352 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



ized the Northern Pacific Railroad Company to construct a railroad from Lake 

 Superior to Puget Sound, with a branch, via the valley of the Columbia, to Port- 

 land, Oregon, — and to aid the enterprise granted to the company forty alternate 

 sections of land to the mile. On April lo, 1869, authority was granted for ex- 

 tending the Columbia River branch to Puget Sound, to connect with the main 

 line, which was then to be built across the Cascade Mountains, and it was speci- 

 fied that no land or other subsidy should be given for this extension of the branch 

 line. By some means Congress was prevailed upon afterwards to declare the 

 Columbia River line the main stem and the Cascade line the branch, so that the 

 grant was thus made to cover both. 



This was all done by Congress with the proviso that the lines should be built 

 by July 4, 1879. Since the " Cascade Branch" has not yet been built and the 

 Columbia River line is not finished, connection being made over the O., R. & U. 

 Co.'s line from Wallula to Kalama, it is claimed by the people that the land grant 

 is forfeited. Yet such is the anxiety for a railroad across the Cascades that many 

 are against forfeiture if the company will build the line in three years — yet again 

 many are in favor of unconditional forfeiture. The former comprise the " railroad,'^ 

 the latter the '' anti railroad " party. This is the main issue in the present elec- 

 toral campaign. The anti-railroad party is in the majority, but since old party, 

 lines are still drawn tightly, and since the republicans have nominated a railroad 

 and the democrats an anti-railroad ticket, it is a kind of a quadrangular fight,, 

 with nobody in particular yet on top. 



That portion of Washington Territory west of the Cascade Mountains is 

 divided by local geographers into two parts. The region drained by the streams 

 which flow directly into Puget Sound is called the "Sound Country," the re- 

 mainder is known as "Western Washington." Of this last, all that portion lying 

 west of the meridian through Victoria, B. C, and north of the parallel of latitude 

 through Tacoma, having an area of 3,300 square miles, is an inhospitable wild- 

 erness of ragged mountains, and can therefore never be of great political or com- 

 mercial importance. Still it will forever furnish unmistakable landmarks to the 

 navigator and will always fill the poetical office of diversifying and rendering sub- 

 lime the otherwise beautiful landscape. 



As seen from Seattle nothing can exceed the modest subHmity of these 

 mountains. They have not those round spiritless summits, that hog-back aspect, 

 suggesting the idea of a huge pile of dirt, so common with other mountains of 

 similar height; nor do they overwhelm one with their loftiness. Their summits 

 stand out sharp and clear against the sky, like a cluster of giant pyramids, and, 

 though the glittering crust of distant Ranier shoots far above them, they seem to 

 gain, not suffer, by the contrast. 



The remaining portion of Western Washington is much the same as to soil 

 and topographical configuration as the "Sound Country." As has been said, 

 the "Sound Country" lies adjacent to and comprehends that archipelago known 

 as Puget Sound. This name, in honor. of one of Vancouver's lieutenants, was 

 originally given to that body of water adjacent to Olympia, Steilacoom, and Ta- 



