A Review of the Resources and Industries of the State of Washington, 1909 Part 12

KING COUNTY

King county is distinguished by having Seattle for its county seat.

The county is an empire in itself, stretching from the sh.o.r.es of Puget sound to the peaks of the Cascade mountains, and containing more than 2,000 square miles of territory. It also includes Vashon, one of the large islands of the sound.

RESOURCES.

King county's sources of revenue are varied and extensive. Its lumber industry, growing out of the vast forests within its borders not only, but from the cutting of logs brought in from other sections of the state, is immense.

Its agricultural lands are not surpa.s.sed in fertility by any, and include not only the alluvial deposits in its river bottoms, but great areas of shot clay and other soils splendidly adapted to fruit culture.

Its mining industries include not only very great acreage of coal measures, which have been producing coal for commercial purposes for local and foreign trade for thirty years and are scarcely scratched as yet, but also fissure veins of the precious metals--gold, silver, lead, [Page 63]

copper, antimony, a.r.s.enic, and also iron, asbestos, fire clays, kaolin, granite, sandstones, lime ledges, and others.

Its fis.h.i.+ng industries in its own waters and from the ocean give employment to a large number of men and its fish are s.h.i.+pped even as far east as Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts.

Its power capacity, in addition to its wood and coal, includes great falls and rapids and many large streams which are already harnessed, but only in part, and driving vast quant.i.ties of machinery in this and adjoining counties.

In commercial possibilities King county is unrivaled. Its combination of lakes, rivers and salt water harbors have no superior on the globe, and the fact of its supremacy is demonstrated by the tabulated statistics of state officers, which show that King county possesses one-fifth of the population of the state and has more than one-quarter in value of taxable property of the state, and pays one-fourth of taxes collected within the state borders.

In scenery, which is no mean a.s.set of the county, it is also unsurpa.s.sed. Vast ranges of mountains, sheets of fresh and salt water, rivers, hills and plains, forests, and gra.s.sy fields combine and interlace in a thousand directions to entrance and delight the artistic eye.

In game, including bear, deer, mountain goats, cougar, grouse, pheasants, quail, mountain trout, salmon and other fishes, make many a paradise for the sportsman.

TRANSPORTATION.

In addition to its salt waterways, with 75 miles of sh.o.r.e lands, and its navigable fresh water lakes, there are centering in the county coming in from all directions seven transcontinental lines of railroads, making King county and its metropolis a great distributing center for the commerce between the American continent and the continents of Asia and the islands of the Pacific. Besides these steam roads, electric trolley lines are making a network of inter-communication between all parts of King county not only, but reaching out into the adjoining counties.

CITIES AND TOWNS.

SEATTLE is the county seat and great metropolis of King county and the state, with a population crowding, if not exceeding, 275,000 people. It covers the hills and lowlands surrounding Elliot bay, an indentation of Puget sound, and a part of the land between the sound and Lake Was.h.i.+ngton, a freshwater lake of great beauty paralleling the sound for 23 miles and from one to three miles wide. It also includes two smaller lakes, whose sloping sh.o.r.es are covered with the homes of its citizens. From its hills the snow-capped mountains of the Cascade and Olympic ranges and Mount Rainier's towering peak are visions of surpa.s.sing beauty. A constant stream of coming and going water craft from all quarters of the globe frequent its harbor. Its business buildings of brick, stone, iron and concrete tower heavenward over four avenues, and many cross streets and miles of its low lands are [Page 64]

covered with railroad tracks, warehouses and manufacturing plants.

Its grammar schools, high schools, and State University are equipped with magnificent buildings and grounds. Its streets and homes are brilliantly lighted with electricity from its own power plants, while the purest water, sufficient for a million people, flows through its water mains, all owned and controlled by the city.

A mult.i.tude of factories are providing a small part of the merchandise and composes the groundwork of her commerce.

The sh.o.r.es of Elliot bay are lined with wharves accommodating the largest sea-going s.h.i.+ps. Its last a.s.sessed valuation of property was $203,168,680, and its tax to be raised $975,210.

