770 



WASHINGTON. 



tux on net premiums received by insurance com- 

 panies doing business in the Sttite. 



Vital Statistics. The published report for 

 1893 of Dr. George S. Armstrong, Secretary of 

 the Board of Health, shows the number of deaths 

 per 1,000 of population to be 3'6; the number of 

 births to be 9 - 15. During the year there were 

 1,874 marriages in the State. 



State Capitol. Some changes have been 

 made in the membership of the Capitol Commis- 

 sion. Legal technicalities have required adjust- 

 ment, but the delay in the preliminary work of 

 the board results to the advantage of the proj- 

 ect. The people are assured of the competence 

 of the commission, and that the terms of the 

 grant will keep the expenses within the limits 

 of the appropriation. 



Prof. W. It. Ware, of Columbia University, 

 New York citv, was appointed as expert to con- 

 sider 188 plans submitted by architects from 

 various parts of the country. He selected from 

 G, as worthy of acceptance, plan No. 17, by Er- 

 nest Flagg, of New York. This plan received the 

 first prize, as best adapted to the requirements of 

 structure and appropriation. The second prize, 

 of $1,500, was given to William M. Kenyon. of 

 Minneapolis; the third, of $1,000, to W. H. 

 Dennis and 0. P. Dennis, of Tacoma; the 

 fourth, of $oOO, to German & De Waard, of 

 Duluth, and W. E. Brown, of Chicago. 



The plan in general consists of a central ro- 

 tunda, to the north of which is the Senate cham- 

 ber and to the south the House of Representa- 

 tives, with the main entrance at the east and the 

 supreme court at the west. Ample corridors 

 traverse the building parallel to the principal 

 axis. Entrances are at the east and west, on the 

 first and basement floors. Committee rooms 

 and dependencies are arranged for in the base- 

 ment. The structure will have a dome of noble 

 proportions, in open-work masonry, crowned 

 with a figure of Victory. The style of architec- 

 ture is a variation of modern German renais- 

 sance. The principal facade presents a grand 

 colonnade upon a basement of pure simplicity, 

 terminating in square pavilions, broken in the 

 center by the main entrance, placed in a great 

 niche, and by the ends of the transverse col- 

 umns. The interspaces are closed with supports 

 for statuary, and there is a central group over 

 the main entrance. Limestone from native 

 quarries is the material proposed, with timber, 

 also from the State, and Tenino stone for the 

 foundation. The site selected has a wide view 

 of Puget Sound. The grounds have been cleared, 

 the lake upon it drained, and bids accepted for 

 all the work. The grounds are to be laid out in 

 a park, with a driveway 100 feet wide around 

 the entire tract. The bill calls for the comple- 

 tion of the edifice in IS!)!). 



State Lands. State warrants are steadily 

 increasing in value. The market price in Janu- 

 ary was 1 per cent, higher than for the last 

 month of 1893. quoted at 97 cents. School and 

 tide lands are being sold. The amendment to 

 the sundry civil bill authorized the Governor to 

 apply to the Surveyor General for the temporary 

 reservation of townships still unsurveyed. from 

 which the State may make selections on the 

 various land grants, and also authorizing the 

 State to advance money for the surveys, the 



Federal Government to reimburse it for the out- 

 lay afterward. 



In the contest with certain railways concern- 

 ing establishment of harbor lines, injunctions 

 were dissolved, and the decision given that such 

 were not conformable to public polity. 



The State Land Commission reports a total 

 acreage of lands selected under the several aeis 

 of Congress known as land-grant acts to be 

 437,750 acres. 



Harbor Improvements. The river and har- 

 bor bill reported to the House, April 4, was 

 modified and passed by Congress in August . 

 providing an appropriation for further improve- 

 ments of the harbors on Puget Sound. In addi- 

 tion to the appropriation of 1893 for the work 

 now in progress, the various harbors on the coast 

 of Washington receive the following amounts: 

 Olympia, $40.000; Everett, $10,000; Swinomish 

 Slough, $25,000; Willapa river and harbor, 

 $13,350 ; Gray's harbor and Chehalis river, $25,- 

 000; Cowlitz 'river. $3,000; snag boat for Puget 

 Sound and tributaries. $14.000; Seattle, for Lake 

 Washington Canal, $25,000. For the construc- 

 tion of this canal a company has been formed 

 and a contract signed under the law approved 

 March 1, 1893. the terms of the contract re- 

 quire its beginning not later than March 1, 1895, 

 to be completed in six years. 



The harbor work of the State is progressing 

 successfully, according to the prepared plans of 

 the Harbor Line Commission, with the exception 

 of Hoquiam, on Gray's harbor, where, instead of 

 deepening, the dredging seemed to fill up the 

 channel. Tacoma harbor lines were established 

 Sept. 5, and the Hoquiam maps were filed with 

 the Chehalis County auditor Sept. 6. 



During the night of Dec. 6 a great subsidence 

 over a considerable area occurred in the bottom 

 of Puget Sound. An investigation was insti- 

 tuted, and on Dec. 13 it was reported that the 

 water was deeper than before the landslide at 

 the shore line. 60 feet ; 700 feet out, 40 feet ; 

 800 feet out, 25 feet : giving an area estimated 

 at 800 feet in width, and covering about 20 

 acres. Later soundings indicated the center of 

 the depression to be about 1,000 feet from the 

 shore line. The railway company has 1,200 feet 

 of dockage to replace,' and has also to rebuild 

 the wharves and warehouse that slipped into the 

 bay. No permanent retaining wall is possible, 

 and piling is necessitated. 



Charities. The State supports the following 

 institutions: The Soldiers' Home, Orting, Pierce 

 County; Hospital for the Insane, Steilacoom, 

 Pierce County ; another at Medical Lake, Spo- 

 kane County: Penitentiary, Walla Walla, in 

 Walla Walla County; and the State Fair, at 

 North Yakima. Yakima County, which combines 

 charitable and educational advantages. 



Education. The educational institutions 

 proper are: University, Seattle, Kings County; 

 Agricultural College and School of Science, 

 Pullman, Whitman County; Normal School, 

 Eilensburg. Kittitas County ; another at Cheney. 

 Spokane County; Reform School. Chehalis, 

 Lewis County; and School for Defective Youth, 

 Vancouver, Clarke County. 



The number of school districts in the State in 

 1894 was 1,741: K-hoolhouses. 1,654; school 

 children in attendance, 112.300; teachers, 3,086. 



