764 



WASHINGTON. 



a half years ending Sept. 30 were as follow: 

 W T estern Hospital for Insane, total, $279,194.90; 

 daily per capita, 594.96 inmates, $0.3673; Eastern 

 Hospital for Insane, total, $174,258.61; daily per 

 capita, 307.30 inmates, $0.4438; State Penitenti- 

 arv, total, $191,169.99; daily per capita, 357.2 in- 

 mates, $0.4190; State Reform School, total, $67,- 

 798.70: daily per capita, 133.38 inmates, $0.34:>(>: 

 Soldiers' Home, total, $86,148.43; daily per capita, 

 144.5 inmates, $0.4007. 



Banks. The report of the condition of the 27 

 State banks. May 31. shows: Loans, $4,708,893; 

 ical estate. $1,267,987; surplus, $10,745; deposits, 

 s7.. '.Til. Xi'.i; undivided profits, $211,701; cash, 

 si. i >3 1.9 12. The report of the national banks in 

 the State. April 20. shows deposits of $20,420,954, 

 and cash on hand, $2,925,252. 



Public Lands. The figures from the General 

 Land Ollice for the year ending June 30 include 

 the following concerning Washington: Area un- 

 appropriated, unreserved, and unsurveyed, 5,888,- 

 ."isl acres; area unappropriated, unreserved, and 

 surveyed, 5.237.302 acres; area reserved, 12,366,791 

 acre>: area appropriated, 19,264,206. The reserves 

 in Washington are: Mount Rainier reserve, 2,027,- 

 .~>2() acres; Olympic reserve, 1,923,840 acres; Wash- 

 ington forest reserve, 3,594,240 acres. The Priest 

 river reserve, in Washington and Idaho, comprises 

 645,120 acres. 



A proclamation opening the northern half of the 

 Colville Indian Reservation in the northwestern 

 part of the State was issued in April, to take effect, 

 according to the law, six months later, Oct. 10. 

 The half that is opened contains 1,500,000 acres, 

 300.000 of which were allotted to the Indians un- 

 der the treaty of cession. It is estimated that at 

 least 300,000 acres are first-class agricultural land, 

 about the same area mineral land, and the re- 

 mainder is covered with a fine growth of fir, cedar, 

 and hemlock. The lands chosen by the Indians 

 lie chiefly along Kettle river. 



The report of the Geological Survey on the 

 Olympic forest reserve says that, taken as a whole, 

 " this is the most heavily forested region of Wash- 

 ington, and with few exceptions the most heavily 

 forested section of the country. The densest for- 

 ests are found in the townships near the Pacific 

 coast, in the northwestern part of the reserve, 

 while in the mountains, as the altitude increases. 

 the forests become less dense and the species be- 

 come of less value for lumber. The total stand 

 of timber upon the area examined 2,400 square 

 miles -is 37,100,000,000 feet, an average of 24,000 

 feet per acre for the entire area. There is no sec- 

 tion of equal area in the State so heavily clothed 

 with forests as this.'' The timber is hemlock, red 

 tir. ^ilver lir. cedar, and spruce. Portions of this 

 reserve were restored to the public domain this 

 year because more suitable for farming than for 

 forest culture. 



The total amount of timber in the State, as esti- 

 mated by Mr. Gannett, of the survey, is, under 

 the Washington lumbering practice, 1 14,778,000,000 

 feet, Ixwird measure. Of this amount, more than 

 nine tenths, or 103,504,000,000 feet, is west of the 

 crest of the Cascade range, the remainder 11,- 

 274,000.000 feet being upon its eastern slope and 

 in the northern and eastern portions of the State. 

 "With the exception of the redwoods of Califor- 

 nia." he says, " the forests of Washington are the 

 densest, heaviest, and most continuous in the 

 I'nited States. Except for a few prairie openings, 

 and except where removed by fire or the ax. they 

 coxcr the country as a thick mantle from high on 

 the Cascade range westward to the shores of the 

 :ic. Out of the 15.8.-.S square miles of the 

 State formerly covered with merchantable timber, 



20 per cent, has been destroyed by fire, 22J per 

 cent, has been cut, and the remainder, 57| per 

 cent., is still covered by standing timber. The 

 present supply, as it now stands, is sufficient to 

 supply the sawmills of the United States for four 

 years, under the present rate of cutting." 



The report of the State Land Department for 

 the four years past shows a great increase in the 

 leasing of school and granted lands. The total 

 receipts from the lands .from 1892 to 1896 were 

 $945,521.32, and from 1896 to 1900, $1,704,374.05. 



Industries and Business. Lumber shipments 

 were as follow for the year ended June 30, 1900: 

 Cargoes to foreign ports, 176,911,582 feet; cargoes 

 to domestic ports, 238,855,465 feet; rail shipments, 

 304,205,000 feet; total, 719,972,047 feet. The value 

 of the foreign cargoes was $1,835,329. No other 

 values are stated by the Trade Register. Assum- 

 ing that the domestic cargoes and shipments 

 averaged with the foreign cargoes $10.40 a thou- 

 sand the total of the shipments closely ap- 

 proached $7,500,000. 



The Puget Sound canneries have had an un- 

 usually poor season, the pack being only 432,301 

 cases, 50 per cent, less than that of 1899. 



The report of the Dairy Commissioner shows 

 great growth in the dairy industry. 



The first bounty of 1 cent a pound on beet sugar, 

 offered by the last Legislature, was paid in Decem- 

 ber. It amounted to $2,168.90, and was paid to 

 a company in Spokane County. 



The stock industry of the State of Washington 

 is valued at $30,000,000. The loss to stock owners 

 from contagious, diseases approximates $75,000 an- 

 nually. 



The discovery of shot gold running $10 to the 

 cubic yard was reported in December to have been 

 made on Fourth-of-July creek, a branch of Kettle 

 river. 



The number of articles of incorporation filed 

 with the Secretary of State in 1897-'98 was 1.852; 

 in 1899-1900 it was 2,168. The receipts for the 

 first two years amounted to $74,773.47, and for 

 the last two $91,150.39. 



The State Capitol. An application was made 

 in December for a writ of mandate against the 

 Governor and the other Capitol Commissioners, to 

 appear and show cause why they should not go 

 on with the building of the new Capitol. The 

 application was made by F. H. Goss, to whom the 

 contract was awarded Jan. 30, 1890. The action 

 was dismissed in the Superior Court, but may In- 

 appealed to the Supreme Court. The Governor 

 explains the matter in his message. " The State 

 has from the General Government/' he says, " a 

 grant of 132,000 acres of wild lands, donated for 

 the purpose of aiding in the erection of public 

 buildings at the State capital. Hut this donation 

 is unproductive. It is agreed that these lands 

 can not now be sold. Regarding their future value 

 a great difference of opinion prevails. Two years 

 ago it was said that if a Stale Capitol was immedi- 

 ately desired a proposition to purchase the Thurs- 

 ton County courthouse might be successfully man- 

 aged. This is a beautiful building, centrally lo- 

 cated, costing $150.000. The State holds in the 

 permanent school fund $150.000 of Thurston 

 County warrants. An exchange of paper might 

 transfer the title. One hundred thousand dollars, 

 carefully expended, would build an addition to 

 the rear, in the same general style of architecture. 

 ontaining comfortable quarters for the State Leg- 

 islature." 



Political. State officers were elected in No- 

 vember. There were five tickets Democratic (in 

 which the Populists united). Republican, Prohibi- 

 tion, Social -Democratic, and Socialist-Labor. The 



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