Trout, halibut, salmon, flounders, cod, clams, oysters, crabs, and mussels are cheap. Plums, currents, gooseberries, apples, pears, and cherries are exceedingly prolific. Bellingham Bay, 6 miles in length by about 3 in width, is landlocked. Upon its surface the largest ocean ships can ride at anchor. On its shore Whatcom is nestled, an incorporated city, and the county seat of Whatcom County. Whatcom Lake, 23 miles distant, is a body of fresh water, 12 miles long by 1 to 14 miles wide, with an elevation of 316 feet above the city. It is discharged through Whatcom Creek into Bellingham Bay, and furnishes a waterpower equal to that of Holyoke, Mass., and insures an abundant supply of fresh water for domestic use. It is from Whatcom that a railroad is being built to connect with the Canadian Pacific Railway, which, when completed, makes Whatcom the United States terminus of that system. A mild climate and large bodies of farming land on Puget Sound, and its coal and iron, make Whatcom County an attractive field for labor and capital.

WHITMAN COUNTY.

Whitman County, with its eastern line bordering on Idaho, and having the Snake River for its southern boundary, has an area of about 1,600 square miles, and occupies one of the most important agricultural regions on the Pacific coast. About two-thirds of its original territory have been set off for other counties. It is intersected diagonally by the Northern Pacific Railroad, and branches of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Railway ramify through its eastern borders. Colfax, the county seat, is located advantageously on the latter road. The assessed value of the property for the year ending June 30, 1883, was $3,664,148. Agricultural products are wheat, 1,250,000 bushels; barley, 910,000 bushels; rye, cut for hay, 700 acres. Live stock: Horses and mules, 25,000; neat cattle, 20,000; sheep, 150,000. Colfax has a private educational institution, the Colfax Baptist Academy, with an attendance of about 90 pupils. Public school districts, 83; school-houses, 75; total value of school-houses, $22,540; number of school children, 3,500; average salary of teachers, $40 per month.

YAKIMA COUNTY,

Yakima County is about 110 miles long by about 70 miles in width, and possesses in a marked degree all of those physical characteristics which distinguish Eastern Washington, and give such great promise of a splendid future as an agricultural and stock-raising country. The population of the county is estimated at from 4,000 to 5,000 souls. The Yakima Indian Reservation, embracing about 600 sections of the finest agricultural lands on the Pacific coast, lies within the county limits. It is estimated that 300,000 acres of this reservation are natural meadows, well watered, and the remainder of the arable lands are so located that they can be irrigated at slight expense. Yakima City is the county seat, located at the junction of the Atahnam and Yakima Rivers. It has a population of about 500, with good public schools, a national bank and an academy conducted by the Catholic Sisters. A United States land office is also located here. A corporation for the purpose of irrigating the lands of the Moxee Valley, which is about 12 miles long by 5 wide, known as the Yakima Farm and Ditch Company, was organized some time ago. This irrigating ditch will cost about $40,000 when completed, and will irrigate about 20,000 acres of land. It will doubtless prove the forerunner of many similar enterprises. The lands

of the Yakima Valley are reported to produce sorghum, yielding about 300 gallons of sirup to the acre, sweet potatoes, tobacco, egg plant, melons, wheat, hops of superior quality, and garden vegetables and fruit of all descriptions. It is claimed that mineral deposits of great value exist in the county. The assessed value of taxable property in the county for the year embraced in this report is $2,393,921. The number of school districts is 20; school-houses, 18; total value $11,700; number of school children, 1,200; average salary, $50 per month. The Cascade Branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad is being rapidly constructed through the county, and, it is expected, will be finished to Yakima City by January 1, 1885.

FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE TERRITORY.

The Territorial auditor reports that the value of the assessed property in the Territory for the present year is $50,513,852, with one county yet to be heard from, which is estimated at $500,000, making the total sum over $51,000,000. The legislative assembly of 1883 enacted a law taxing all railroads upon gross earnings, and not upon the valuations; and while a few of the counties have disregarded this law in making their assessments, assuming it to be unconstitutional, yet a very small portion of the valuation of railroads appears in the amount named. A full return of all values in the Territory would greatly augment the present valuation of property. The rate of taxation is 23 mills on the dollar. A special tax is also levied on the total valuation of property of one-fourth of one mill for penitentiary purposes. The Territory is entirely out of debt, and on the 1st day of July, 1884, had the sum of $47,901.81 in the Territorial treasury.

POPULATION.

The population of this Territory by the census of 1880 was 66,979. The present population is estimated to be 150,000.

THE VOTE OF THE TERRITORY.

The vote of the Territory for 1882 was 19,493. The vote for 1884 was 41,858.

ADMISSION.

Some of the reasons qualifying this Territory for early admission into the Union may be summed up as follows:

First. The people are active, enterprising, and intensely loyal citizens, homogeneous with the people of the Eastern and Middle States upon the same lines of latitude, who have built up the institutions of a substantial and enduring society, and they unanimously desire admission. Second. This is the only political division on the continuous seaboard of the United States which remains in a Territorial condition.

Its present and prospective maritime relations with the world entitle it to political importance and consideration.

Third. This Territory is situated on the distant confines of a strong, active foreign power, whose interests also on the seaboard are great and growing in this part of the world.

Fourth. In wealth of natural resources Washington Territory is sec ond to no region of the United States. In the accumulated wealth of

its people it is making rapid strides; in population it is fairly entitled to admission.

