188 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
That part of the Green River valley below Eagle Gorge has all the 
features characteristic of newly cut gorges in fairly hard rocks. It is 
narrow and tortuous and the stream abounds in tumbling cascades 
and pools of deep water. It is a beautiful glen in which the rocks 
are covered with delicate mosses and draped with ferns whose graceful 
fronds sparkle with mist from the numerous cascades. 
Just after passing milepost 81 the traveler can see the head gate 
of the Tacoma waterworks, and the deep-blue pool above, which 
certainly looks as if no polluting substances had ever affected it. 
After being accustomed to the water supplied to some of the eastern 
cities the traveler may envy these Pacific coast towns their nearness 
to mountain sources and the never-failing water supply they can pro- 
cure there. Seattle also draws its supply of water from the Cascade 
Mountains, but as it is taken from Cedar River, the next stream on 
the right (north), neither the intake nor the conduit are visible from 
the train. 
At Palmer Junction the Northern Pacific divides into two branches, 
the older line turning to the left (south) and going by way of Buckley 
to Tacoma, which at the time of the completion of the railway was 
its western terminus, and the other turning slightly to the right and 
going to Seattle by way of Auburn." 
1The original plan of the Northern 
Pacific was to build on the north side of 
Columbia River from the mouth of Snake 
River to Kalama and thence northward 
to Puget Sound. That part of the road 
from Kalama to Tacoma was the first to 
be constructed, the first train reaching 
Tacoma on December 16, 1873. Finan- 
cial difficulties forced a suspension of 
operations for some time, but in 1880 
building was resumed 
teres from Mandan, N 
of Snake River could be 
: ee service on the river 
would se napo t the traffic until a 
undertake the building of that line. 
a 
tion of a road along the south bank of the 
Columbia had been obtained by the Ore- 
eS Navigation Co., and = 
arrangements had been entered 
- between this 
tiations were ape way the construction - 
of the main line was carried on rapidly, 
and the last ite. connecting the eastern 
and western sections was driven a little 
west of Garrison in September, 1883. 
As early as 1876 a line was built from 
Tacoma up Puyallup River to the Wilke- 
son coal mine for the immediate 
of procuring coal, and ultimately as a 
part of the Cascade branch, which the 
Northern Pacific, even at that early date, 
wi msideri i 
of local capitalists, but later it was taken 
over by the Northern Pacific. The last 
cut-off constructed was the road from Pal- 
mer Junction to Auburn, which now gives 
a direct line from St. Paul to Seattle. 
