WASHINGTON. 



771 



The value of school property, exclusive of school 

 lands, in January, 1894, was $4,872,710 ; amount 

 paid to teachers, $881,048; number of acres of 

 school land. 2,484,480 ; minimum value of school 

 land, $24,844,000. 



Indians. There have been 10 reserves for the 

 Indian population of this State: The Skoho- 

 mish, Quinaiutt, Chehalis, Payallup. Snohomish, 

 Nisqually, Squakson, Lummi, Colville, and Ya- 

 kima. The superintendent, Mr. Eells, was ap- 

 pointed by Gen. Grant, but the Indians have so 

 far advanced in general civilization that the 

 office of Indian agent is this year abolished. 



Weary of waiting for county repairs, the In- 

 dians have voluntarily and thoroughly accom- 

 plished such work themselves. 



The Chinook patois, introduced among the 

 Indians by the Hudson Bay Company since 

 1832, is a hybrid language composed of Eng- 

 lish, French, and the dialects of the various 

 tribes. It came into general use to facilitate 

 trade with them, and is, in some features, de- 

 serving of study. The native languages of the 

 tribes "are replete with poetic ideas and fancies, 

 and are responsible for such familiar names in 

 the State as Tacoma, Seattle, and Hoquiam, and 

 for a list, not so familiar, of the names given to 

 counties, towns, and waters of the State as: 

 Pataha, Wiahkah, Tatoosh, Kitsap, Kiickitat, 

 Asotin, Washougal, Kittitas, Kamilchie, Wah- 

 kiahkum, Cathamet, Chewelah, and Kamokavva. 

 The Indians near Olympia prepared and made 

 an excellent exhibition at this year's Interstate 

 Fair of native and basket work and a model of 

 the former manner of building their homes. By 

 a recent decision of the Interior Department the 

 lands of the Indians are placed under the control 

 of the General Government. 



Fisheries. Of the 1,800 varieties of fishes 

 that are native to the waters of North America, 

 500 are peculiar to the Pacific coast waters and 

 GOO to the tributaries. The State has accumu- 

 lated a fish-hatchery fund from taxation of 

 fishermen and canners, and it is desired to have 

 this appropriated to establish hatcheries in the 

 tributaries of the Columbia. During the year, 

 cold-storage plants and fresh-fish dealers pur- 

 chased salmon to the value of $75,000. The 

 fishermen were paid by Washington canneries 

 5 cents a pound for salmon, the catch amount- 

 ing to 6,721,435 pounds, making $366,071.75 in 

 amount paid ; average weight of fish, 20 pounds. 

 The Washington fishermen sold to Oregon can- 

 neries salmon to the amount of $150,000. The 

 fall pack previously was small, only 43,000 

 cases the amount paid to fishermen being 

 $35,000. Sturgeon to the amount of 3,358,000 

 pounds, and caviar amounting to 55,310 pounds, 

 were prepared for market, valued at $52,635.50 ; 

 and $25,000 was received from fish dealers from 

 cold-storage companies. 



On Willapa Bay and Gray's harbor the catch 

 amounted to about 208,500 pounds of salmon. 

 The amount paid to fishermen for canneries for 

 salmon was $23,439, while fresh fish and salted 

 salmon to the amount of $11,000 was also sold 

 in this district. 



The species of fishes caught were: Sockeye 

 salmon, silver salmon, haddock salmon, steel head 

 salmon, Quinaiutt salmon, fall salmon, halibut, 

 smelt, cod, black cod, rock cod, ling, perch, 



flounders, herring, and some 500,000 pounds of 

 other fish, including trout. The number of men 

 in this industry on Puget Sound is 775. 



The valuation of a year's shipment of oysters 

 and clams was $99,080. The total value of Co- 

 lumbia river salmon and sturgeon catch, Puget 

 Sound fish, oysters, etc., and Willapa Bay and 

 Gray's harbor output was $1,106,226. 



The State Land Commissioners in the notable 

 matter of the applications to purchase lands in 

 the Mason County oyster-bed cases gave its de- 

 cision through Commissioner Brainerd, that 

 they are now, and always have been, natural 

 oyster beds, and so are not subject to sale. 



The Supreme Court has decided that the 

 middle of the river is the boundary between 

 Oregon and Washington fishery limits. 



Shipping. The steamboats and sailing ves- 

 sels in "the State have a total valuation of $1,- 

 015,721. The United States naval station for 

 Puget Sound, across Orchard Bay, near Sidney, 

 1 mile, has been in process of construction for 

 two years. It is to be completed in five years 

 from" the time of beginning. The United States 

 Marine Hospital is in Jefferson County. 



Railways. The Toledo Railroad and Im- 

 provement Company has filed articles with the 

 Secretary of State to build a new railway from 

 Toledo, Lewis County, to a point on the North- 

 ern Pacific Railroad. The Midland Pacific made 

 a contract in November for the building of its 

 fourth section through central Washington, with 

 termini at Seattle and Tacoma. The two trans- 

 continental lines of the Great Northern and 

 Northern Pacific are now completed across the 

 State, each having its termini at Seattle and 

 Tacoma. The total number of miles of railway 

 in Washington is 2,823, with side tracking of 

 316 miles. The total valuation of main lines is 

 $17,268,246; side tracking valued at $665,131. 



The cable, horse, and electric railways in the 

 State have a total valuation of $726,694. 



Electric Interests. The telegraph, tele- 

 phone, and electric lines have a total valuation 

 of $600,891. 



Lumber. The lumber mills are working to 

 full capacity, and the lumber and wood-working 

 industries and their dependencies are receiving 

 constant additions. Giant trees of frequent cut- 

 ting measure 11 feet in diameter, many yielding 

 30,000 feet of timber. Logs are furnished more 

 immense than from any other State. The huge 

 timbers and trunks that once composed the State 

 building at the World's Fair were loaded upon 

 a schooner in May, to sail from Chicago for 

 France, to be reconstructed and exhibited at 

 Cherbourg. Many of the timbers were 3 feet 

 square and 140 feet long. The Puget Sound 

 pipe factory carries on a business of extraordi- 

 nary character and extent. It manufactures 

 water pipes from logs of red cedar for most of 

 the States west of the Mississippi. The pipes 

 are capable of use under high pressure, and large 

 shipments are sent to British Columbia. The 

 output is computed to be about 6 miles of as- 

 sorted sizes a month. 



The State's foreign shipments from the sound 

 alone to December. 1894, gave a total of 81,- 

 474,743 feet. The shingles amounted to a little 

 over 12,000,000. 



The State delegation from the Trans-Missis- 



