dustry it is comparatively small. For the year ending in May 1880, the total value of the deep mine production was reported at $22,036, the principal part of this being from the Peshoston district in the Yakima country, and of placer mines $120,019. In 1881 the yield was not much if any more, and in 1883 the production of the precious metals had fallen off from former figures, not reaching to $100,000. This is not altogether from a poverty of resources, but is partly due to the more sure and rapid returns from other industries which have been enjoyed in eastern Washington for the last decade. The Yakima country was the first to give any returns from quartz-mining. The gold is free-milling, and it is believed will give place at a greater depth to silver.

The total amount of land surveyed in Washington down to June 1880 was 15,959,175 out of the 44,796, 160 acres constituting the area of the state. For many years the fortunate combination of soil and climate in eastern Washington, whereby all the cereals can be produced in the greatest abundance and of the highest excellence, was not understood. The first settlers in the Walla Walla Valley went there to raise cattle on the nutritious bunch-grass which gave their stock so round an appearance with such glossy hides. The gold crusade carried thither merchants and settlers of another sort, and it was found that people must eat of the fruits of the earth in the country where

their tents were pitched. This necessity led to farming, at first in the creek valleys, then on the hill-sides, and lastly on the tops of the hills quite away from the possibility of irrigation, where to everybody's surprise wheat grew the best of all. It then began to be known that where bunch-grass would naturally grow, wheat especially, and the other cereals, would flourish surprisingly. The area of wheat land in castern Washington has been estimated as capable of yielding, under ordinary culture, more than a hundred million bushels annually, 50 to 60 bushels to the acre being no uncommon return. Message of Governor Ferry, 1878, 4–6.

The soil which is so fruitful is a dark loam, composed of a deep rich alluvial deposit, combined with volcanic ash, overlying a clay subsoil. On the hills and southern exposures the clay comes nearer to the surface. The whole subsoil rests on a basaltic formation so deep as to be discoverable only on the deep watercourses. The climate is dry, with showers at rare intervals in summer, with fall rains and brief winters, during which there is usually some snowfall, and occasional hard winters when the snow is deep enough to fill all the streams to overflowing in the spring, which comes early.

The first wheat-fields of western Washington were those cultivated by the H. B. Co. in the Columbia and Cowlitz valleys, which yielded well, the Cowlitz farm producing from 30 to 50 bushels per acre of white winter wheat. The heavily timbered valleys about Puget Sound furnished tracts of open land well adapted to wheat-growing, but taken as a whole this region has never been regarded as a grain-producing country. The reclamation of tidelands about the mouths of the rivers which flow into the Fuca Sea, opposite the strait of that name, added a considerable area to the grain-fields of western Washington.

The first settlers upon the tide-lands were Samuel Calhoun and Michael Sullivan, who in 1864 took claims on the Swinomish River or bayou, which connects with the Skagit by extensive marshes. Sullivan made his first enclosure in 1865, and three years afterward raised a crop of 37 acres of oats. He sowed five bushels of seed to the acre, intending to cut it for hay, but allowing it to ripen, obtained 4,000 bushels of oats. Calhoun raised 21 acres of barley in 1869 with like favorable results. From this time there was an annual increase of reclaimed land. Its productiveness may be inferred from the statement that on 600 acres at La Conner, belonging to J. S. Conner, about 1.000 tons of oats and barley were produced annually. Morse's Wash. Ter.. MS., xxii. 13. There were in 1875 about 20 settlers on the Swinomish tidelands, who had 100 acres each in cultivation, and raised on them 40 bushels of spring wheat, 80 bushels of winter wheat, 75 bushels of barley, and 80 bushels of oats to the acre. Morse's Wash. Ter., MS., xxii. 15.

In 1881 the experiment was tried of shipping cargoes of eastern Washington and Oregon wheat by the way of Puget Sound, instead of via Portland, Astoria, and the mouth of the Columbia, to avoid the risk of the bar and a part of the expense of pilotage and lightering.

