USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. II > Part 31
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Its product in 1892 was valued at $2,500,000 ; this includes lumber, shingles, and lath. The following details give valuable statistics, and show not only the extent but the importance of the lumber trade in Washington :
OUTPUT OF LUMBER AND SHINGLE MANUFACTURES IN 1892.
Nearly one third of the population is dependent upon the saw and shingle mills, sash, door, and other wood-working establishments.
22
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
The output is as follows : Output of lumber, 1,164, 425, 880 feet ; output of lath, 436,716,000 ; output of shingles, 1,883,- 868,750.
The shipments of lumber and shingles were as follows : Lum- ber to foreign points, 105,002,710 feet; to coastwise points, 263,666,523 feet ; by rail, 100,650,000 feet ; shingles by rail, 913,300,000 ; by water, 8,608,000.
The shipments may be compared as follows :
1891.
1892.
Foreign.
98,366,000
105,002,710
Coastwise
220,000,000
263,666,523
Shingle shipments.
625,000,000
· 913,300,000
The value of lumber, shingles, sash and doors, and other manufactures last year may be put down at $19,000,000, as fol- lows : Lumber, $12,481,543 ; shingles, $2,187,898 ; manufactures of wood, $3,542,429.
Of this amount, nearly $9,000,000 was from eastern, coastwise and foreign points. The lumber and shingle men paid out to the different railroad companies $1,877,945 in freight the past year.
The capital invested in lumbering and wood-working plants in Washington is over $30,000,000. The number of men em- ployed in saw and shingle mills, wood-working factories, and the logging camps is about 12,000, to whom are paid in wages over $7,000,000 yearly.
The industry may be summarized as follows : Number of saw mills in Washington, 227 ; shingle mills, 246 ; sash, door, and other factories, 73 ; new shingle mills added in 1892, 127.
The aggregate yearly capacity of the saw and shingle mills of Washington is as follows : Saw mills, 2,970,000,000 feet ; shingle mills, 3,723,000,000.
The next and final grand division under which we have enumerated the sources of Washington's wealth is her sea food, the product of which for the year 1892 was estimated at no less than $1,800,000.
FISHERIES.
Extracts from the very valuable third annual report by Hon. James Crawford, State Fish Commissioner for the year 1892, will present in the best possible manner the importance and
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
present condition of this great and growing industry. It divides the fish and oyster business into three districts -viz., the Colum- bia River, Willipa Harbor (formerly known as Shoalwater Bay), Gray's Harbor and the waters of Puget Sound. The canning of salmon constitutes the principal fish industry of the Columbia River, although the amount shipped to Eastern cities in refrigera- tors has begun to assume gigantic proportions. The following table gives the number of cases of spring salmon canned on the Columbia River from the beginning of the fish industry in 1866 to and including the present year. We will curtail this list by giving only the initial and final years, with total number of cases shipped. In 1866 we find a record of only 4000 cases ; this reaches a maximum in 1883 of 629,000, while in 1892 but 465, 000 are recorded. The total for the whole number of years from 1883-92 inclusive is 9,323,550.
During the season of 1892 twenty-two establishments have been engaged in canning salmon on the Columbia River, ten of which are located on the Washington bank of the river, although a majority of the canneries on the Oregon side of the river re- ceived fish from traps, wheels, and seines that were operated on the Washington side. The following gives the pack of each of the Washington canneries, also number of boats and nets, seines and traps from which they receive their supply of salmon : These companies are ten in number, have packed 176,689 cases, employ a total of 390 boats and nets, 21 seines, and 118 traps. The fish- ermen were paid $1 apiece for salmon. Allowing three salmon to each case, the amount received by the fishermen was $530,067 ; this does not include the salmon taken by fishermen residing in Washington, for 26 fish wheels located in Washington have been furnishing salmon to canneries situated near the Cascades and the Dalles, in Oregon ; also about one hundred boats and gill nets have been fishing for the same canneries. The catch of the wheels averaged about twenty tons of salmon each, which at $60 per ton, the average price paid, brought $31,200. The average catch of nets was five tons each, which, at $60 per ton, brought $30,000. The traps, seines and gill nets owned and operated in Washington supplied the Astoria, Ore., canneries with 145,375 salmon, at $1 each, brought $145,375. Adding $11,520, the amount received by fishermen on the Washington side of the river for fall salmon furnished to canneries in Oregon, will swell
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
the amount received by the fishermen of Washington from can- neries alone to $748,162. The value of the salmon pack of the Columbia River, in Washington, for the spring and summer season of 1892, is $971,789.50.
