The Beauties of the State of Washington Part 1

The Beauties of the State of Was.h.i.+ngton.

by Harry F. Giles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The EVERGREEN STATE

"O beautiful and grand, My own my Native Land!

Of thee I boast Great Empire of the West, The dearest and the best, Made up of all the rest, I loved thee most."]

The state of Was.h.i.+ngton, most northwesterly state in the Union, named for the "Father of His Country" and popularly called the "Evergreen State," brings greetings.

For all who would behold, at close range, Nature in her most beautiful expression when all component elements have been harmoniously combined, these words of welcome are written. You are invited to come and share the joy that emanates from the satisfaction of living in a country as nearly perfect as any that earth has to offer.

In the creation of this region nothing was overlooked that might appeal to the most fastidious. An empire within itself, it is provided with all things for ministering both to man's physical needs and to his innermost longings. All forces have contributed towards its glory. More careful preparation was never made for the coming of man in any clime. Mountains that reach to heaven and echo the music of celestial choirs in their innumerable streams and waterfalls; valleys and plateaus that spring into life when p.r.i.c.ked by the harrow of the husbandman; forests of big trees, perpetually green, to adorn and protect; the greatest of oceans to temper with its breezes; inland seas and azure lakes to embellish and attract--such are a few of the elements that make the State of Was.h.i.+ngton and provide beauteous homes for its people.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SNOQUALMIE FALLS (268 FEET)--"THE NIAGARA OF THE WEST."

Copyright by Romans Photo Co.]

Have you yet discovered that cozy retreat imagined in your youthful impressionable days, where true happiness is bound to reign? You can find it here--a place where wonderful pictures, real and far grander than the famous paintings of your favorite artist, are constantly visible from your kitchen window or from your work shop--and they need no expensive frames to enhance their loveliness and no dusting to prevent their obscurity.

What are your favorite pastimes? Are you one of the brave mountaineers who must yearly draw near the Almighty, and dare the elements by treading dangerous yet entrancing trails to heights where the world appears at your feet? Do you love to cruise in a little yacht built to accommodate yourself and a few well chosen friends, or motor over scenic highways to places of interest both near and far? Do you regard yourself a mighty hunter and desire so to convince your friends? Or would you be content to angle for the finny denizens of the deep with a certainty that you will not in turn be tantalized?

The state of Was.h.i.+ngton affords unusual opportunity for all these. Its mountains, glaciers and waterfalls are not excelled by the most boasted scenes of Switzerland.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MOUNT ADAMS AND FOREST-COVERED FOOTHILLS.]

Almost the year round the waters of Puget Sound and the harbors of the southwest invite the small craft. Nearly 50,000 miles of scenic highway, pa.s.sable for twelve months in succession, are ready for your automobiles. Game, both large and small, feathered and hoofed, will lure you through many a jungle of delicate fern and sweet scented bramble; while countless streams and lakes teem with fish of many species.

Picturesque parks, dazzling sunsets, roaring ocean surf, cozy camping sites, beach parties and clam bakes, college regattas, midwinter fairs, roses at Christmas, golf the year round on turf that's always green--these are a few of the charms that are as common in the state of Was.h.i.+ngton as sands in the Sahara, or ice at the Poles.

If you are drawn by none of these, but desire only to satisfy that exalted yet mysterious feeling which lurks in everyone's breast, becoming manifest when the greatest works of the firmament are beheld, then by all means visit this the "Evergreen State" and drink in the glories which no book, howe'er so well written, and no picture, whoe'er the artist, can portray with any degree of fullness or accuracy.

Was.h.i.+ngton is a region of variety and strong contrasts. At one moment you may be jostled along the streets of some metropolitan center among people of many nationalities and within a mere hour or so be wafted to a sequestered spot of transcendent beauty, where no voice but your own is echoed by the hills and where the existence of any other human being to share this planet can be completely forgotten.

It is a state of large accomplishments. Big projects are planned: mammoth irrigation schemes are carried out; lands are reclaimed from the deep; orchards fill its valleys; wheat plateaus extend for miles; salmon traps line the sh.o.r.es; its lumber supplies the world; its s.h.i.+ps sail all the seas; monstrous bridges cross the waterways; buildings vie with the highest anywhere constructed; its schools rank first in the Union; its men contribute to the world's greatness; its women vote and rear capable families; the people make their own laws. Loyalty, originality, enterprise, independence and liberality, all attributes of the western spirit, are evident throughout the state.

Its population has grown in twenty odd years from 343,000 to over 1,400,000. In the meantime, wildernesses have been converted into gardens, villages have developed into towns, while towns have grown into cities, taking their places among the leading marts of the world. From a frontier state it has come to be one of the greatest and most important in the Union, adding to the galaxy of stars one of the brightest that has yet appeared on the horizon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LAKE CHELAN, ONE OF THE MOST WONDERFUL LAKE RESORTS IN THE WEST

_"Pride of the waters of the world"_

_Copyright by Kiser Photo Co., Portland, Ore._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: OUR MOUNTAINS

"Touched with a light that hath no name, A glory never sung, Aloft on sky and mountain wall Are G.o.d's great pictures hung."]

Perhaps the most prominent feature which attracts the eye of a visitor upon his arrival in the Pacific Northwest consists of the mountain ranges with their towering snowcapped peaks, forming, as it were, ladders reaching from the green vales of earth to the blue vaults of heaven. Silhouetted against the sky in the hazy distance, they are noted by the westward bound traveler as soon as he reaches the highest point in the divide of the Rockies, while to the mariner groping his way eastward upon the Pacific Ocean they offer the first evidence of the nearness of the welcome land.