No climate in the world is more suited to the growth of nutritious grasses than that of Washington. The bunch-grass of the eastern division is, however, from being dry a large portion of the year, not so well adapted to the uses of dairymen as the lush growth of the moister climate of Puget Sound, where the rich bottom and diked lands yield from three to four tons of hay to the acre. Dairy products have not yet been counted amongst the articles of export, because farmers have preferred to engage in other branches of business. Up to 1877 there was no cheese in the markets of the territory except that which was imported. In that year two cheese factories were started, one at Claquato by Long & Birmingham, and another at Chimacum, in Jef ferson county. The former made over 28,000 lbs the first year. The Northern Pacific cheese factory, at Chimacum, nine miles south-west of Port Townsend, was a gradual growth, William Bishop being a pioneer of 1856, who settled in the Chimacum Valley and cleared and improved a farm. When he had 60 cows he began cheese-making for the market abroad, producing 1,500 Ibs of cheese and 50 lbs of butter per day. A third factory was established

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in 1879 by Long & Birmingham on the Maddox farm, in White River Valley, the prospect being that the Puget Sound farmers would convert their grain-fields into hay-fields to a considerable extent, and that dairy-farming would become the chief business on the valley and tide lands.

The experiment of hop-farming was first tried in 1864 by Jacob Meeker, who planted a half-acre on his farm in the Puyallup Valley. The yield was 200 pounds, which sold for 85 cents per pound. Thompson & Meade estabfished the first hop-yard in 1872. The following year Ezra and J. V. Mecker and J. P. Stewart followed. The desire to encourage agriculture has led to the formation of agricultural societies in several counties of the territory, Walla Walla taking the lead, by a few persons calling a meeting in Feb. 1865, to be held April 22d, for the purpose of organizing. It was not until 1867 that a fair was held, the address at the opening of the exhibition being pronounced by Philip Ritz. In 1869 the Washington Agricultural and Manufacturing Society was formed and incorporated under the laws of the territory. Land was purchased, buildings erected, and the first fair of the new organization held in Sept., from the 21st to the 25th, 1870. A pomological and horticultural society was also formed this year at Walla Walla. Clarke county organized, in July 1868, an agricultural and mechanical society, and held a fair the following Sept., the opening address being by Governor Salomon. Whatcom county organized an agricultural society in 1866, and Lewis county in 1877. This being the oldest farming region away from the Columbia, the society was prosperous at the start, and the first exhibit a good one. C. T. Fay was chosen president, and L. P. Venen delivered the opening address. Vancouver Register, Oct. 1, 1870; Olympia Transcript, Oct. 12, 1872; Olympia Wash. Standard, June 2, 1877. In 1871 a meeting was held in Olympia in the interest of agriculture by a mutual aid society, or farmer's club, which displayed specimens of productions. The meeting was addressed by Judge McFadden at the close of the exhibit, and steps taken to organize a territorial agricultural society, under the name of Western Washington Industrial Association, which held its first annual exhibition in Oct. 1872 at Olympia. The second annual territorial fair was held at Seattle, in the university grounds.

For

One of the great natural resources of western Washington which has been turned to account is the fish product, although as yet imperfectly understood or developed. The whale fishery is prosecuted only by the Indians of Cape Flattery and the gulf of Georgia. Among the species taken on the coast are the sperm whale, California gray, right whale, and sulphur-bottom. Up the strait of Fuca and in the gulf of Georgia hump-backs are numerous. merly the Indians took more whales than now, their attention being at present turned to seal-hunting. With only their canoes and rude appliances the Makahs of Cape Flattery saved in 1856 oil for export to the amount of $8.000. Olympia Pioneer and Dem., March 5, 1856; Stevens' Northwest, 10; Wash. Topog., 15, 31; Rept Com. Ind. Aff., 1858, 232. Cod of two or more varieties are found from Shoalwater Bay to Alaska and beyond. They are of excellent quality when properly cured. The climate of Alaska being too moist, and the air of California drying them too much in the curing process, rendering them hard, it is believed that in Puget Sound may be found the requisite moisture, coolness, and evenness of climate to properly save the cod for export, but no systematic experiments have been made. It was the practice as early as 1856-7 to pickle cod instead of drying, and for several years 200 barrels annually were put up. In 1861 cod were very plentiful in the strait of Fuca, so that the schooners Sarah Newton, the Elizabeth, and other Puget Sound vessels picked up several thousand pounds. In 1869 cod brought from $16 to $20 per barrel. In 1864 Thomas H. Stratton fitted out the sch. Brandt for the cod and halibut fisheries. Morse's Wash. Ter., MS., xvii. 47-8. In Jan. 1866 the legislature memorialized the president, asking that arrangements be made with Russia to enable U. S. fisliing-vessels to visit the various ports in the Russian possessions to obtain supplies, cure fish, and make repairs; also to enable Puget Sound fishermen to obtain the same bounty paid to those of

