its sources may be divided and considered under four distinct heads, agricultural and mineral, to which add lumbering and fisheries. These, of course, are again susceptible of many minor subdivisions, the enumeration of which we will leave to the carefully prepared tables of the State statisticians, our object being to avoid as far as possible all unnecessary details.
As it is a logical sequence that cause must always precede effect, we will before entering upon the field of material wealth, to whose classification we have just referred, consider the sub- ject of population, its numerical increase, comparative bulk and present showing, for without these factors of progress the Wash- ington of to-day would still be the wilderness of the past. The following table puts its growth from 1853-92 very concisely.
COMPARATIVE POPULATION FROM 1853-92.
1853 Taken by United States Marshal J. Patton Ander- son, Organization, Washington Territory .. 3,965
1860* Eighth United States Census. 11,594
1870 Ninth 66 23,955
1880 Tenth 66
1890 Eleventh 66 75,116
66 349,390
1892
Census by authority of State.
395,837
It will be observed that the increase during the last decade has been simply wonderful, an influx of pilgrims from not only every section of the Union, but from lands beyond the sea, all moved by a common impulse, seeking an easier life, more fertile fields, and surer rewards for labor and capital invested.
And now, as the first and exceedingly important source of remunerative return, we will direct the attention of the reader to Washington's largest and most profitable investment, looking
* In 1860 the Territory of Washington embraced the present State of Washington and all the region west of the Rocky Mountains north of the forty-second parallel of north latitude, excluding therefrom the area of the State of Oregon as then and now bounded. In other words, all of the States of Washington and Idaho, and so much of Montana as lies west of the Rocky Mountains. In all that vast region the popula- tion was only 11,594.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
to its results whether immediate or in the time to come, and the influences, too vast and far-reaching for calculation, it is sure to exercise upon the moral and social status of the community at large through generations yet unborn. No dividend is so com- pounded and entirely satisfactory as that received from Wash- ington's liberal appropriations to the cause of education and so wisely expended for the support of her
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Total school revenue for the year ending November 30th, 1892, was $2,878,548.34 ; of this sum, $735,131.72 was derived from special taxes ; $1,018,953.65 from sales of bonds ; and from other sources, $31,808.05 ; the county apportionment fund being $604,851.99.
Expenses for the year ending November 30th, 1892 : Teach- ers' wages, $882,450.18 ; rents, repairs, fuel and incidentals, $377,488.82 ; school sites, buildings, furniture, libraries, etc., $1,006,353.36 ; interest on bonds, $124,301 ; redemption of bonds, $11,183.89 ; total, $2,402,277.25.
Total present value of all school property as follows : Build- ings and sites, $3,669,441 ; furniture, $315,117.70 ; apparatus, $92,358.75 ; libraries, $11,727.25 ; total, $4,088, 644.70, an increase over 1890 of $2,088,285.50. Amount of insurance on school prop- erty, $1,404,137.
To secure a permanent State fund for schools, there have been expended $55,000 for surveying and plotting lands, and sales have been made of school lands to the value of $2,500,000, of which $450,000 have been paid into the State treasury, the balance running at 6 per cent interest. The cash pay- ments already invested in county bonds at an average of 6 per cent interest amount to $365,000, and the money on hand is being invested as rapidly as possible. The great area of school lands yet unsold, gathering value with passing time, is to form an irreducible fund, and at present valuations this fund has now reached the estimate of over $35,000,000.
There are 1720 school districts. Since 1890, 126 new school- houses have been built, making a total to date of 1515, with 180 graded schools.
Number of children in the State between five and twenty-one years of age, 106,130, of which 78,819 are enrolled in public schools ;
G. L.brown
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
average daily attendance, 50,716 ; average monthly salary paid male teachers, $52.29 ; to females, $42.16. There are 112 defec- tive youth in the State-there is a special institution for them at Vancouver.
The few excellent institutions we have compare well with those of any new State. Among these are the State University, at Seattle; State normal schools, at Ellensburgh and Cheney ; Spokane College, Annie Wright Seminary, at Tacoma ; Coupe- ville Academy, at Coupeville, Whidby Island ; Lynden College, Whatcom County ; Methodist College, at Tacoma ; Baptist Grace Seminary, Centralia ; Presbyterian Academy, at Sumner ; Whit- man College (Congregational), at Walla Walla ; Methodist Col- lege, at Olympia, and several Catholic schools.
