said by all that that part of the country is to be the great business part.
Seamen that come up this river say that of the vessels that sail from San Francisco this way nine tenths go to Pugets Sound,[1] and the Sound is just one great harbour of itself, and can be entered at any time without a Pilot. If then there is a place, a decent place for a Citty on the banks of the sound, there the Citty will be built. I can tell you one thing that you might do on the sound now if you were here, that is to set a small Steam Boat running on the sound. You can make more money at it in one year than you can make in Illinois in ten. Now I have no doubt but you will think I am yarning it, but here is the reasons for it. There is no boats running on the sound now, of any kind but small boats & canoes, and I have heard from quite a number of individuals that a Steam Boat or some kind of sailing craft was very much needed there. There is a small iron Propella[2] that runs from Portland to Oregon Citty, it is only about 30 feet long, and the smallest boat by two thirds of any that runs here, that I have been told, cleared ten thousand dollars last fall and winter. But one thing is certain, her owners have made enough to build an iron steamer 90 feet long this summer, and intend to have it running in a short time now, so you can judge of the worth of such boats in this country, or what it would be on the sound. It is my opinion that Oregon and Washington does furnish more natural advantages for manufacturing than any other place in the states or territories, for water power is abundant a most every where, and the seasons,
- ↑ The movement to Puget Sound from Willamette Valley had been growing for about three years prior to 1854. The Oregonian, December 20, 1851, said that several parties had returned from a tour of examination of the Puget Sound country and reported favorably. Warbass and Townsend advertised, in 1852, bateaux and canoes on Cowlitz River. The Oregonian, March 26, 1853, said that fifteen vessels were loading there at one time, and three sawmills were in operation and fifteen others under construction. This activity spread also to Shoalwater Bay (Willapa), where early in 1853, forty new claims were taken and one sawmill was running; Scott, Oregon Country, II, 244-45.
- ↑ Probably the Eagle, an iron propeller which ran between Portland and Oregon City; Lewis and Dryden, Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, 38.