Fifth. Among the benefits which the Territory would realize from the act of admission are the following:

(1.) The allotment of school lands.

(2.) Settlement of riparian rights on Puget Sound and other deep-sea waters.

(3.) Encouragement to capital and immigration.

(4.) Participation in valuable political privileges as citizens of a State. (5.) Control and management of municipal, county, and State affairs not now permitted by the organic act.

It seems to me that every consideration for the interest of the whole country points to the propriety of early and decisive action by Congress favorable to the claims of the Territory.

NOTE.-I take occasion to make my thankful acknowledgments to Rev R. D. Nevius, D. D., for valuable notes on flora, to Prof. O. B. Johnson, for the list of birds of the Territory, to Hon. O. Jacobs and W. A. Perry, for list of fauna, and to all the other gentlemen who have so generously aided me by statistical and other information. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant. WATSON C. SQUIRE,

HON. HENRY M. TELLER,

Secretary of the Department of the Interior,

Governor.

Washington, D. C.

REPORT

OF THE

GOVERNOR OF ALASKA.

SITKA, DISTRICT OF ALASKA,
October 1, 1884.

The act organizing the District of Alaska, approved May 17, 1884, requires "the governor to make an annual report on the 1st day of Oc tober in each year to the President of the United States of his official acts and doings; of the condition of said District, with reference to its industries, resources, population, and the administration of the civil government thereof."

The brief time that I have been in the District must necessarily limit this report to matters that have come under my personal observation. In compliance, therefore, with the law, I hereby respectfully submit the following:

In company with a majority of the civil officers appointed for the District, I arrived therein on the 4th of September last, by reaching Cape Fox, on the southwestern boundary. Making a short stop there, and later on visiting the various settlements and points of interest in the Alexandrian Archipelago, I arrived at Sitka, the seat of government, on the 14th instant. At every place that was visited we were received most cordially by the people, who are enthusiastic over the prospect of having at last a civil government.

ASSUMING CONTROL.

On the 15th of September, after the usual "governor's salute," Lieut. Commander Henry E. Nichols, commanding the U. S. S. Pinta, and the naval forces in the District formally relinquished to me all civil authority hitherto exercised by the United States Navy, deeming that functions in that direction ended with the advent of the civil government. Lieutenant-Commander Nichols discharged the Indian police force-carried for some years on the pay-rolls of the Navy-employed for the preservation of peace and enforcement of order in the town and adjacent Indian village. I considered it my duty to reinstate this force at the charge of the District government. It was an apparent necessity that it should continue to exist both for the security of the citizens and to impress the natives with the belief that the new government would continue to encourage them in well-doing and to inspire them with due respect for its power and authority.

It gives me pleasure to say in this connection, that the system inaugurated by the officers of the United States Navy-commencing, I believe, with Capt. L. A. Beardslee, extended and improved by Commander Henry Glass and his successors in command-for the management and control of the Indians or natives, has been eminently successful. Too much credit cannot be given these gentlemen for their wise and judicious treatment of this heretofore troublesome question. The

improvement in the condition, habits, and appearance of the natives since my previous acquaintance with them is most marked, and convinces me that they are capable of appreciating to a considerable extent the civilization of the white race. They are docile and industrious, and accept the judgment of constituted authority without murmur or thought of resistance thereto.

THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT.

The complete organization of the civil government has been delayed by the absence of the United States district judge and the commissioner, or local magistrate for this place, the former being detained by illness in San Francisco and the latter being on a voyage to the westward. Both these officers are expected soon. In the interim the board of Indian commissioners have been compelled to assume some little judicial authority in determining and settling several trivial Indian controversies, all of which have been adjusted to the satisfaction of all parties interested.

The absence of any "instructions" to the government officials has also embarrassed us. The commander of the naval forces, the collector of customs, and the officers of the civil government are without any 'instructions from their several Departments for their guidance.

Section 10 of the organic act directs the Secretary of the Treasury "to instruct and authorize the custodian of the public buildings to forthwith make such repairs to the jail in the town of Sitka as will render it suitable for a jail or penitentiary for the purposes of the civil government hereby provided," and "to surrender to the marshal the custody of said jail and all other public buildings not required for the customs service."

These instructions have not yet reached Colonel French, the collector of customs and custodian of said public buildings. The collector has been kind and courteous in offering the civil officers the use of any and all such buildings unoccupied.

It should be mentioned here that nearly all the public buildings are in a sad state of dilapidation-the custom-house from fire, the others from disuse and natural decay. The government house, or "castle," should, I think, be repaired, on account of its prominent position, usefulness, and historical associations, and made available for the use of Government officials. The custom house and several others of the public build ngs should be renovated as well.

Section 11 of the organic act directs the Attorney-General "to forthwith compile and cause to be printed in the English language, in pamphlet form, so much of the general laws of the United States as is applicable to the duties of the governor, attorney, judge, clerk, marshal, and commissioners appointed for said District, and shall furnish for the use of the officers of said Territory so many copies as may be needed of the laws of Oregon applicable to said District."

These very much needed works are not at hand. We hope that they will soon be supplied.

RESOURCES.

The Govern

The resources of the country are varied and important. ment is already in possession of much information on this subject.

MINING.

The importance of the mining interest is, perhaps, not so generally understood as it should be. This industry, in my opinion, bids fair to take front rank in value of product.