the Atlantic coast, and that ships be sent to survey the banks to Bering Straits. The same year Crosby took the forty-ton schooner Spray to the fishing-grounds, leaving Port Angeles June 1st, and returned in October with nine tons of codfish taken in the Kadiak Sea, 1,000 miles north of Puget Sound. In 1869 two schooners, the Ada M. Frye and Shooting Star, arrived on the Northwest Coast from Rockland, Maine, with full crews, to engage in cod-fishing, other vessels following. Nineteen vessels sailed from S. F. the same season for the Okhotsk Sea on a fishing expedition, and returned with an average of 55,000 fish each. The ensuing year the catch amounted to 1,000 quintals. As late as 1878 Slocum, of the schooner Pato, advised the Portland board of trade concerning the existence of codfish banks off the coast of Washington, from Shoalwater to Neah bays, and solicited aid in establishing their existence.

Halibut grounds were known to be located nine miles west of Tatoosh Island, in 56 fathoms of water, and these fish abound in the Fuca Sea and Bellingham Bay, but are not found in the Sound or Hood Canal. Strong and Webster put up 100 barrels in 1857. In 1874 halibut was furnished to the S. F. market, packed in ice, and again in 1879, the fish arriving in good condition. The schooner Emily Stephens was built for this trade with ten ice compartments. Port Townsend Argus, Sept. 5, 1874; Hesperian Mag., iii. 409; Portland Oregonian, April 5, 1879; ittell's Commerce and Industries, 359. The average size of the halibut caught on this coast is 60 pounds, the largest weighing 200. They are taken with a hook and line from March to August.

Herring have for several years been an article of export from Puget Sound. E. Hammond and H. B. Emery established a fishery at Port Madison about 1870. The herring, though of good flavor, are smaller than those of the Atlantic, and are caught with a seine. A thousand barrels of fish have been taken at a single haul. This fishery has put up 10,000 boxes, of six dozen each, of smoked and dried herring in a season, and delivered them on the wharf for 30 cents a box. Seattle Rural, March 1877. 36. This establishment has pressed from herring 2,000 gallons of oil per month. Other herring fisheries were on San Juan Island and at various other points on the Sound.

The eulachan, or candle-fish, so called because when dried it burns like a candle, is another marketable fish of the coast from Cape Blanco to Sitka. It resembles smelt, is very fat, and of fine grain and delicate flavor. It appears in shoals, and is caught with a scoop-net or rake. The Indians formerly took them to make oil, but the H. B. Co. salted them down in kegs for eating. They are now dried like herring.

Sturgeon are plentiful in the Columbia and Fraser rivers, and in the interior lakes of British Columbia. They are superior in size and flavor to the Atlantic sturgeon, being less tough and less oily, and are found in the markets of Portland and S. F. The H. B. Co. manufactured isinglass from them for export.

Rock-cod and tomcod are taken in the Sound, and are regularly furnished to the markets; as are also smelts, sardines, flounders, perch, turbot, skate, chub, plaice, stickleback, and other varieties. A kind of shark, known as dog-fish from its long jaws and formidable teeth, visits the Sound in great shoals in the autumn, and is used by the Indians for food and oil. Ebey's Journal, MS., iii. 42. In 1871 S. B. Pardee made oil from dog-fish at Gig Harbor. Olympia Wash. Standard, April 8, 1871. In the following year a co. was incorporated under the laws of Cal. as the North Pacific Commercial Company, the principal object of which was the taking of dog-fish for oil. The works were located on Fox Island, ten miles from Steilacoom, the site taking the name of Castlenook. The daily catch by means of wears, pounds, seines, and trawls was from 3,000 to 4,000 large fish. One hundred and seventy-seven fish were taken at one set of the lines at Oyster Bay. Olympia Transcript, May 2, 1868.

