25 chapters
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25 chapters
TACOMA AND VICINITY.
TACOMA AND VICINITY.
Nuhn & Wheeler, Publishers, TACOMA, WASH. A copy of this book will be forwarded by mail on receipt of seventy-five cents. COPYRIGHT 1888. Tacoma has well been called the “City of Destiny,” for never in the history of our great republic has the finger of destiny so unerringly pointed to the location of a large commercial and manufacturing metropolis as it did to the shores of Commencement bay when the Northern Pacific located here the terminus of its main line on Puget sound. In its histo
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TACOMA’S NEW GRAND OPERA HOUSE.
TACOMA’S NEW GRAND OPERA HOUSE.
Tacoma has hitherto lacked one most essential feature of a city—an opera house—and for this reason has been often denied the pleasure of listening to some of the great dramatic stars who have visited the coast. It will not be long before this will be remedied, as the most elegant opera house north of San Francisco is now in course of erection. Several of the public spirited citizens of this place recently organized the Tacoma Opera House Company, with a capital stock of $100,000.00, for the purp
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HOTELS OF THE TERMINAL CITY.
HOTELS OF THE TERMINAL CITY.
Tourists unhesitatingly declare that in this city they find the only really adequate and enjoyable hotel accommodations to be had on the Pacific coast north of San Francisco, and to this one fact is due much of the popularity of the city spread abroad by those who have enjoyed its hospitalities. Recognizing the necessity for such an institution, the Tacoma Land Company erected in 1884 the large and handsome stone and brick hotel building shown in the engraving on the opposite page. It stands on
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GRAIN SHIPMENTS AND FLOURING MILLS.
GRAIN SHIPMENTS AND FLOURING MILLS.
Less than a year has passed since Tacoma entered regularly into the shipping of grain and flour to foreign markets, though practically this business began the present year, after the completion of the tunnel through the mountains. During the year ending June 30, 1888, there were shipped from this port eight hundred and thirty-eight thousand two hundred and thirty-three bushels of grain, and the estimated quantity for the current fiscal year is four million five hundred thousand bushels, requirin
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COAL AND IRON RESOURCES.
COAL AND IRON RESOURCES.
Coal shipments from the port of Tacoma average twenty-seven thousand tons a month, being the product of mines situated in the region immediately tributary to the city and along the line of the Northern Pacific. These mines are owned and operated by the Carbon Hill Coal Co., the Wilkeson Coal and Coke Co., the Tacoma Coal Co., the South Prairie Coal Co., all in the Puyallup region, and the Bucoda Coal Co., south of the city. Nearly all these shipments go by sail and steamer to the San Francisco m
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LUMBER INTERESTS OF TACOMA.
LUMBER INTERESTS OF TACOMA.
Lumber is one of the chief products of Puget sound, and in the lumbering industry Tacoma leads all other cities on the sound, or on the Pacific coast. Mill capacity has more than doubled the present season. In January four mills were cutting four hundred thousand feet per day; since then five new mills have been built and two of the old ones have increased their capacity, one of them, the Tacoma Mill Co., to five hundred thousand feet, making now a total output of eight hundred and thirty-five t
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LOGGING ON PUGET SOUND.
LOGGING ON PUGET SOUND.
Puget sound holds a leading position in the United States in the magnitude of its logging operations. The quantity of logs put into the water in 1888 was four hundred and thirty-four million five hundred thousand feet. Logging is carried on to the best advantage in the summer time, and logging railroads, sometimes several miles in length, upon which locomotives draw cars of logs from the interior to the sound, or to streams connecting with it, have been built by a number of companies at great ex
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GENERAL OFFICES OF THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.
GENERAL OFFICES OF THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.
At the edge of the bluff overlooking the harbor, and at the head of the grade leading down to the water front, stands the elegant, commodious building used for the general offices of the Northern Pacific. It is a most substantial structure of brick and iron, cemented on the exterior walls, having a basement, three stories and an attic, with asbestos felt under each floor, and was completed in the fall of 1888 at a total cost of $125,000.00. In all, the building contains fifty-three office and st
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TACOMA’S FINE BUSINESS BLOCKS.
TACOMA’S FINE BUSINESS BLOCKS.