As the prosaic element of dollars and cents are required for these good works, as well as for many far less commendable, we will say that if the school lands, the sections set apart and re- served in each township for the support of her educational insti- tutions, be properly managed and wisely disposed of-not squan- dered, as in some other localities --- their constantly increasing values must of necessity create a fund so immense that its inter- est, if judiciously employed, will not only munificently provide for the education of Washington's unborn thousands, but relieve her citizens from all taxation on that account. In this connec- tion we would venture to suggest, if it has not already been made a subject for legislation, that some plan should be devised for the renting or otherwise utilizing these school sections, which would not only enhance the worth of the land by clearing and improving it, but create a present income while waiting for the enhanced values of the future. As it is, the school system of Washington deserves far more than the passing notice want of space prescribes ; it is certainly one of the best conducted and most progressive in the world, and its increased facilities in pro- portion to that of the State's population, as evinced by the fore- going figures, seem fully sufficient for every need. Its per- sonnel, likewise, is highly to be commended, for the school com- missioners seem wisely determined to secure the best instructors and to spare no expense in so doing.
Taking up our tables of wealth-producing natural advantages in the order of our self-prescribed arrangement, we will discuss as the most important to humanity, which supplies not only the
468
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
staff of life, but the power which sustains and dignifies all others, man's first occupation, the tilling of the ground and its various outcomes, under the head of
AGRICULTURE.
First, then, as to the extent and quality of the lands to be improved or already under cultivation within the borders of the Evergreen State we will let
WESTERN WASHINGTON
speak for herself. It is a region composed of great valleys whose soil, for the most part tillable, is largely tide-marsh lands, forests of timber, and mountains of mineral.
Though the timber and mineral lands largely predominate, they are interspersed with fertile valleys, the Puyallup, Sno- homish, Skagit, Chehalis, and White River being the largest, while small ones are innumerable in all directions, aggregating a large amount of arable lands. The tide-marsh lands of West- ern Washington consist of thousands of acres along the entire shore line of Puget Sound. Most of these tide-flat lands have been reclaimed by dyking ; and vegetables, hops, cereals, fruits and all the grasses grow in perfection and in enormous quantities.
In the State there are 100,000 acres of open tide-marsh prairie and about 130,000 acres of spruce and brush tide-marsh lands. Near the mouth of Columbia River, on Wallicut River, are 1650 acres ; on the Chinook River, 1475 acres ; around Willapa Har- bor, 15,000 acres open marsh and from 5000 to 10,000 acres of brush and spruce lands. On the south side of Gray's Harbor are 29,000 acres ; on the east side, where the Chehalis River empties, about 30,000 acres, and on the north side, 25,000 acres -a total of 84,000 acres, of which 20,000 are open tide-marsh prairie. On the ocean coast north of Gray's Harbor, including Neah Bay, are 20,000 acres tide-marsh, over one third of which is open marsh. On the south side of the Straits of Fuca are 2000 acres ; on Hood's Canal, 4000 acres, and on the east side of Puget Sound, there are in Pierce County 5800 acres ; in King County, 1250 acres ; in Snohomish County, 20,000 acres ; in Skagit County, 50,000 acres ; in Whatcom County, 4000 acres ; in Island County, 4000 acres, and in San Juan County, 600 acres. In reclaiming these lands, about 250 miles of dyke have been
469
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
built at an expense of over $500,000. Tide-marsh improvement began about 1864 by a few venturesome settlers in Snohomish and Skagit counties.
In a " Report on the tide-marsh lands of the United States," in 1885, the Department of Agriculture officially stated that " reclamation has nowhere been so popular and uniformly suc- cessful as with the pioneers on the shores of Puget Sound."
The report further said that " perhaps no other farm lands in the country have for a series of years yielded so large returns on the invested capital as the dyked lands of Puget Sound." On the average, it costs $20 an acre to dyke and drain a tide- marsh farm. Improved, this land for farming purposes is worth $100 to $300 per acre, and at the latter price will yield a large per cent on the invested capital.