As soon as spring opens, or whenever the weather will permit after the first of Jan., the Indians at Cape Flattery put out to sea in their canoes a distance of 10 or 15 miles to catch seals, which at this season of the year are

migrating north in myriads, and on a bright day may be seen for miles jumping, splashing, and playing in the water. When fatigued with this sport they turn over on their backs and go to sleep, at which time the Indians approach cautiously and dart their spears into the nearest. They catch eight or ten a day in this manner. Later they used the pilot-boat to go out and return, taking their canoes and cargoes on board. Port Townsend Message, Jan. 31, 1871. Occasionally they killed forty or fifty a day.

Ten vessels were employed in 1881, the catch being about 8,000 seal-skins, worth from $7 to $9 each. The number of Indians engaged was over 200, and their profit on the season's catch about $200 each for skins, besides 1,500 gallons of oil for food.

The sea-otter, which formerly was taken in great numbers at Point Grenville, 60 miles north of Shoalwater Bay, has become comparatively rare. The Neah Bay Indians monopolize the hunt on that part of the coast, while at Gray Harbor white men take them, using rifles, and perching themselves on ladders placed at intervals along the beach, from which they can discern the otter, which seldom comes nearer than 300 yards. It requires skill to shoot them swimming at that distance, but they have been killed at 800 yards. The average was about two otter-skins a month to each hunter, worth from $30 to $50 each. Land otter-skins were very rare; but about four thousand beaver pelts were annually shipped from Washington.

The first discovery of oysters on the Pacific Coast was made at Shoalwater Bay by C. J. W. Russell, between 1849 and 1851. In the autumn of 1851 the schooner Two Brothers, Capt. Fieldsen, came into the bay and loaded with oysters for S. F. They all died on the way, but another attempt by Anthony Ludlub, was more successful. A writer in the Portland West Shore, Aug. 1878, claims the discovery for Fieldsen; but as Swan was on the ground soon after, and knew all the persons concerned, I adopt his account. Natural oyster-beds stretched over a distance of thirty miles in length and from four to seven in width. These beds were common property. The first territorial legislature passed an act prohibiting the taking of oysters by any person who had not been a resident of the territory for one month, without a license. The next legislature prohibited their being gathered by non-residents. The use of dredgers was forbidden, the oystering season was designated, and all small oysters were to be returned to their beds. The legislature of 1564-5 granted Michael S. Drew and associates the exclusive privilege of planting, cultivating, and gathering oysters in Port Gamble Bay, and to Henry Winsor and L. D. Durgin the same exclusive right in Budd Inlet.

An act approved Oct. 31, 1873, granted to each person planting oysters in localities where no natural beds existed ten acres, to hold while the planting should be regularly maintained. Locations could be made in detached parcels, and in Shoalwater Bay 20 acres might be taken; but in no case might the beds interfere with the logging interest. Where marketable oysters were bedded a location was restricted to 20,000 feet superficial area. These privileges were to extend to citizens of the territory only.

In 1861-2 the oysters at Shoalwater Bay were nearly all destroyed by frost and low tides. Their enemies were the skates and drum-fish, to protect them against which it was sometimes necessary to surround the beds by a fence of closely set pickets.

In 1853-4 there were from 150 to 200 men on Shoalwater Bay and affluents who lived chiefly by oystering. Up to 1859 all the oysters shipped came from natural beds, but in that year planting began. The trade steadily increased until the opening of the first transcontinental railroad, when the shipment of eastern oysters began, which materially decreased the demand for the native mollusk. The shipments made from Shoalwater Bay in 1874 amounted to 120,000 baskets. Portland West Shore, Aug. 1878, 2. This locality had now to contend not only with the importation of eastern oysters, but with the beds of Totten Inlet and other parts of Puget Sound, which ship by railroad in any desired quantities, while the Shoalwater Bay oystermen must ship in large quantities, because they depend on vessels. Natural beds of oysters are found