A REPORT ON WASHINGTON
TERRITORY
BY
W. H. RUFFNER, LL.D.
ILLUSTRATED
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.
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 HistoricalDenny, of Denny Mines, 26 —Causes of delay in settlement, 26 —Population of Washington Territory, 27.
Location and Market 27Majority 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 34Advantage 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 43Puget Sound, 44 —Lake Washington, 44 —West Washington and East Washington, 45 —Cœur d'Alene Mountains, 46 —The Great Plateau, 47 —Coulées, 47 —Columbia and Snake Rivers, 48.
Altitudes in Washington Territory 49 Climate 49The climate of Washington Territory, 49 —Mild and equable, 51 —Rainfall, 51 —No blizzards or cyclones,
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 57A remarkable soil, 60.
Natural Vegetation 61Vast 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 69Magnitude of the lumber business, 70 —Vast extent of the lumber market, 70 —The great saw-mills, 71 —Profits and prices, 73.
Agriculture 73Clearing 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,
Good supply of labor, but more wanted, 88 —Wages, 88.
THE GEOLOGY OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY 90 Historical and Structural 90The 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 99Thickness 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 CollieriesAuthorities, 106.
Analyses of Representative Samples of Washington Territory Coals and Lignites 107The different mines, 108.
a. Carbon River Group 108Anthracite, coking and gas coals, 108.
b. The Green River Group 110The 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 117Cedar 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 125Gilman 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.
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 142The 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 145Coal on Vancouver's Island, 145.
II. Iron Ore 146The 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 154Proved by analysis to be unsurpassed, if equaled, 155.
Comparative Analyses of Steel Ores 155Improved processes, 156.
III. Granite, Limestone and Marble 157Granite, 157 —Marble and Limestone, 158.
IV. The Precious and Base Metals 159Precious 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,
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 175Unrivalled terminal property, 175.
Suburban Interests 175But two entrances by land, 175 —Superiority of the northern suburbs, 175 —Factories of the future, 176 —Ship canal, 176.
Timber 176Superiority 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 183Agricultural freights, 183 —Produce of Hop Ranch, 183 —Farming, fruit and grazing lands, 185 —Hops, barley and beer, 186 —The two great railroads,
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 199Handling 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 204Limestone, 204 —Marble, granite, sandstones, slates, 204 —Precious and base metals, 205 —Okanogan, Colville and Kootenai, 205 —Cœur d'Alene, 206 —Transportation lines to the mining regions, 206.
CITIES AND TOWNS 209The 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,
Railroad branches, 218 —The Palouse country, 219 —Arguments for the Palouse branch, 220 —Manitoba railroad, 220.
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER, GIVING LATEST INFORMATION 222Rapid 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. 223Population 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. 232Growth 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 234Engineering details of the new route, 234.
II. Resources 236Mr. Mohr's account of the resources of the new route, 236.
III. Scenery 238[Pg 14]
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