them to go at once into 44 sweet captivity ” in the sunset land. 
Tumwateris two miles above Olympia, at the 44 falls. ,, Con¬ 
siderable trade centers there; several mills and a tannery are in 
active operation. This place possesses great facilities for manu¬ 
facturing purposes. 
Several towns are located along the margin of the sound, in 
which the development of coal or lumber affords employment to 
hundreds of men. The hum of machinery, the clanking of 
lumber and the songs of the seamen form constant music. 44 At 
each of the great mills and at the coal-mines, there are villages 
containing from 150 to 300 inhabitants. The improvements 
generally vests in the mill proprietors, and usually consists of 
a few handsome residences, and comfortable houses for those 
engaged in and about the mills, a hotel, store, smith-shops, etc,, 
pertaining to the business and forming each a community within , 
itself. ... At all these points the hum of machinery is 
constant, the rattle of lumber continuous throughout the day as 
it is taken from the mill directly into the vessel, presenting a 
busy scene in contrast to the deep solitude reigning in the great 
forests before the advent of civilization here.” — Meeker. 
Vast resources are now latent in this fine valley ; coal, iron, 
copper, silver and gold slumber in our hills. The mighty tor¬ 
rent gushing in mad career to the sound, the tall cedar so 
abundant in our lowlands, the numerous hard woods — maple, 
ash, beech and other furnishing material rotting in the swamps, 
the vast wealth annually wasting in those regions silently invites 
development. 44 The cedars, maples and other woods of the 
territory afford excellent material for the manufacture of furni¬ 
ture, ornamental house finishing, sashes, doors, blinds, churns,, 
tubs and pails, beside the endless variety of other articles of 
wood consumed by modern society.” — Garfield. 
The huge fir trees so abundant in our valley and so accessible 
to navigation, have been made to some extent subservient to the 
wants of commerce ; this wood is manufactured extensively and 
exported in vast quantities to the uttermost ends of the earth ; 
it has been tested by naval constructors at home and abroad, and 
commended for shipbuilding. 44 Our fir timber is not only du¬ 
rable but very strong, possessing the quality of stiffness in 
a very high degree. I have not at hand the statement showing 
the strength of this timber, but must refer you to the reports of 
tests made at the United States navy-yard at Marc Island in 