The value of the various appliances owned in Washington used in salmon fishing during the past year is estimated at $717,800.
To the $748,162 must be added $102,000, the amount received from salmon sold to cold storage plants and other fresh fish dealers, for about 1700 tons of different species of salmon, a fair average of the price being $60 a ton, makes the total amount received by the fishermen of the Washington side of the Colum- bia River from salmon alone $850,162.
THE STURGEON INDUSTRY.
The sturgeon, as an article of commerce, stands second in the list of the food fishes of the Columbia River. In the fall of 1888 S. Schmidt & Co. shipped the first car of frozen sturgeon to the East. Previous to that time there had been a few cars of pickled sturgeon shipped, but the freezing and shipping of stur- geon really dates from that year. From the roe of the sturgeon is made that relish so dear to the epicurean palate-caviar. The bladders of these fish are manufactured into isinglass. Four firms are now engaged in the business of freezing and shipping Columbia River sturgeon.
The total amounts to 2081 tons, with 714 kegs of caviar, the latter for the most part finding a market in Hamburg.
The shad fishery of the Columbia River has netted $2000 to the owners of traps and nets, and have even been taken as high up as the Cascades, 150 miles from its mouth ; an equal value of carp and catfish have been marketed during the year, and no less than $5000 worth of eulachon, here known as Columbia smelt.
The district of Willapa and Gray's Harbor gives, in 1892, for two canneries, a salmon pack valued at $104,369, with $30,000 paid to the fishermen supplying them. .
The oyster industry foots up for the Willipa district alone 50,000 sacks, worth $1.60 per sack, amounting to $80,000, and gives employment to 300 men. Puget Sound follows with a total catch valued at $138,700, and an oyster output worth
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
$42,840, to which add $10,000 for clams secured by the Indians, giving a grand total of $1,176,862 for fish and $132,840 for bivalves for 1892 alone.
Having thus somewhat slightly summed up the four great. sources of the wealth of Washington, we will give a glance at the items of commerce, taxation, climate, and vital statistics, and with some general remarks conclude this long outline of the present status of a State infant in years, but in all the grandest features that go to constitute a prosperous commonwealth amply fitted to wear the toga of a lusty virility.
COMMERCE.
No accurate account of the commerce of the State can be rendered, owing to the fact that a large proportion of the grain product of the southeastern section, the salmon pack, and lum- ber of the Columbia River find their way to market by way of Portland and Astoria, Ore. Vessels carrying these products clear from the Astoria custom house. Considerable shipments of wheat, barley, flaxseed, wool and hides are made from the Walla Walla and Palouse regions direct to St. Paul, Mil- waukee, Chicago, and the Eastern cities. Flouring mills grind large quantities of wheat, the product of which is sold in the mining regions of North Idaho and Montana.
Puget Sound has an extensive foreign commerce. Wheat is shipped to Europe, lumber to all parts of the Pacific. Teas are imported direct from China and Japan. The coal consumed in San Francisco and other California cities comes chiefly from Puget Sound. Ocean steamships ply regularly between San Francisco, Portland, and the Sound ports. Innumerable steam- boats and other water craft are engaged in the local trade, while lines of boats run daily between Tacoma and Seattle, Port Townsend, and Victoria. Our trade relations with British Co- lumbia and Alaska are extensive and constantly increasing.
VESSELS ENTERED-FROM JANUARY TO AUGUST, 1892.
