800 



WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 



the stimulus of an increased demand for fruits, 

 vegetables, and hay for home consumption, to- 

 gether with the enormous yield and the export 

 demand for oats, barley, and potatoes, have 

 induced many to undertake the development 

 of rich alluvial "brush-lands," which produce 

 an annual income amounting to an enormous 

 percentage upon the outlay required to bring 

 them into cultivation. 



The climate and soil in the bottom-lands and 

 valleys of Washington Territory seem pecul- 

 iarly adapted to the cultivation of hops ; and 

 more attention seems to have been paid to the 

 cultivation of this plant in the vicinity of Puget 

 Sound than elsewhere in the Territory, where 

 it thrives in rich alluvial sandy bottoms. The 

 area in hops in 1884 is stated as follows : Num- 

 ber of acres, 2,355, divided as follows: Pierce 

 county, 1,277 acres; King county, 878 acres; 

 scattering, 200 acres. The average yield of 

 hops in Washington Territory for twelve years 

 last past has been 1,600 pounds an acre, not 

 including the present exceptional year. 



Large portions of the Territory, particularly 

 east of the Cascade mountains, are admirably 

 adapted to grazing. Cattle- and sheep-raising 

 are extensively carried on. The wool-clip of 

 1884 is estimated at 8,000,000 pounds. 



Coal. The coal-fields of the Territory lie 

 west of the Cascade range. Those of Belling- 

 ham Bay, near the northern boundary, were 

 first discovered and worked. There is another 

 field south of Olympia, in the valley of the 

 Skookumchuck, on the Chehalis. East of Seat- 

 tle and Lake Washington are the Seattle coal- 

 mines, which have been more extensively 

 worked than any others. The following table 

 shows the shipments from Seattle since 1871 : 



The shipments from Puget Sound in 1883 

 exceeded 400,000 tons, and 100,000 were used 

 for home consumption. 



Lumber. The production of lumber is one of 

 the most important interests of the Territory. 

 On Puget Sound and its estuaries and tributa- 

 ries are numerous large mills. The actual cut 

 of all the mills on Puget Sound during 1883 

 was approximately 500,000,000 feet. Of this 

 quantity, 250,000,000 feet found a market in 

 California, 100,000,000 feet in foreign lands, 

 and upward of 100,000,000 feet were used at 

 home. In addition about 50,000,000 pickets 

 and laths were manufactured and shipped to 

 other States or foreign countries, and at least 

 1,000,000 shingles. There is considerable ship- 

 building on the Sound. 



Salmon. There are nine canneries on the 

 north side of Columbia river, besides several 

 in other parts of the Territory. The annual 

 product is valued at nearly $1,000,000. 



Commerce. Only two ports of the United 

 States exceed Port Townsend in American 

 ocean steam-vessels in foreign trade, to wit, 

 New York and San Francisco. The coastwise 

 trade with California and Alaska is important. 

 The surplus grain, wool, and salmon of the 

 eastern and southern portions of the Territory 

 have hitherto been principally shipped by the 

 way of the Oregon custom-houses at Portland 

 and Astoria, and no separate account has been 

 taken of its productions. Thousands of cattle 

 are being driven or shipped by rail direct to 

 the East without any custom-house record be- 

 ing taken of their numbers and value ; and 

 shipments of grain for this season have been 

 made by rail in the same direction, so that the 

 aggregate exports of the Territory can not 

 now be accurately computed. Eighty -four 

 steam-vessels are registered in the collection 

 district of Puget Sound, all employed in the 

 domestic traffic of Puget Sound alone. 



The number of vessels documented at Port 

 Townsend for the fiscal year ending June 30, 



1884, was 164, of which 86 were sailing and 

 78 steam, with a total tonnage of 47,332 tons. 

 There were entered and cleared in the same 

 district at the custom-house for the fiscal year 

 ending June 30, 1884, 1,788 vessels, with an 

 aggregate tonnage of 998,513 tons. Of this 

 number 345 vessels were coastwise, having 

 326,125 tons, and 1,443 were foreign, with a 

 tonnage of 672,388 tons. At least one third 

 of the Puget Sound tonnage is of licensed ves- 

 sels running to San Francisco and other coast 

 ports, not required to report to the custom- 

 house, and not included in the above estimate. 

 The total value of exports for foreign trade for 

 the fiscal year 1884 was $1,946,394; domestic 

 and coastwise, $6,000,000. The proportion of 

 American to foreign bottoms in the Puget 

 Sound collection district trade is 23 to 1. 



Banks. There are 15 national banks, with a 

 total capital of $950,000 and individual depos- 

 its in 1883 to the amount of $1,604,805. Nine 

 private banks and banking institutions are re- 

 ported. There is lack of capital. Money read- 

 ily commands more than 1 per cent, a month. 



Railroads. The Oregon Railway and Naviga- 

 tion Company is operating 204*5 miles of main 

 line and twenty-one miles of siding in Washing- 

 ton Territory. The Northern Pacific Railroad 

 Company is operating 324*7 miles. The Ore- 

 gon Improvement Company is operating twen- 

 ty-one miles of steel-laid narrow-gnuge road be- 

 tween Seattle and New Castle in King county. 

 Of the extension up Cedar River valley, seven 

 miles between Renton (12'5 miles from Seattle) 

 and the MacAllister coal-mine are now being 

 operated. By December 1 it was expected 

 the rails would be laid to the Black Diamond 

 mine (31 -5 miles from Seattle), and by Jan. 1, 



1885, to the north bank of Green river, mak- 

 ing a total of 46 miles under the control of 

 this company. The Olympia and Chehalis 

 Valley Railroad, narrow gauge, seventeen miles, 

 connects Olympia with the Northern Pacific 