Not the least of the marvels of Tacoma’s history is the great business blocks that have been erected, converting a forest wild into a city of brick and stone in less than a decade. A suggestion of the massive appearance of the buildings on a portion of one of the streets is given by the first engraving in this volume, while on other pages are presented engravings of a number of fine business blocks but recently erected. Here is located the only chamber of commerce building north of San Francisco
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STREETS, WATER WORKS AND ELECTRIC LIGHTS.
STREETS, WATER WORKS AND ELECTRIC LIGHTS.
Electricity lights the business thoroughfares and many of the stores, while gas illuminates other portions of the city. The gas works were built in 1884, and the electric light plant, now having twenty miles of wire, was put in by a responsible company in 1887. There is, also, an excellent telephone service, with an extended circuit reaching Puyallup valley. In its water works it is especially fortunate. The system was built in 1884, at a cost of $300,000.00, and consists of eleven miles of main
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TACOMA AS A MANUFACTURING CITY.
TACOMA AS A MANUFACTURING CITY.
Whenever so young a city as Tacoma is mentioned it is generally spoken of as a prospective metropolis, whose present growth is based largely upon the future. Great as Tacoma’s future is sure to be, its present condition has not been reached by discounting it nor is its great prosperity due to large drafts on future industries. It has now many establishments which employ a large number of hands, pay many thousands of dollars to workmen monthly, and turn out a manufactured product valued at millio
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MOUNT TACOMA, THE CASCADE MONARCH.
MOUNT TACOMA, THE CASCADE MONARCH.
Rearing its great mass of snow and ice far above the surrounding mountains, Mt. Tacoma is the most commanding object in every Puget sound landscape, and is never seen to better advantage than from the streets of Tacoma. Its height is fourteen thousand four hundred and forty-four feet, exceeding that of any other of the numerous snow peaks of the Cascades, and in beauty of form and location it stands pre-eminent the monarch of the mountains. Captain George Vancouver, the discoverer and original e
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REDUCTION OF ORES OF THE NORTHWEST.
REDUCTION OF ORES OF THE NORTHWEST.
Yearly the output of ores in the mines of Oregon, Washington and Northern Idaho is increasing. Not only are the older mines enlarging their yield, but new ones are constantly being developed. New mineral discoveries are made frequently and the number of mining districts increases every year. The remarkable mines being developed in the Cœur d’Alene, Okanagan, Colville, Pine Creek, Cracker Creek and other districts, have placed this region in the front rank of mining interests in the United States
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PARKS, DRIVES AND AQUATICS.
PARKS, DRIVES AND AQUATICS.
Parks are the adjuncts of cities of more mature years than this young giant of Puget sound, but nature has provided here that which many other cities acquire only by the outlay of much money and labor through a series of years. Lying south of the city, and but a short distance beyond its present limits, is a beautiful, level, gravelly plain, studded with oak trees, in the midst of which are lakes of clear, sparkling water. American lake, shown in the engraving opposite, where it forms the foregr
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EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND CHURCHES.
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND CHURCHES.
Education in its higher forms was one of the first thoughts of the intelligent and liberal men who founded Tacoma, and in this matter Mr. C. B. Wright, formerly president, and still a director, of the Northern Pacific railroad, has taken the lead. The Annie Wright seminary, named in honor of the daughter of Mr. Wright, was endowed by him with $50,000.00, and was erected in 1884 at a cost of $35,000.00, with funds raised in the east by Rt. Rev. J. A. Paddock, D.D. It stands at the corner of Tacom
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THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF TACOMA.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF TACOMA.
Quite as much praise should be bestowed upon the citizens of Tacoma for the excellent public school system they have created as for the wonders they have achieved in the construction of a substantial city in so brief a period. Public schools have been recognized as one of the fundamental necessities of society throughout the west generally, and wherever the nucleus of a city has been planted, the public school system has formed part of the seed. Especially in Tacoma is this regard for the educat
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RAILROADS OF THE TERMINAL CITY.
RAILROADS OF THE TERMINAL CITY.