AMERICAN FROM FOREIGN.
FOREIGN VESSELS FROM FOREIGN.
AMERICAN FROM COAST- WISE.
FOREIGN FROM COAST- WISE.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
483,960
761
64,470
72
186,788
166
43,966
35
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
CLEARED.
AMERICAN FOR FOREIGN.
FOREIGN FOR FOREIGN.
AMERICAN FOR COAST- WISE.
FOREIGN FOR COAST- WISE.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
Tons.
No.
500,960
783
103,093
98
174,257
148
1,560
1
EXPORTS FOR THE YEAR 1892.
Lumber, 212,754,000 feet, value, $1,133,727 ; laths, 4,144,000, value, $8762 ; shingles, 1,608,000, value, $3705 ; wheat, 3,293,- 636 bushels, value, $2,916,590 ; flour, 130,844 barrels, value, . $503,608 ; imports (11 months), 1892, $679,847.
In the matter of transportation the State of Washington is, for a comparatively new country, singularly fortunate ; besides the natural facilities of an extensive seaboard and the vast in- land sea of hundred-harbored Puget Sound, she has a network of railroads ever adding new links to its continually lengthening chain, which foots up a grand total of 2614 miles ; of this 470.23 is new mileage, in which respect Washington leads every other State in the Union, the nearest approach being Pennsylvania, with a record of 256.94.
As regards that inevitable burden common to all lands, so certain in its coming that it has passed into a proverb, that we are certain of but two things in this world, " death and taxa- tion," Washington is by no means behindhand, as the annexed figures will abundantly prove.
WEALTH OF STATE AS EXHIBITED BY PROPERTY.
The assessments of taxable property from 1874-92 inclusive clearly demonstrate steady growth and substantial progress : 1874, $14,185,098 ; 1875, $14,569,156 ; 1876, $15,138,078 ; 1877, $17,281,182 ; 1878, $18,673,437 ; 1879, $21,012,832 ; 1880, $23,- 708,587 ; 1881, $25, 786, 415 ; 1882, $32,566,807 ; 1883, $44,107,567 ; 1884, $51,008,484 ; 1885, $50,484,437 ; 1886, $51,491,159 ; 1887, $61,562,739 ; 1888, $89,641,548 ; 1889, $125,165,215 ; 1890, $217,- 595,739 ; 1891, $324,247,419 ; 1892, real estate, $234,172,852 ; per- sonalty, $39,469,247 ; railroad, $12,204,725. Total, $285,846,824.
The valuation of lands in this State, together with improve-
483
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
ment. is $102,560,833 ; of lots, $104,151,322, and lot improve- ments, $27,460,697. The returns show that there are in the State 176,008 horses, mules and asses ; 224,723 cattle ; 246,200 sheep ; 49,168 hogs ; 49,861 wagons and carriages ; 15,161 sewing and knitting machines ; 14,186 watches and clocks and 6394 melo- deons, organs and pianofortes.
Amount of taxes paid into general fund, 1891, $204,232.76 ; 1892, $284,714.54.
The climate of Washington, taken as a whole, and especially in the western portion, is all that could be desired. We have referred to this somewhat at length in treating its territorial his- tory, but gladly avail ourselves of the official utterances of Mr. Henry F. Alciatore, director of the Washington Weather Service, who is our authority for the following on climatic conditions :
The State has a mean annual temperature of 50°, ranging from 45°, the lowest, in Stevens County, to 54°, the highest, in Walla Walla County.
In Western Washington the mean annual temperature ranges between 53° in the western half of Lewis County and 47º along the middle sound coast line of Clallam County. The coldest month is January, with a mean temperature of 37°, and then from that month on the mean rises about 4° each month till July, when the maximum is reached at 63º ; from July to De- cember the mean decreases at a rate of about 5° each month. The mean temperature of the summer months is sensibly the same, being 60° in June, 63° in July, 62° in August.
