A Report On Washington Territory Part 17

SNOQUALMIE, W. T., Nov. 3, 1887.

DR. RUFFNER.

_Dear Sir_: In response to your request, I make the following memoranda. Our Hop Farm consists of 1,500 acres of rich alluvial soil; 300 acres in hops, which produce from 1,800 to 2,000 pounds per acre. We also raise 150 acres of oats, producing sixty to seventy-five bushels per acre. From 100 to 150 acres in hay, producing about three tons to the acre. Also large quant.i.ties of vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, turnips and onions. All kinds of root vegetables are prolific except sweet potatoes.

Fruits, such as apples, pears, prunes, plums, and berries of all kinds, are in abundance. Last year we had over 5,000 bushels of apples.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HAY-MAKING IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY ALONG LINE OF SEATTLE, LAKE Sh.o.r.e AND EASTERN RAILWAY.]

At present we ship in about 500 tons per year of merchandise and supplies, and ship out, in the way of hops and other things, from 400 to 500 tons per year. This we could double if we had railroad facilities for shipping. We employ during the winter--that is, in November, December and January--about forty men; the rest of the year, from 75 to 1,200 men and women. The keeping up of this supply of labor, which all comes from Seattle, would be quite an item to the traffic of a railroad. I presume you know that where there are a large number of people employed, they are continually coming and going. In speaking with a railroad contractor the other day, he told me that in order to keep 500 men at work, he had to keep 1,500 on the road. This will also be an important item when the mines are working above here. There are a great many items of interest to which I might call your attention, but I will confine myself to the above at present.

Yours, very respectfully,

T. G. WILSON, SECRETARY AND MANAGER OF THE HOP GROWERS' a.s.sOCIATION.

[Sidenote: Farming, fruit and grazing lands.]

Besides the bottom lands, there are large areas of what might be called table-lands, north and northeast of the lakes, which are top-dressed with glacial drift, but which will be well adapted to the crops of the country, and especially to fruits. And besides the table-lands, the smaller mountains are generally adapted to agriculture, and especially to grazing. My impression, as heretofore stated, is that, ultimately, West Washington will become a great grazing region, though it is generally supposed that East Washington is to be the chief cattle country. But the mild and equable climate, and the abundance of rain, ensures abundant forage summer and winter in West Washington. This will be important for the feeding of cities farther south, as well as for sending canned and refrigerator beef far and wide over the Pacific Ocean. The growth of vegetables, especially of root crops, is something phenomenal on both sides of the Cascade Mountains, and will furnish a large item of commerce, as is shown already by the large shipments of potatoes from Seattle, and the multiplication of canneries.

[Sidenote: Hops, barley and beer.]

The hop interest is a large one, but the low prices of the last year or two have checked the progress of this industry. Breweries have already been established at Seattle, and elsewhere on Puget Sound, and, as the chief materials for beer (barley and hops) are produced here so cheaply and abundantly, we may expect Puget Sound beer to become quite a large item of commerce.

The Snoqualmie and Squak valleys have as yet but a scattered agricultural population, but ultimately farms will be opened along all the streams, and even high up on the Cascade Mountains.

[Sidenote: The two great railroads.]

On the east side of the Cascade Mountains the Seattle, Lake Sh.o.r.e and Eastern Railway will closely parallel the Northern Pacific Railroad for a short distance in the Yakima River valley, but will probably leave it soon after entering the most productive part. The route, however, may be varied to suit circ.u.mstances, and as to this point no doubt would be if the talk of making Ellensburg the State capital should become serious.

The remark may here be thrown in that this meeting of the two railroads in the Yakima valley will be no disadvantage to the Seattle road, as the distance to Puget Sound is about the same, and the incidental advantages are in favor of Seattle.

[Sidenote: The Great Bend country.]

[Sidenote: Douglas County.]

Crossing the Columbia River, the railway will enter the great plateau which has been so fully described, and if the pa.s.sage should be made at Rock Island Rapids, it will cross the plateau at its widest part.

Nothing more need be said as to the great agricultural capabilities of the plateau country. The Great Bend, or northern limb of the plateau, is more extensive than the southern division, but it is a much less settled country, owing partly to want of transportation, and partly to want of water. This scarcity of water in Douglas County was formerly thought to be incurable without a resort to artesian wells; but experiment has shown that wells of good water can be obtained at moderate depths, as I was informed by Mr. Smith, a resident of the county, and by Mr. Nash, the lawyer, who owns property there. The population and, consequently, the business of this large county is limited at present, but it has a large body of good land in it, which will attract settlers before long. Its soil is of the same character as that of other parts of the plateau; but the general impression seemed to be that it was not quite equal to the land of the Snake River Basin, or to the adjoining county of Lincoln, owing in part to a larger proportion of rough land. I do not, however, consider this question by any means as settled. The best area for wheat is supposed to be that which borders on Lincoln County. If the route for the Seattle railway which is preferred by Mr. Mohr, should be adopted, it would pa.s.s across the northern part of the county, by many persons considered the best part, and leave the great body of the county out of reach to the southward.