Great sport was made of Tacoma’s railroad aspirations a few years ago, but now things have assumed a different aspect. This city is now not only the theoretical, but the actual, terminus of the Northern Pacific railroad. Here are located the company’s general offices, the offices of the land department, the western car shops, and all the docks and terminal facilities owned by the company on the Pacific coast. The lines of this road not only extend east to St. Paul, and thus connect with all the
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SWITCHBACK ON THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.
SWITCHBACK ON THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.
Desiring to open the Northern Pacific to travel and traffic a year earlier than was possible if they waited for the completion of the huge tunnel through the Cascades, a great passage blasted through the mountains ninety-eight hundred and fifty feet in length, the officers decided to construct a line over the summit on the “switchback” principle, at a cost of $300,000.00. It was completed early in the summer of 1887, having seven miles of track and an average grade of nearly three hundred feet t
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BEAUTIFUL HOMES OF TACOMA.
BEAUTIFUL HOMES OF TACOMA.
Beautiful and costly residences, occupying commanding sites and standing in the midst of green lawns ornamented with a profusion of flowers and shrubs, are one of the noticeable features of Tacoma, and they speak of the culture and refinement, as well as the material prosperity of the people. In the topography of the ground upon which the city is situated, an excellent opportunity is offered for elegant and sightly residences. Rising in a gradual ascent from the business portion, the residence a
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HOPS OF THE PUYALLUP VALLEY.
HOPS OF THE PUYALLUP VALLEY.
Hops are the leading agricultural product of the Puget sound region, and hop ranches are nearly all directly tributary to Tacoma. Puyallup valley, whose fame as a hop producing section has encircled the world, lies just east of the city, the line of the Northern Pacific passing directly through it. Upwards of three thousand acres are now in vine, which yielded twenty thousand bales in 1887, and twenty-five thousand in 1888, when an average of one thousand seven hundred pounds per acre of both ol
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HISTORY OF TACOMA REAL ESTATE.
HISTORY OF TACOMA REAL ESTATE.
A common expression of visitors is that “real estate is too high,” and many decline to invest in property for that reason, only to repent not many months later when values have advanced on all classes of property. Six years ago the same opinion was expressed, and the prediction was made that property values would take a tumble, and that the “boom” would collapse. Even in the “hard times” of 1884-5 these predictions were not realized. Values were fully sustained, and as soon as the nation began t
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COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES OF TACOMA.
COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES OF TACOMA.
Many advantages are possessed by Tacoma which can not fail to result in building up here a large commercial city. A very large wholesale business is already established in many important lines of trade, and some of the largest and most complete retail stores to be found on the Pacific coast are located here. As an index of the condition of trade here the banking statistics are valuable. There are four national banks, one large private bank and a savings bank. The combined capital stock of these
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WATER FRONT AND HARBOR IMPROVEMENTS.
WATER FRONT AND HARBOR IMPROVEMENTS.
Between the harbor of Tacoma as it was in 1880 and as it is to-day there is as strong a contrast as between a wilderness and a walled city, and yet the harbor of the city of ten years hence will present a still stronger contrast. Along the western shore of Commencement bay run the numerous tracks of the Northern Pacific, along which have been erected most costly wharfs, warehouses, docks, coal bunkers and numerous other commercial facilities. Saw mills have multiplied and other factories are bei
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GREEN RIVER HOT SPRINGS.
GREEN RIVER HOT SPRINGS.
One of the favorite summer resorts of the northwest is situated on the line of the Northern Pacific, sixty-one miles east of Tacoma, in the Cascade mountains. This is the celebrated Green River Hot Springs, five in number, with a temperature varying from 118° to 122° Fahrenheit, which were discovered four years ago. A comfortable hotel, with accommodations for a large number of people, and ten cottages have already been erected. Green river is the most beautiful mountain stream in the west, and
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SCENERY OF PUGET SOUND.
SCENERY OF PUGET SOUND.
From a picturesque standpoint, Puget sound possesses attractions of a high order. Its shores, which, in the main, come down in bluffy steeps to the very margin of the waters, are lined with verdant firs. Here and there the rolling hills are broken, where some stream pours down from the mountains and flows through a fertile valley, covered with a rank growth of forests of cedar, fir, maple, alder, cottonwood and creeping vines, save where the hand of man has cleared a way for the plow, and conver
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