The Pacific North-West; A Guide for Settlers and Travelers Oregon and Washington Territory (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1882 Excerpt: ...lumber camps, comprising the most active logging interests at present on Puget Sound. On the Skagit, gold, iron and coal have been discovered. About 30 miles from La Conner a valuable coal mine exists, the quality being not unlike that of Cumberland coal. Near the same place rich iron ore has been found, but as yet neither industry has been developed, for lack of capital. The Saak River, one of the tributaries of the Skagit, flowing into the latter about 50 miles from its mouth, is, in course of time, destined to support a large population. There are 20,000 acres of prairie there on which the Indians now pasture their horses. Already a few whites have gone into this region. East of the Saak the land is comparatively unexplored. The climate is mild, the lands low and level, with growths of vine-maple and alder. The Saak valley extends to the Cascade Mountains, and the Indians object to settlers entering it. On the Samish River, about 15 miles north of La Conner, there is a fine body of good timber-land. This stream is small, and navigable only for a short distance. Near the mouth there are about 1,500 acres, chiefly tide-lands, under cultivation, and there are settlements extending up the stream for about five miles. The Chuckanut range of mountains comes abruptly down to the water above the Samish River. They offer the finest kind of sandstone known to the coast. As yet this stone has not been quarried to a great extent. Some public buildings at Seattle and at Port Townsend and at Portland have been built of it, however. This stone is easily worked, and the quantity is inexhaustible. Worth of the Chuckanut Mountains, about six miles, is Bellingham Bay, into which flows the Nooksahk River. The county-seat of Whatcom County is at Bellingham Bay, which is one ...