As an evidence of the productiveness of tide-lands, following are actual total results for large areas of Skagit County land in 1888 : On 10,820 acres were produced 15,530 tons of oats ; on 2330 acres were cut 6940 tons of hay, and 6000 acres, mostly in meadow, pastured 1735 cattle, 755 horses, 1350 hogs and 530 sheep. With dyked land in good condition, 100 bushels of oats, 80 bushels of barley, 60 bushels of wheat and four tons of hay per acre are common crops.
The hop yards of Puget Sound are the most prolific known, and easily average 2000 pounds to the acre. In the one indus- try of hop-raising alone, Western Washington leads the world. The vegetable productions of Puget Sound are wonders in size, and unite with perfection of growth the highest excellence of flavor.
Turning to
EASTERN WASHINGTON,
we find the great wheat granary of the Pacific coast, its peculiar volcanic soil being adapted to a most marvellous extent to the production of all cereals. Every succeeding year adds to the al- ready extensive wheat area of Eastern Washington, and the time is not far distant when the great sage-brush plains will be as one vast field of waving grain. The average yield of wheat per acre in this section is about 25 bushels, while it not infre- quently reaches 50 and 60. The yield of corn in Southeastern Washington is about 30 bushels to the acre, and barley averages
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
30 bushels to the acre. As a wheat- producing State, Washing- ton ranks first, the average yield per acre being 23.5 bushels to 18.0 in Ohio, 16.8 in Oregon, 15.5 in California, 15.5 in Illinois, 13.4 in Pennsylvania, 11.0 in Minnesota, 10.6 in Dakota, and 8.6 in Virginia. Insects and mildew are unknown, and, after years of cultivation, the soil seems as fertile as ever. This inex- haustible fertility is ascribed to the presence of an unusually large percentage of potash and soda in the soil.
Now, as to the results, that yield which constitutes the farmer's "joy of harvest," we find, as calculated upon a con- servative basis, the product of the State for 1892 was as follows : Grain of all kinds, 26,000,000 bushels, worth perhaps $10,500,- 000, and hops valued at $1,600,000 ; to this must be added the minor but still very valuable orchard and garden products, the soil being specially adapted to the cultivation of fruit and vege- tables.
In the matter of irrigation there were, in 1890, 48,000 acres of artificially irrigated lands in Washington ; even the sage-brush plains, once deemed worthless, have proved wonderful crop pro- ducers under the stimulus of canals and artesian wells, with their attendant ditches.
Companies organized with millions of dollars of capital are now at work in different localities east of the mountains, and canals and ditches, some sixty miles in length, and capable of conveying an immense volume of water, are in process of con- struction.
On these irrigated lands enormous crops of grain and vege- tables are grown, while as many as five crops of alfalfa are being cut in a single year from irrigated land. Washington is un- doubtedly the foremost in the Northwestern sisterhood in this work of irrigation. The experimental age has passed.
The value of hop culture, one of the most important factors in the prosperity of certain localities in Western Washington, is well attested by the following statements :
Since the introduction of hop cultivation it has become the great agricultural industry of Puget Sound and Yakima valley. There are some 7000 acres in that crop, yielding, according to locality and care in cultivation, from 600 to 3000 pounds per acre, with an average price of 17 cents per pound, the average cost of production between 7 and 10 cents per pound.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
The crop of 1890 was the heaviest ever produced in the State -- 50,000 bales ; of 1891 somewhat less, and the crop of 1892 a still further decrease, owing to insect pests. It is believed. that the systematic efforts being used will stop this destructive ele- ment and keep the hop crop of Washington up to its standard. The average price obtained by our growers (1890) has been about 20 cents per pound.
Number of bales produced in Washington in 1890, 42,476 ; 1891, 34,026 ; 1892, 24,000.
Stock-raising, the almost inseparable pursuit of the Western agriculturalist, finds every inducement for its encouragement, and is successfully undertaken, as witness the annexed report :
Large areas of rolling hill and prairie, not yet encroached upon by the wheat raiser and irrigator, furnish grazing land for thousands of cattle, from whose herds the markets of the State and of the Northwest obtain their supply of beef. The stock- raising industry has been and is to-day an important one in Eastern Washington ; but with the advent of the farmer and fruit-raiser the grazing lands are rapidly being appropriated to more remunerative industry.
