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broad avenues will open a vast and profitable market to our 
fishermen, where the sweet fish of our cold waters will be large¬ 
ly consumed. The Northern Pacific Railroad will enable our 
fishermen to send the products of the seas—oil, bone, ivory, 
pelts and furs by the way of the Canadian canals, and connecting 
with ocean steamships on the St. Lawrence to Europe. Our 
salmon will be shipped to every market in North America and 
Western Europe. On our fishermen devolves the grand duty of 
furnishing this fish at such prices as will place it within the 
reach of all. 
The merchants along the northwest coast have engaged in de¬ 
veloping the resources of Alaska and Siberia with good results. 
Nearly two hundred vessels have entered those waters the pres¬ 
ent season in quest of cod, salmon, otter, seal, walrus, whale 
and other products. From the most reliable data at hand we 
estimate the value of the products from those regions for the 
present year will approach five millions of dollars in coin. In 
view of our unlimited shores, genial climate, extensive fishing 
grounds, teeming with the treasures of the deep, forests prime¬ 
val—cedars, spruce, fir and hemlock; our untold facilities for 
shipbuilding; minerals—coal, iron, copper, silver, gold and dia¬ 
monds ; furs—otter, seal, walrus, fox, marten, deer, wolf, bear, 
panther, ermine and sable—all accessible to safe harbors, laved 
with the warm stream from the Indies, tempering the winds to 
the shorn lamb, abating the wear and exposure of men and ves¬ 
sels. In view of the prolific wealth here latent, the broad invi¬ 
ting fields now open, what rich avenues are here for the ener¬ 
getic young men of our country ? What broad channels are 
opened to the American fishermen of nerve and cash. In a de¬ 
sire to compress our theme, we have passed over several items 
incident to our subject. We now propose to demonstrate our 
preference for the most available locality for developing the re¬ 
sources of the northwest coast, in — 
A PLEA FOR PUGET SOUND. 
Previous to the acquisition of Alaska, Washington Territory 
formed the northwestern angle of our country; it is now the 
central focus of our possessions on the Pacific slope. This 
region is bounded on the north by British Columbia, on the east 
by Idaho, on the south by Oregon, and on the west by the Pa- 
i 