The mean annual temperature of Eastern Washington ranges between 54°, the highest, in Walla Walla County, and 45°, the lowest, in Stevens County. A comparison of the mean tem- perature for each month discloses the fact that, as in Western Washington, the coldest month is usually January, with a mean of 26°, and the warmest month July, with a mean of 72°. The mean monthly temperature rises rapidly at a rate of about 8º till July is reached, when it falls at an equally rapid rate till December. Between July and August there is a difference of only 1° in their mean temperature. Although the mean annual temperature of Western and Eastern Washington is sensibly the same-viz., 50.4° in the former and 49.7° in the latter-the mean winter temperature in Eastern Washington is much colder.
The mean monthly temperature for January in Western
484
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
Washington is usually about 11° higher than that of Eastern Washington ; in February it is 9°, while in March the difference is only 2°. From April to September inclusive the conditions are reversed, the monthly mean temperature in April in Eastern Washington being 1° higher than that of Western Washington, 5° in May, 6° in June, 9º in July, 8° in August, and 2° in Sep- tember. From October to December inclusive the former con- ditions again prevail, the October mean being 2° higher in West- ern than in Eastern Washington, 6° in November and 8° in December.
In short, January, February, November and December are much warmer, and May, June, July and August much cooler in Western Washington than the corresponding months in the eastern portion of the State. The temperature in March, April, September and October is sensibly the same in both sections of the State.
The mean annual rainfall over the western halves of Clallam, Jefferson, Cehalis and Pacific counties ranges from 70 to 107 inches. This area of very heavy rainfall represents but 6 per centum of the total area of the State, and further, the bulk of it occurs during the three winter months, the rest of the year the rainfall being tolerably well distributed and not at all excessive.
In Eastern Washington the rainfall during the dry season, from May to September, is about half what it is during the wet season. December is the wettest month, with an average fall of 2.58 inches ; January with 2.17 inches ; February, 2.08 inches ; March, 1.20 inches ; April, 1.33 inches ; May, 1.25 inches ; June, 0.88 inch ; July, 0.56 inch ; August, 0.27 inch. ; September, 0.69 inch ; October, 1.92 inches ; and November, 1.58 inches.
In the greater portion of Western Washington, where the rainy days are more frequent than elsewhere in the State, every other day in October and March is rainless, while during the intervening months the number of rainy days is slightly greater, rising to three days out of four in December, the rainiest month. In the eastern portion of the State the frequency of rainy days is, of course, much less. During the dry season Washington is favored with many fine, clear, and pleasant days and a goodly amount of sunshine.
To summarize : Washington enjoys a mild, equable, and re- markably salubrious climate.
A.J.Smith
486
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
sixty and seventy, and 2 grooms were more than seventy years old.
The Indians, fading out at the rate of about 1 per cent per annum, but not, unfortunately, "travelling toward the setting sun," as they are poetically supposed to be doing continually, or otherwise they would ere this have been submerged in the Pacific, may be summed up in a few brief paragraphs.
INDIANS AND INDIAN RESERVATIONS.
In the State are eighteen so-called Indian reservations, with an area of 7,094,950 acres, and an Indian population of 10,837. Fourteen are located west of the Cascade Mountains, containing 302,710 acres. The remaining four, with an area of 6,792,240, are in Eastern Washington. A large portion of these lands have been allotted in severalty to Indians, who, by the act of Congress of February 18th, 1887, called " the allotment in severalty act," together with those Indians who " severed tribal relations and adopted the habits of civilized persons, were declared to be citi- zens of the United States, entitled to all the rights, privileges and immunities of citizens." Good schools and several churches - are located among them. Some have become farmers, stock- raisers ; others build and own seagoing schooners, and go to sea, fishing, sealing, and whaling. Others within the agency limits have stores and handle stocks of goods.
The Puyallup Indian Agency Reservation was originally 257,822} acres ; its present size is 225,667 acres ; allotted, 32,155} acres ; population, 1898.