The total area of State lands is as follows : Surveyed, 22,- 335,000 acres ; unsurveyed, 22,461,160 acres ; total area, 44, 796, - 160 acres.
Having thus briefly outlined the condition of agriculture throughout the State, we will turn to its mining resources. The following extracts are from the United States Geological Survey of 1891 :
The first discovery of coal in Washington was made in 1S52, and the first mine was opened on Bellingham Bay in 1854. The coal from this mine was shipped to San Francisco, and was the only coal shipped out of the Territory until 1870, when exporta- tion commenced at Seattle, from the Seattle, Renton, and Talbot mines in that vicinity. In 1874 the product from the Seattle mines was 50,000 tons ; from July 1st, 1874, to July 1st, 1879, the product was 155,000 tons. In the year ending December 31st, 1879, the product was 137,207 short tons. The Renton mine, opened in 1874, produced in 1875 and 1876 50,000 short tons. The Talbot mine, opened in 1875, produced in 1879 18,000 short tons of coal. Records of the operations of Washington coal mines are incomplete and entirely wanting from 1879-84.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
The mining during this time was confined to King and Pierce counties. During the fiscal year ended June 30th, 1885, the total product of the Territory is given at 380,250 short tons, of which King County is credited with 204,480 short tons and Pierce County with 175,770 short tons. The annual product since that time has been as follows :
COAL PRODUCT FOR SEVEN YEARS.
YEARS.
Total
product.
Total value.
Av. price per
ton.
employés.
Av. No. days worked.
Short tons.
1885.
380,250
1886.
423,525 $ 925,931
$2 25
1887.
772,601
1,699,746
2 19
1,571
1888.
1,215,750
3,647,250
3 00
1889.
1,030,578
2,393,238
2 32
2,657
1890
1,263,689
3,426,590
2 71
3,206
270
1891.
1,056,249 2,437,270
2 31 2,447
211
WASHINGTON'S COAL FIELD.
Called the Pennsylvania of the West by reason of its great coal deposits, says the New Year number (1893) of the West Coast Trade, Washington is destined to become the greatest coal- producing State in the Union ; an eminent writer on the mines and minerals of the nation being authority for the statement that the deposits of coal in the State of Washington are larger than the combined supply of the Atlantic States. Not only is the supply larger, but the veins are also larger and more easily worked than those of the Eastern States. As yet they are prac- tically untouched, an idea of their size and dimensions being obtained from the fact that coal covering an area of 1,000,000 acres is known to exist in eighteen counties.
The coal lands of the State form a magnificent combination, and may be divided into seven great groups-viz., the Roslyn, Kittitas County ; the South Prairie and Wilkeson, Pierce County ; the Green River Basin, King County ; Skagit River, Skagit County ; Bellingham Bay, Whatcom County ; Bucoda, Thurston County, and Cowlitz, Lewis County.
The output of the various mines of the State for the year is estimated at 1,500,000 tons, and, on a basis of $2.50 per ton at
Total
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
the mines, the value of the product for the year was worth $3,750,000.
The magnitude of the coal mines of Washington have already attracted the attention of the United States Government, and men have been sent out to this State to make a scientific geo- logical survey of them. There exist in the State in large quan- tities the finest anthracite, bituminous, semi-bituminous, and lignite or brown coals.
We turn from the coal supply to the presence and product of
MINING AND MINERALS.
Gold and silver, lead, copper, iron, zinc, antimony, nickel, bismuth, and other useful metals are found in merchantable quantities in many portions of the State. Mountains of granite and building stone, of marble of beautiful varieties exist ; clays of remarkable purity in beds of great extent have been success- fully utilized. The Spokane Review, in its encyclopædic issue of January 1st, 1893, commenting on the wealth and progress of mining in Eastern Washington, says :
" The immense coal fields already developed or discovered, and the potter's clay, of finest quality, absolutely free from iron, and other clays bearing a high percentage of the future metal of the arts and industries, aluminum, have demonstrated that there are deposits in this State as great as in any other por- tion of the United States.
