This is not a complete list of all the ports visited by the lumber ships of Puget Sound, and by no means represents the business of the future, which will increase as fast as the mills can be built to furnish the lumber.
No one without seeing it can have an adequate idea of the magnitude of the operations of one of the great saw-mills of Puget Sound.The great saw-mills. The Puget Mill Company, for the first ten months of last year, sawed on an average 290,000 feet every day of ten working hours. I visited the Port Blakely Mills, just across the Sound from Seattle. There I found a fleet of ships in the harbor, owned chiefly by the company; also, ships building on the stocks; railroads going out to the logging camps; a basin for receiving the logs, and a mill, with four separate tracks, bringing the logs in at one end, and carrying out the lumber at the other. A high iron trestle carried off the slabs to an enormous fire which never ceased to burn, where all this waste was consumed.
Around the mill was quite a town, in which a large number of races and nationalities were represented. This mill cut about 59,000,000 feet in 1887. Up to the 10th of November it had shipped as follows: To California, 32,464,763 feet; to South America, 6,847,427 feet; to Sandwich Islands, 1,799,891 feet; to Australia, 6,681,668 feet; to Feejee Islands, 511,815 feet; and used at home for ship-building, railroads, etc., 2,312,000 feet.
The Tacoma Mill Company and the Washington Mill Company produced the following lumber, etc., during 1886 and the first ten months of 1887:
| LUMBER. FEET. | LATH. NO. | PILES. LINEAR FT. | |
| Tacoma Mill | 103,448,350 | 28,815,095 | 642,385 |
| Washington Mill | 42,195,478 | 8,772,800 | 266,403 |
There were other large mills whose statistics I was not able to get in time. Mr. Walker thinks that the cut of all the mills on Puget Sound averages 1,200,000 feet per day; all of which finds ready sale.
I was not able to ascertain the profits of these mills,Profits and prices. but there can be no doubt that, with proper management, the profits are very good. The Seattle wholesale prices were as follows:
| Lumber, | common, | per | thousand | feet | $12 00 |
| " | sized, | " | " | " | 14 00 |
| " | Flooring | $15 00 to 20 00 | |||
| Dressed | lumber, | per thousand feet | 14 00 to 30 00 | ||
| Laths | 2 00 to 2 25 | ||||
| Shingles | 1 50 to 2 00 | ||||
AGRICULTURE.
After hearing of the forests in West Washington, one cannot be surprised to learn that the agricultural interest develops slowly in this part of the Territory. Even after the logger has taken what he wants, there remains a heavy mass of vegetation which is expensive to clear away.Clearing the land. A thorough clearing, including the removal of stumps, costs $75 to $100 per acre; and yet this is sometimes done for hops, hay and vegetables. But the common way is to "slash and burn," at an expense of ten to fifteen dollars an acre. This clears off everything but stumps, and such trees as may be reserved for the mill or other purposes. There are fine farms in every direction, but I had no means of ascertaining the proportion of cleared land, or of the agricultural population. The natural Demand for agricultural products.fertility of the soil, the high prices of produce, and the rapidly growing demand, both foreign and local, will tempt to a wasteful destruction of timber in order to prepare the ground for crops. There need be no doubt as to the extraordinary productiveness of the soils, even beyond that of the same quality of lands elsewhere;Large crops. because the climatic conditions are extra favorable for the growth of all crops suited to the country. There are some crops, such as corn, lima beans and sweet potatoes, which are contra-indicated. The cool summer nights check the maturing of these. Wheat, also, is not suited, though produced to some extent. But for almost everything else the conditions favor extra production. The conditions could scarcely be better for grass and hay. The scantiness of the summer rains is more than compensated for by the long growing seasons in fall and spring. No soil and climate could be better for oats and potatoes. The reported yield of these three staples would be called fabulous if not established by good testimony. Three tons of hay, 100 bushels of oats, and 600 bushels of potatoes per acre are above the average, but by no means reach the maximum on the best lands. Most fruits do well.Hop-growing on a large scale. In the production of hops West Washington has become celebrated as to quality and yield per acre. This is probably the largest of the agricultural interests in this part of the Territory, and was at one time enormously profitable. Present prices are thought to leave some margin, but not much.