The Tulalip Indian Agency Reservations-size, 53,198 acres ; cultivated, 2095 acres ; schools, 2; churches, 5 ; population, 1440 ; citizens, 254.
Makah Indian Agency Reservations-size, 28,845 acres ; cultivated, 25 acres ; school, 1; population, 685 ; seals taken in 1892, 2340, at an average value of $10 for skin, or $23,400.
Hon. John McGlynn is agent in charge, with office and resi- dence at Neah Bay. The last two tribes or bands of Indians, living on the ocean front, from whence their sustenance has been obtained, are born sailors, much of their time being spent in canoes on the water, sometimes one hundred miles off the coast, in fishing and hunting seals, whales, etc. They have made much money, owning seagoing schooners, and at this time Ind-
487
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
ians are the agency traders, carrying on the agency store, keep- ing accounts, and otherwise acting as successful business men.
The splendid school (for both sexes) at Bahaida has changed these former freebooters and fierce savages into peaceful, indus- trious citizens. The old Indians generally dislike civilization, but the younger ones are progressive. The lands of this agency are of poor character.
RESERVATIONS EAST OF THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS.
Colville-size, 2,800,000 acres.
Spokane-agent, Major Hal J. Cole ; size, 200,000 acres. Yakima-agent, Major Jay Lynch ; size, 800,000 acres. Columbia-size, 2,992,000 acres.
Total area of the four reservations, 6,792,240 acres.
Messrs. Cole and Lynch are the only agents east of the Cas- cades. Their agencies are spread over an extensive area, whose Indian population in many instances have become farmers and stock-raisers, owning great herds of cayuse ponies and cattle, building and living in houses, and in many ways showing a re- gard for better ways of living.
These eastern tribes, advancing slowly in civilization, still have among their number many of the old nomadic class, "at home" wherever their lodge is pitched.
Indian population of the State, 10,837 ; on reservations, 7938 ; off of reservations, 2899 ; males on reservations, 4018 ; females on reservations, 3920 ; males off reservations, 1460 ; females off reservations, 1439.
The rate of mortality shows a decrease in population at the rate of 1 per cent per annum for the last ten years.
Having thus "rounded up" the material prosperity, popula- tion, sources of wealth, climate, vital statistics, and matters per- taining generally to the welfare of the Evergreen State, we will endeavor to relieve the monotony of the very prosy prose into which we have been necessarily beguiled by embodying in verse some of the reasons which make its arithmetical truths more than passingly valuable ; but before doing so we desire to ex- press our grateful thanks to the Hon. Elwood Evans for his ex- cellent " brief history" of the State of Washington, to whose carefully prepared tables of State statistics we are largely indebted for the facts so liberally quoted. Judge Evans,
488
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
with that civic and State pride so natural to a Tacomian, tells us in his preface that the book to which we refer, which is " published by the Washington World's Fair Commission, for distribution at the Columbian Exposition," is entirely " a home production," the paper on which it is printed having been made by the Puget Sound Pulp and Paper Company of Everett ; the half-tone engravings by Spike & Co., Tacoma ; the book-binding by the Pioneer Bindery of that city, and the type-setting and printing in the office of the Tacoma News, an excellent evening journal, published by that genial gentleman, Mr. Lane, of the City of Destiny.
SOME STATISTICS.
'Tis said that " figures cannot lie ;" Alas ! indeed they will, When ledgers, doctored for the eye, The banker's statements fill.
But honest purpose here removes Each fear that doubt divines,
And close inspection but approves These arithmetic lines.
They tell the area we reap, When autumn harvests blow,
The golden grain our garners keep And what finds foreign flow. The yearly yield of busy mills, Or hop's prolific vine,
The cattle on a thousand hills- There's truth in every line.
The lumber cut, with hidden wealth We rend from buried mines, Climatic influence on health, With freightage here combines.
What sums the thrifty wisely hoard, Or pass from hand to hand,
The fruitage well tilled fields afford, Where smiling orchards stand.
