river, at the head of the sound, falls over a level ridge, afford¬ 
ing sufficient power to move all the mills in Lowell; other 
falls are latent along our shores convenient to navigation; 
“ other men in other times ” will harness these mighty agencies, 
and make them subservient to the wants of man. 
Indians. The ramifications of waters penetrating this valley, 
the arms and peninsulas dividing this sea, the dense forests 
fringing the secluded havens quickened with elk, deer and bear, 
the trees alive with pheasants, grouse and pigeons; the broad, 
level prairies, dotted with mirror lakes-—genial resorts for 
geese, ducks and swans ; the water courses teeming with trout, 
perch and smelt, while the silvery arms of the sound afford 
cod, halibut and salmon, and even the mud-flats fairly boil over 
with oysters, clams and other shell-fish. A country thus teem¬ 
ing with spontaneous luxuries afforded an earthly paradise to 
the red man, who, for centuries held sway, “ monarch of all he 
surveyed ” in this romantic domain, faring sumptuously on oil 
and blubber. In this thermal land, rich in roots, and covered 
with berries, “the poor Indian” idled away his time; “he 
toiled not, neither did he spin,” yet, Solomon in his temple was 
not greater than the “ Duke of York ”— the Chief of the Claims, 
on Puget Sound. From the early traders and missionaries 
we learn that the Indians have dwelt in great numbers around 
this calm sea, but their numbers are “ growing small by degrees 
and beautifully less.” The extinction of the Indian in our ter¬ 
ritory is simply a question of time. Our government has treated 
them with commendable kindness; large, fertile tracts of land 
have been specifically reserved to them; churches and schools 
have been reared for their benefit, and healthy progress is mani¬ 
fest among the remnant surviving. Our Indians display some 
mechanical talent; they dig out beautiful canoes, which in lines, 
symmetry and shear cannot be excelled. They are expert “ by 
flood and field,” either in trapping the coarser ftir animals on 
the land, or the fine otter on the sea. The rich furs, so abun¬ 
dant, enticed the early traders to this coast; the Spanish were 
the first in the field. In 1792 they built a trading fort at Neeha 
bay, (the bricks of which are still visible), in the midst of the 
most energetic and desperate savages on that coast. The Hud¬ 
son’s Bay Company from London, established a trading depot 
at Nisqually in 1833 ; clergymen representing different denomi¬ 
nations of Christians soon followed. Tn 1841 the United States 