[Sidenote: Lincoln County.]

Lincoln County, through the length of which the road must pa.s.s, is universally admitted to be among the best agricultural counties on the plateau. It is also settling up rapidly, and has become a large producer of wheat, even at the disadvantage of a long haul in wagons. Mr. Curtis, who buys much of the Lincoln County wheat for his mill at Spokane Falls, says that the average yield of wheat is twenty-five bushels per acre, though in 1886 (the year of failure) it fell to sixteen and one-half bushels. Captain McGowan, of Lincoln County, also gave twenty-five bushels as the average crop, and said this would hold good for the whole period since the settlement of the county, including the bad year 1886.

[Sidenote: Spokane County.]

[Sidenote: Price of farming lands.]

By reference of the official map showing the wheat areas, it will be seen that the Seattle railway pa.s.ses through the middle of these areas in both Lincoln and Spokane counties. The testimony was entirely favorable in regard to horticultural and pomological products, as well as to the agricultural, in the strict sense. The population of the three counties, Douglas, Lincoln and Spokane, was put by Governor Semple at nearly 18,000; about 17,000 of which was in Lincoln and Spokane. Much land has been bought with a view to settlement as well as speculation, and this would be occupied and cultivated _pari pa.s.su_ with the progress of the railroad, and there yet remains much good land which can be bought at low prices, say from one dollar to five dollars an acre, and will attract settlers. Farming lands here will have market at the mines north of the Columbia River, at Spokane Falls, where there will be a large city, as well as large mills, and at Seattle, where there will be a large demand not only for the city, but for shipping.

[Sidenote: Tonnage.]

No reliable estimates can now be made as to what business this Great Bend country will furnish ten to twenty years hence. We have only this to guide us, namely, that the part of the plateau which lies south of the Northern Pacific Railroad now furnishes 400,000 tons of wheat for transportation annually, besides other freight and pa.s.sengers; and it has not reached one-half of its producing capacity. Mr. Mohr estimates the income from mail and express as one-fifth the income from freight, and pa.s.senger fares as one-quarter of the whole amount from tonnage.

Though the country lying north of the Northern Pacific Railroad is much larger in area than that which lies south of it, it may not average as well, and cannot all be controlled by one railroad; but it will certainly furnish large tonnage; much more than is common in agricultural regions.

At present the product of wheat in this region is estimated at 100,000 bushels, but this amount would probably be doubled the first year after the railroad comes, and rapidly increased afterward. Much of the mining business already crosses this territory, and will, no doubt, greatly increase.

COAL.

[Sidenote: The Seattle railway pa.s.ses five coal fields.]

I have, under the head of Economic Geology, described so fully the coal deposits of Washington Territory, especially the beds along the line of the Seattle, Lake Sh.o.r.e and Eastern Railway, that it remains only to show the application of these facts to the interests of this railway.

The road pa.s.ses five, if not six, separate coal fields between Seattle and the Columbia River, namely, the Squak or Gilman mines, 40 miles from Seattle; the Washington mines, 43 miles; the Raging River, 46 to 50 miles; the Snoqualmie Mountain, 56 miles; the Yakima (or Roslyn), 75 miles; and perhaps the Wenatchie, 140 miles.

So far as appears at present, the Seattle railway will have a monopoly of all these fields except the Yakima or Roslyn. This it will share with the Northern Pacific; but it will have exclusive control of the market between the Yakima and Spokane Falls, which will be almost wholly dependent upon coal for fuel. Also, it will furnish whatever of this coal may be wanted by the mining country north of the Columbia. And in the Spokane Falls market it will have the advantage of bringing the coal by a route fifty miles shorter.

The coal on the west side of the Cascade Mountains will go to Seattle for consumption and shipment, except so much as may be wanted for iron making, and other manufacturing purposes along the line of the road.

c.o.ke will be in demand for furnaces, foundries, engines, etc., in Seattle, Spokane Falls, and many other places. But its largest consumption will be in iron furnaces which will be erected for smelting the ores of the Cascade Mountains.

[Sidenote: Largest shipments from the Gilman Mines.]

[Sidenote: Superior mining advantages of the Gilman Mines.]