" The great mineral belt which encircles Spokane begins in Southern Idaho, traversing the entire State, and including Northwestern Montana, and extends north to the Lardeau County in British Columbia at about the fifty-first parallel.
" The principal mineral-producing counties of Eastern Wash- ington are Stevens, Okanogan, and Kittitas. In several others, notably Yakima County, good indications of mineral are found.
" In Western Washington there are three well-defined min- eral districts lying at the head of the streams which form the Snohomish and Skagit rivers. The farthest south is called the Silver Creek district. Silver Creek runs into the Snohomish, and the latter stream converges with the Snoqualmie to form the Snohomish. At the head of Silver Creek is the Cady Pass. A mountain range separates this district from the Monte Cristo district, which lies along the north and south forks of the Sauk
474
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
River, a tributary to the Skagit. Still farther north is the Cas- cade district, on Cascade Creek, also a tributary to the Skagit. In each of these districts large bodies of good ore have been found and located by men who are preparing to work them, and who are not offering them for sale, because they believe them to be of great value for development.
" Silver Creek is about forty five miles from the nearest rail. road point at Snohomish City. The most northern district, Cascade Creek, is about ninety miles from Sedro, the new rail- road town on the Skagit. The ores are mainly galena, carrying both silver and gold, with occasional sulphurets. The veins are true contact veins, with hang walls of porphyry and foot walls of granite, and they are so wide and so accessible for min- ing operations that low-grade ore can be worked at a large profit.
"Farther south we have Snoqualmie district, Cedar River mines Mineral Creek, and Gold Hill mining district, so many mineral belts, the favorable reports from each and all of which bear testimony to the great and assured future mineral wealth of our State."
From the able and exhaustive report of Governor Miles C. Moore to the Secretary of the Interior (1889) the following is quoted :
" The iron ores of Washington consist of bog ore, limonite, hematite and magnetic ore. Bog ore is found underlying the flats bordering Puget Sound ; brown ore is found on the Skagit River. The largest beds of magnetic ore are found in the Cas- cade Mountains from 1200 to 1500 feet above the water-courses. Large deposits of ore occur on the east side of the Cascade range, near the Cle-Elum River, twenty-five miles from the Northern Pacific Railway. The ore is magnetic and assays about 66 per cent. Extensive deposits are also found on the Snoqualmie River on the line of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Rail- way. The ores of this mine are said to be of superior quality, and are what are termed typical steel ores."
The value of precious metals mined during 1892 is put at $500,000-not a bad beginning for the baby State that may yet claim to rival the Eldorado of California.
The next source under the head of material wealth and natu- ral resources to engage our attention-a most thriving industry
Charlotte Brown
477
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
it is, with a practically inexhaustible supply to maintain it, is the
TIMBER PRODUCT AND LUMBERING BUSINESS.
Speaking of standing timber, the Puget Sound Lumberman says in its annual edition for 1893 :
" The best of timber does not grow directly on the coast, but beginning about a mile back from the ocean, it gets larger and better for two or three miles, where it becomes large and fine, this condition prevailing for a number of miles eastward. Again it becomes very large and heavy at the base of the Cascade Mountains, diminishing again as the summit is reached, and in- creasing yet again as the descent is made on the eastern side, until the foothills are reached, where the best timber of Eastern Washington is found.
" Of the thirty-four counties in the State, only two, Frank- lin and Adams, are given as being treeless, and the following exhibit shows Washington's timber wealth geographically :
No. Acres Timber.
No. of Feet Total Value. Standing. 106,978,041,000 $80,426,521
Eastern Washington .. . . 11,616, 720
Western Washington .. .. 11,971,792
303,355,294,000 189,134,808 " Average number of feet per acre in Eastern Washington, 9209 ; in Western Washington, 25,399; in the entire State, 17,393. Average stumpage value in Eastern Washington, about 75 cents per 1000 feet ; in Western Washington, about 62 cents per 1000 feet ; in the entire State, about 65} cents per 1000 feet."'
Of the varieties which go to make up this immense supply it is needless to speak ; sufficient to say that they include all that the great Northwest can offer of its very best material for every known use to which first-class lumber can be applied.
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