These mountains mean much to the state of Was.h.i.+ngton, both for their scenic grandeur and for the favorable influence they exert on the climate and on the lives of the people who build their homes in the valleys below. Their supremacy is reflected by the thermometer, the barometer, and the aerometer; for they help regulate the temperature, the rainfall, and the wind's velocity. They form great repositories for the waters that feed the streams and keep full the cities' aqueducts.

Within their immeasurable depths lie buried huge deposits of precious and useful metals, besides vast fields of bituminous coal. Their lower zones provide fertile and safe localities for the growth of Was.h.i.+ngton's big timber, while the alpine meadows above secure for the timid deer and ptarmigan asylums of temporary freedom from too frequent disturbance by prowling huntsmen. Still higher are the rugged bare prominences, reserved for the wild goat or mountain sheep, and the snow fields traversed by the more venturesome seeking to gain the summits.

Everywhere the true sportsman finds ample opportunity for proving his prowess, while trailing the beast to its lair, and the sight-seeking mountaineer is fully rewarded for all the struggle required to reach some dizzy height.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A GLIMPSE FROM PACK CREEK

A CREVa.s.sE

AT THE SUMMIT

SHUKSAN FALLS

LAKE SIX-THOUSAND FEET

MOUNT BAKER FORTY MILES EAST OF BELLINGHAM.]

Within the immense bosoms of these mountains nestle innumerable lakes, beauteous beyond compare, near whose shady sh.o.r.es is many a sequestered spot, most tempting to the camper who loves the mountain region; and many a brook goes trickling over its stony course to join the rivers below, pausing here and there in some shady dell to create a deep pool for luring the fisherman, or hurling itself over some lofty precipice as a waterfall of wonderful magnitude and magnificence.

The mountains are a link connecting us with the past. They remind us perhaps of the period when volcanoes belched forth their fiery refuse, or of the era when the sea covered most of what is now land.

Indestructible they stand and their rocky heights are in places insurmountable. The works of man trespa.s.s everywhere else, but these huge pillars of the ages rise in their majestic splendor and with sublime dignity seem to say: "Thus far and no further! We will preserve and guard your water and fuel supply. We will protect you from the furies of the elements and produce materials for building your palaces.

We will create charming nooks where you may camp under the clear sky, and shady forests where you may pursue the chase. We will fill the brooks with swift darting fish; carpet the meadows with myriads of flowers, ferns, and shrubs; and paint you pictures undreamt of by men who have scorned our acquaintance. You are permitted to build roads whereby your Pullmans and your automobiles may cross to the other side, but not one of our number shall be moved nor its form be changed in the least, except by that same invisible power at whose mighty will we were brought into existence."

[Ill.u.s.tration: LOOKING ACROSS THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS.

Copyright by Kiser Photo Co., Portland, Ore.]

Each mountain range possesses its own distinct characteristics. Of least importance, but none the less beautiful, are the Blue Mountains in the southeastern corner of the state, providing pleasant summer retreats for the people in that vicinity. The Olympic range practically envelopes the Olympic Peninsula and all but encroaches upon the agricultural lands lying between the foothills and the salt waters on three sides. In this range are the most rugged mountains in Was.h.i.+ngton, presenting some of the wildest and most inspiring scenery anywhere to be found.

Most prominent and of greatest importance in the geography of the state are the Cascades, having an average alt.i.tude of from 5,000 to 8,000 feet and named for the many hurrying streams that have cut their deep courses upon the shady slopes. They extend from the British Columbia line slightly southwest until divided by the Columbia river, whence they continue through Oregon and become the Sierra Nevadas of California. By them the state of Was.h.i.+ngton is separated into two quite distinct parts, known as Eastern and Western Was.h.i.+ngton, the former comprising a portion of the great Inland Empire. Forming a sort of spur on their east side, north of the Columbia, and extending to the mountains of Idaho are the beautiful rolling hills known as the Okanogan Highlands from 5,000 to 6,000 feet in alt.i.tude without sharp abrupt prominences and bearing on their higher surfaces forests of pine.

Throughout the Cascade range several prominent peaks tower above the others like giants among dwarfs. The loftiest by far is Mount Rainier (or Mount Tacoma), second highest mountain in the United States proper, 14,408 feet in alt.i.tude and the chief mountain resort out of Seattle and Tacoma; Mount Adams, 12,307 feet, on the boundary line of Skamania and Yakima counties; Mount St. Helens, 9,697 feet high, at the western edge of Skamania county, reached from Castle Rock or Vancouver; Mount Baker, 10,730 feet, forty miles from Bellingham and one of its main attractions; Mount Stuart, 9,470 feet, in Chelan county; and Glacier Peak, 10,436 feet, in Snohomish county. In this lat.i.tude 7,500 feet is the snow-line, but Was.h.i.+ngton has many peaks above that elevation.

Fifty-seven have already been named and measured.

All these peaks are accessible and, together with Mount Olympus in the Olympics, const.i.tute the main goals of the mountain loving clubs of the northwest. Mountain phenomena are displayed in all with a maximum degree of grandeur, insuring ample reward to those venturing to explore their many fastnesses.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A FIR, A CEDAR, AND A HEMLOCK--PRINc.i.p.aL TREES IN WAs.h.i.+NGTON.]

Photo by C. H. Ziddell.