The largest shipments will be from the Gilman Mines for domestic and steam-boiler purposes. The coal must, of course, come in compet.i.tion with other coals which are mined within the basin of Puget Sound, but it has an advantage over all compet.i.tors in the ease, safety, and cheapness with which it can be mined. This will not, of course, be realized for the first few months whilst driving the entries, but when the mines shall have been fully opened I think it will be without rival in the cost of production. This will be evident from the following report made to me by Mr. Whitworth, showing the disadvantages in the mode of working the other mines of the Territory. The terrible explosion which has lately occurred in the deep mines of Vancouver's Island shows that the Canadians are also working at a disadvantage.

MR. WHITWORTH'S LETTER.

[Sidenote: Mr. Whitworth's testimony.]

"At Cedar River the coal is all hoisted from a slope, and the gangways run at right angles to the slope, and the 'brests' at right angles to the gangways, or parallel to the slope, or nearly so. The angle of the pitch is about 18. And the cars are run up to the 'brests' to the working face of the coal, and coal shoveled into the cars. A movable windla.s.s or drum allows the loaded car to haul the empty one up to face of coal.

"At Black Diamond the coal is all hoisted from a slope; gangways at right angles to slope, and 'brests' at right angles to gangways, and parallel to slope. This pitch is a little steeper, about 20 or 22, but not sufficiently steep for the coal to run. Therefore it has to be shoveled down the slope of the 'brest,' or the 'brest' floor temporarily ironed; and is loaded into car from 'brest' chute.

"Franklyn has both systems, hoisting up a slope, and working on a water-level gangway. They have two slopes, one outside and one inside. This pitch is 45 and more. Gangways run on the strike of veins, and 'brests' up the pitch. Coal runs freely on the floor of 'brests.'

"What it costs now to mine at Newcastle I do not know. The cost of coal above the water-level gangway put into the railroad cars varies from 85 cents (one month only) to $1.50 per ton; $1.10 about the average. For the first six months I do not think we (at Gilman) can calculate less than $1.25 per ton.

"The veins which they work or have worked at Newcastle are No.

4--No. 2, as it is called, which is really Nos. 1 and 2 united--and Bagley vein. No. 4 is worked out on two lifts, the water level, and the one below. The third lift they have not cross-cut to it, as the slope is on No. 2. No. 2 is almost closed on third lift east of Coal Creek. First two lifts, of course, are worked out. And west of Coal Creek the working has progressed nearly to the boundary of their land, and pa.s.sed the division of the vein into Parts 1 and 2; so that they are getting but little coal out of it. But most of the coal comes from Bagley. Bagley is never worked, or but slightly, when the others are furnishing plenty of coal. Bagley there consists of two portions of about seven feet each, with one to two feet of rock and slate between. In the lower bench there is about four or four and a half feet of good coal; the rest is bony. And in the upper bench there is from three to four feet of good coal, and the balance bony. When they are pressed for coal there is a strong temptation to mine and ship the entire fourteen feet of coal, and bony coal, as it all looks quite well. This temptation, I know, under the old administration, was sometimes yielded to, and I have supposed such was the case now. In fact, in getting that coal some time since for home use, I have several times seen the straight Bagley from top to bottom in the ton. No. 2. The united vein at its best is ten and a half feet, between splendid walls, about one and a half inch mining on the bottom, and a parting near the centre one inch thick. That never disappeared, but increased both ways until the veins were finally separated. No. 2 separate was about five feet clean, at least with no permanent partings. No. 1, about four and a half feet of coal with a three-inch streak of fine clay eighteen inches from the top, the balance clean."

So much from Mr. Whitworth.

[Sidenote: Cost of mining coal.]

Governor Semple puts the prime cost of the coal of the Puget Sound basin generally at from $2.00 to $2.30 per ton, delivered at tide-water; which is, I suspect, below the fact. James F. Jones, in charge of mines on the Northern Pacific Railroad in the Puget Sound basin, reports the cost per ton at the mines delivered on the cars as ranging from $1.00 to $2.50 per ton, averaging $1.75.

The minimum of cost is reached when the seams are of good thickness and comparatively free from slate, and can be entered on the end by a level entry above water and be mined upward; to which may be added natural pitch enough in the seams for the coal to be self-loading; that is, to run by gravity from the upper gangways to the cars on the main entry.

And to these conditions may be added a number of different parallel seams close together with their bluff ends all coming up to a line in the most convenient way for entry and delivery. It is rarely the case that such an a.s.semblage of favorable conditions can be found, and where they exist the successful future of the property is absolutely a.s.sured.

[Sidenote: Cost at Gilman Mines.]