More than 150 miles of street-car tracks are within her borders and a nickel pays for a 15-mile ride.

GEORGETOWN, in the southern part of Seattle, but not a part of it as yet, has a population of about 5,000, and is an important manufacturing center. Here are the car shops of Seattle Electric Company, gas works, foundries, breweries, machine shops, brick and tile works and many other industries.

RENTON, ISSAQUAH, RAVENSDALE, BLACK DIAMOND, and NEW CASTLE are coal mining towns.

KENT, AUBURN, KIRKLAND, VASHON, NORTH BEND, TOLT, FALL CITY, and MAPLE VALLEY are agricultural towns of importance.

KITSAP COUNTY

Kitsap county is nearly surrounded by the waters of Puget sound and Hood's ca.n.a.l, forming the larger part of the great peninsula which these waters would make an island were a six-mile ridge in Mason county opened up to them. It has extensive and numerous bays and inlets, with magnificent anchorage, and contains in its center the great Port Orchard navy yard, destined to become one of the largest seats in the United States for Uncle Sam's naval activities.

RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES.

The chief resource of the county is in the lumber. Some of the largest mills of the state are located within its borders.

It is estimated that there are yet 200,000 acres of uncut timber in its borders, and its mills are turning out 600,000 feet of lumber daily, besides vast quant.i.ties of s.h.i.+ngles.

The fis.h.i.+ng industry now includes oyster culture, which is rapidly becoming very important. About the county are located many villages supported by the tillage of the soil from its reclaimed forest lands.

TRANSPORTATION.

Kitsap county has no railroads, but its waterways are so vast and intricate that all its corners are reached by steamers, and travel is cheap and freight conveniently handled in all parts of the county.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate No. 55.--An Okanogan County Valley, Palmer Lake.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate No. 56.--McGowan Seining Grounds, Sand Island, Pacific County.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate No. 57.--Oyster Culture in Willapa Harbor, Pacific County.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate No. 58.--View of the Waterfront at Raymond, Pacific County.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate No. 59.--A View of a Portion of Tacoma's Harbor, Showing s.h.i.+ps Waiting to Load Lumber and Wheat for Foreign Ports.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate No. 60.--Railroad Yards and a Corner of the Business Section, Tacoma.]

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PRINc.i.p.aL TOWNS.

PORT ORCHARD, the county seat, is on the bay of the same name and opposite the navy yard. It is the chief distributing point for a larger part of the cultivated lands of the county, and exports not only agricultural products, but also s.h.i.+ngles. The surrounding lands are well suited for dairying, fruit-growing and poultry-raising, which is also true of the entire county.

BREMERTON, adjoining the navy yard, is the largest town in the county, having about 4,000 people and rapidly growing. It has a fire department, electric light and water systems, newspapers, banks, about 1,000 or more wage-earners and is a hustling town.

CHARLESTON is another smaller town adjoining the navy yard on the west and rapidly growing.

PORT BLAKELEY is an important milling and s.h.i.+pbuilding town of nearly 2,000 people, opposite Seattle. Its lumber goes to all parts of the world.

PORT GAMBLE is a sawmill town of importance contributing to swell the large output of lumber s.h.i.+pped out of the county.

CHICO, TRACYTON, KEYPORT, PAULSBO, SEABECK, CRYSTAL SPRINGS, COLBY, BANGOR, BURLEY, PORT MADISON, and OLALLA are all small villages, making progress as agricultural centers and as furnis.h.i.+ng summer homes for business men.

KITt.i.tAS COUNTY

Kitt.i.tas county is located about in the center of the state, and takes in the upper reaches and most of the watershed of the Yakima river. It has a population of about 20,000 in an area of 2,400 square miles. On its northwestern side it is bordered by two ranges of the Cascade mountains, while its southwestern side lies on the Columbia river.

Among the sources of the Yakima river are three large lakes, Keechelus, Kachess and Cle-Elum, most beautiful bodies of mountain water and the sources of the great irrigation systems now fathered by the national government and making the Yakima valley a veritable garden pot of orchards and vegetables, gra.s.ses and flowers.

RESOURCES.