772 



WASHINGTON. 



WATER SUPPLY. 



sippi Congress, held on the coast during Febru- 

 ary, reported an enthusiastic approval of the 

 Nicaragua Canal project as of twofold signifi- 

 cance to the interests of Washington, not alone 

 to contribute to the markets of the State, but 

 because of the amendment to the bill regarding 

 supplies during its construction. It would re- 

 quire a vast amount of lumber and other mate- 

 rials from Puget Sound. 



Agriculture. Wheat is a large product of 

 the State : hops, oats, barley, rye, hay, and to- 

 bacco are successfully grown, and the vegetable 

 yield is abundant. Dairying is a recently estab- 

 lished and growing industry. Sixteen creamer- 

 ies are in operation, with the years result show- 

 ing a value of $300,000. 



A notable exhibit at the Interstate Fair at 

 Tacorna this year was from Thurston County, of 

 coffee plants grown by a farmer in the open air. 

 The plants proved a successful experiment, were 

 hardy and flourishing, and the beans were plen- 

 tiful and two thirds grown. 



The live stock in the State give the following 

 returns: Total number of horses. 171,518, valued 

 at $5,192,986 ; cattle, 206,372, value. $2,980,845 ; 

 sheep, 290,021, value, $580,042; hogs, 53,487, 

 value, $187,211. 



The Interstate Fair at Tacoma was dedicated 

 Aug. 16, the Governor delivering the opening 

 address. The formal opening was on the 19th, 

 and the fair closed Nov. 1. 



Every county has a society devoted to horti- 

 cultural and pomological interests. The acreage 

 devoted to Italian plums exceeds that devoted 

 to other fruits. There are 12,000 acres of plum 

 orchards in the State. The crop of 1894 was 

 light, and 850,000 pounds were cured as prunes. 

 The fresh fruit was also shipped successfully. 

 Evaporators have superseded sun drying. 



Mining'. The Old Dominion mine in Stevens 

 County was the first important discovery in the 

 State, 'in 1885. It has produced nearly $1,000,- 

 000 worth of <?old and lead at small expense. 



The coal mines had a total output of 1,208.250 

 tons, according to the reports of their inspectors. 



The newest incorporated mining interests, to 

 work the mines in Spokane and Snohomish, have 

 capital invested in placer gold and lead mines 

 to the amount of $10,500,000. 



The State Land Commissioners have received 

 reports of opal beds discovered on a school sec- 

 tion in Lincoln County, and have ordered an in- 

 vestigation. 



In other tests in Thurston County crude petro- 

 leum was discovered. 



(*ame. The list of large game within the 

 State includes elk, mule deer, and black-tailed 

 deer; black, brown, and bald-faced bears; white 

 mountain goat and mountain sheep, or "big- 

 horns." The animals hunted for their fur are 

 otter, beaver, fisher, mink, muskrat, wolverine, 

 coon, skunk, cougar, lynx, wild-cat, gray and 

 black wolf, and coyote. The birds on the up- 

 lands are blue grouse, ruffled grouse, sharp- 

 tailed grouse, sage cock, mountain quail, valley 

 quail, and partridge ; the band-tail pigeon, tur- 

 tle dove, and sand crane. The waterfowl, abun- 

 dant in winter, are the Canada goose, white- 

 fronted goose, arctic goose, Hutchins goose, and 

 swan ; the mallard, sprigtail, bluebill, wood 

 duck, butterball, and sea ducks in great variety. 



The shore and marsh birds on the coast are 

 Wilson snipe, robin-breasted snipe, yellow legs 

 or tattler, upland plover, turnstone, whale bird, 

 golden plover, black-breasted plover, sickle-bill 

 curlew, willet, and all varieties of .sandpiper. 

 Most of these remain in the winter. 



Climate. The mean temperature, from ob- 

 servations in 20 counties in 1893, was given as 

 49. From records of seventeen years at Olympia, 

 applicable to the entire region of Puget Sound, 

 are taken the appended findings: Kainfall, 52 

 inches. Distributed during year winter, 46 per 

 cent. ; autumn, 77 per cent. Greatest annual 

 amount, 73'44 in 1879; and least, 33*75 in 1889. 

 The mean annual temperature from 1878 to 

 1894 was 50. Zero was reached but on two 

 days during that interval, when it fell 2 below. 

 The highest temperature recorded was 97, July 

 27, 1885. 



Militia. The militia of the State numbers 

 1,750 officers and men, with an organized force 

 of 1.350. A special levy of two fifths of 1 mill 

 on the taxable property of the State creates a 

 fund for its support. The militia forms 1 bri- 

 gade of 2 regiments of infantry, with 10 com- 

 panies each, and 1 separate company, and 4 

 troops of cavalry in 1 battalion, commanded by 

 a brigadier general. The report of the Adjutant 

 General of the State to the General Government 

 gives the number of males in the State liable to 

 military duty as 86.156. The State camp is at 

 Woodlands, near Olympia. The encampment 

 for 1894 was held for ten days, from June 28. 



Mount Tacoma. Late in November pecul- 

 iarities were observed in the outlines of Mount 

 Tacoma. To make definite and scientific in- 

 vestigation, an expedition was formed in Seattle, 

 composed of military, scientific, and gentlemen 

 of the press, equipped and provisioned for two 

 weeks, to explore the mountain. It was found 

 to have been a landslide on the northern and 

 western angle below the summit. This had not 

 changed the contour of the peaks. Further 

 change was produced by an increase of the fis- 

 sure dividing the north peak from the moun- 

 tains. The party reached the Caribou glacier 

 by Dec. 27, and sent a message down by carrier 

 pigeon. It would require journeying for a week 

 around this glacier to reach White river glacier. 

 The peaks were covered with 10 to 15 feet of 

 snow. At the close of the year the party had 

 not returned. 



WATER SUPPLY. The advance in city 

 and town water supply, from the period of com- 

 mon wells to that of artesian wells, reservoirs, 

 and aqueducts, must essentially proceed with the 

 growth in territory and population, and is always 

 a most important factor in domestic and public 

 life. In the United States for the first hundred 

 years of its history in fact, dating from the 

 time of the first settlements in Massachusetts 

 and Virginia comparatively little was done be- 

 yond the first stages of such progress necessarily 

 requisite for the support of life in such com- 

 munities as were organized. 



The earliest attempt at anything like a larger 

 or more complicated effort to supply a town with 

 water beyond the use of springs and wells ap- 

 pears to have been made in Boston, Mass., in 

 1652, when the ' Water Works Company" was 

 incorporated for the purpose of building what 



