THE HESPERIAN
overstocked markets will not be in sight for years. Hut lit
tle corn Is raised here. Wheat, oats and barley arc
staples; Vnd'in' the acreage yield or wheat and oats this state
leads the Union, while in barley it is second- and our nicgh
bor Oregon is first. Hay is a valuable crop, it being worth in
winter season as high as $30 a ton. In time this state will outri
val California in the production of fruits. Prunes, plums, apri
cots, pears, apples and all berries grow to perfection. Hop
raising is also the source of immense wealth. It is estimated
that this crop alone will bring into the state this year over
$2,000,000.
I might stop now and you would no doubt conclude that
this is a wonderful country. Hut if I should stop now it
would be a half told tale. Washington has lumber for the
world, and she has land enough left when the forests arc
cleared away to support millions of people. In addition to
these sources of wealth, however, she has another source of
natural wealth, a source which it will take ages to exhaust
her minerals. She has extensive beds of steel and iron ores
equal to ihotc ol Pennsylvania; her land is underlaid with
great strata of coal, similar to the beds of Pennsylvania and
Alabama, and in themselves worth millions; large beds of gra
phite have been found; lead is mined in several places ami
and the output is fast increasing; whtlc gold and silver arc
drawing miners here from all parts of the ore producing West.
Huilding stone of excellent quality is easily found and clay
for brick and pottery manufacture can be had for the digging.
Natuic has endowed this great Northwest with her richest
blessings. She has made Western Washington one vast store
house for her wealth. And then to top it all she gave her
Pugct Sound, that most magnificent body of v.. iter, where the
vessels of the civilied world may find a haven in which to
fricght themselves with produce for the remotest prts of the
i!ulrc. What nature has left undone man is doing for her.
Time was when one great railroad claimed tribute from the
people of the state, but, thanks to eastern cntcrprisctand fore
thought, which sees the brilliant futureTor this great region no
less than a dozen new roads are building in this state today.
Three of these are building into Chchalis. All the great
transcontinental roads are reaching for this section and
whether they build in from the north and first strike Pugct
Sound or come in from the south by way of Portland they
will necessarily be extended from one to the other. All
must follow piactically in one route and Chchalis issosituatcd
between the mountains that she will get them all. We now
have the Northern Pacific. The Union Pacific is building
through the town. The Great Northern has asked for right
of way. Three great transcontinental lines! Ilesidc these
the Northern Pacific is building out of hrc two 'jads to the
Pacific Ocean, one to Gray's Harbor and the other to Willapa
Harbor. The later road is to be extended cast of here and
through the Cascades, where it will tap the richest coal fields
in the Northwest.
Eastern capital is making this country yield that which
Nature has provided her with so bounteously. A country
blessed as this one is with such great natural wealth and
beset with such magnificent scenery, would cause the most
discontented to grow enthusiastic over her future. The en
ergy tvbich has been aroused by this enthusiasm is pushing
Washington forward as she deserves to be. During the past
ten years her population has increased 365.30 per cent, and
she has'advanccd from the rank of forty-second in population
in 1880 to thirty-fourth in 1890. A magnificent growth !
Washington is indeed the gateway to Asia. The u'ant of
a fyreign market does not stare her in the face. Wc can
build the ships from our mighty forests to carry our produce
thither. There 900,000,000 people await our products, and
wc arc nearer to Asia by 6,000 miles than England, our
greatest competitor. "When," as a great orator once
remarked in n Nebraska stale contest, "all these grand con
ceptions shall be realized in human consciousness, etc.," then
will Washington "take her place among the nations of the
earth."
What of the climate? Well, for my part, that is the only
disagreeable feature. The summers are all that the most fas
tidious could wish for. They arc simply perfection. Winter
is different. No doubt you can recall the days of early spring
in Nebraska when it rains and is cold and cloudy and disa
greeable generally for days at a time. When you don't know
whether it's going to rain, or snow, or blizzard or what it's
going to do. Well, that is what the winter here is like, ex
cepting that it is generally so mild that you need seldom
expect anything but rain. Wc get plenty of rain, though.
Last j car when I came to the coast in November, on my first
trip, it was drizzling in fine style and it kept it up until May.
The oldest inhabitant, of course, said it was the worst winter
for years, just as he docs each winter in Nebraska when talk
ing to a stranger. It's the same old story, rain, rain.
The days are cold and dark md dreary.
It rains until I grou quite weary. .
It stops awhile, 'lieu begins to pour:
It stops again, thin rains tome more.
And the days arc dark nml dreary.
As to whether T would advise people to come out here
or not I will say thai if a farmer has enough so that he can
have a little money left when he gels here so that lie can get
located and get a start if he is persevering and wide awake'
he will prosper. I am not onc-of those who would urge all
to come, even if they would. Iltu I will say with all my
heart that I do not believe any place offers so many oppor
tunities for young men of energy and spirit to work their way
to the front as docs Washington. .The brain, muscle and en
ergy of the East is what she wants and none others need
apply. Dan. W. Bosh.
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CURRENT COMMENT.
The American Archaeological Society, at this writing, has
$60,000 pledged out of $80,000 necessary for the explorations
of the site of he oracle of Delphi and the purchase of the vil
lage of Kastri. Owing to the overtures made by the French,
the date of the American option expires on November 18 but
it is thought that a sufficient sum of money will -be scpurcd to
carry on the operations and secure treasures which will exceed
n value and importance, those of Olympia. The Athenian
Society of Archaeology is'prosccuting a series of excavations
an the site of two tcmploj nine mile1 northeast of Marathon,
formerly supposed to be dedicated to the goddess Themis,
but now thought to be the remains of an ancient and less old
temple of Nemesis. A beautiful statue of a youth, a horse
carved in stone and various fragments of statues and figures."
The above article, besides being of interest to those that
desire to know what progress the American Archaeological
Society is making in its work, illustrates very nicely the
point made in last issue of Tub Hkspkkian, viz: the neces
sity for preserving the treasures that arc being coniiuually un
earthed. If the Archaeological Society succeeds in purchasing
the site of Delphi it will probably prove to be the richest site
that has yet been explored. ISul of what use would it be to
explore this regipn if the treasures found there were not to be
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