The salmon catch, the sails that sweep The seas of Puget Sound,
What tithes our sworn assessors keep, With taxes, here are found ;
And more than all, the ebb and flow Of drifting human tides, Where population seems to go And where its surge subsides.
Here prudence finds its weather-gauge Marking the rise and fall, Of enterprises that engage The thoughtful minds of all.
489
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
When o'er the world of business broods Some dark financial cloud,
These tell the signs that mark its moods Or rainbow paint its shroud ;
The stirring of its stagnant sea, The first faint breath that shows
Fair trade becalmed once more swings free To greet each gale that blows,
Renewing hope, reviving trade, Giving to waiting wing
Till commerce dares, no more dismayed, Its argosies to bring And through our State's wide commonwealth We feel the fresher flow
Of finance gaining truer health From seeming overthrow. BREWERTON.
In the matter of political affairs and legislative action the State of Washington, as yet in its infancy, is still too young, in the absence of any extraordinary crisis or particular element of disturbance, to have made a record worthy of special mention. The current of her gubernatorial and judicial business has flowed on since her accession to the dignity of statehood like some deep and majestic river, moving with unbroken tide, unconscious of obstruction because unopposed. There has been no friction in the working of her political machinery, no jarring between its various parts ; harmony has prevailed, and progress been unin- terrupted. A Presidential, various local campaigns and their subsequent elections have passed off with no more than the usual amount of evanescent excitement, and their results accepted with that philosophic resignation or moderate self-gratulation so peculiar to the American character. The debates of her legisla- tive halls have been conducted with dignity and a remarkable avoidance of such acrimonious personalities as too often disgrace the deliberations of our federal Congress. Washington has cer- tainly no reason to be ashamed of those representative citizens to whose wisdom she has committed the guidance of the best in- terests of the commonwealth. The organization and discipline of her national guard have gone on under the new government with a wise enthusiasm, which promises the best results, an ad- vancement even more pronounced than that so remarkably achieved under the territorial administration ; as it is, the State may justly be proud of a militia whose officers and men vie with
-
490
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
each other in attaining that military perfection so honorable to our citizen soldiery. The various State institutions, educa- tional, charitable, penal, and reformatory, twelve in all, are re- ceiving the same fostering care and management that have not only so excellently influenced their past, but give assurance of larger usefulness in the future. The difficulty with Chili, which for a time seemed to threaten serious consequences, and possibly for the due assertion of our national dignity render necessary an appeal to the ultimatum of war, awakened an interest among all classes of her inhabitants, more especially those of the ex- posed sea-coasts and inland harbors. This passing cloud of possible war aroused the patriotic spirit of her citizens, and led to the formation of various companies, in which many freely enrolled themselves, not as " home guards," but for service upon the soil of the belligerent republic, upon whose distant coasts it was resolved to act aggressively. In this connection it seems proper to call attention to the notoriously defenceless condition of Western Washington, a state of things which should ere this have attracted the attention of her congressional representatives and caused them to impress upon the federal authorities the necessity of some definite action. It is a fact patent to the most unmilitary mind that Puget Sound is practically unprotected, and that the attack and reduction of any or all of its cities would cost little more than the trouble of a holiday parade and shotted salute to any well-armed cruiser of a hostile fleet. It is signifi- cant that our English cousins, far wiser than ourselves, have established and keep up a naval station at Esquimalt, besides strengthening and re-enforcing their British Columbia dependen- cies. Could the sagacious Senator Benton revisit the glimpses of the moon he might discover charms in the Island of Vancou- ver which he failed to find in those days when he so emphati- cally declared it " the derelict of all nations." We will in the fulness of time undoubtedly recover our own-most probably by the peaceful process of annexation-and then hold of right, as we should to day, had we not relinquished our just claims, the key to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Meanwhile, Puget Sound should be adequately protected, either by fortifying points already selected and marked upon our maps as "military reser- vations," or by the maintaining of a sufficient naval force within striking distance of its waters. This and this alone would ren-
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