The Beauties of the State of Washington Part 8

SUNSET HIGHWAY.

The Sunset Highway is the only route at present permitting through automobile traffic across the Cascade mountains and connecting the western with the eastern counties. Throughout its full four hundred miles from Seattle to Spokane it introduces the tourist to scenes which for diversity and pleasant surprises, varying from rugged mountains and roaring waterfalls to peaceful irrigated valleys or broad wheat plains, can nowhere be duplicated. With the exception of a few miles the grades are never more than five per cent.

Branching off from the Pacific Highway at Renton, it rises northeastward to the headwaters of the Snoqualmie River. Just below the town of Snoqualmie appear the wonderful falls of the same name, the "Niagara of the West." This immense stream of water falling 268 feet, is now harnessed to supply power and light to the cities and towns of Puget Sound. Following the banks of this river the highway penetrates entrancing forests and exposes many a remarkable panorama. Both road and river are at times clearly visible from the Chicago-Milwaukee trains puffing towards the summit.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SHOWING THE CAPITAL MT. RAINIER IN THE DISTANCE

A TRAIL

TUMWATER FALLS

PUGET SOUND FROM PRIEST POINT PARK

AROUND OLYMPIA, OUR CAPITAL CITY.]

Descending, the road leads southeast along the headwaters of the Yakima, and skirts the eastern banks of beautiful Lake Keechelus, where the government is building a huge dam for storing water to irrigate the Kitt.i.tas and Yakima valleys. Pa.s.sing the southern extremity of Lake Kachees, another deep mountain lake, it soon pa.s.ses Cle Elum, a coal s.h.i.+pping center, enters the broad Kitt.i.tas valley and reaches the cultured city of Ellensburg, mistress of the section and home of one of the state normals.

The route is now northeastward over Table Mountain by a 5,200-foot pa.s.s, permitting an excellent view of Mounts Rainier and Hood. The banks of the Columbia are followed to Wenatchee, the metropolis of north central Was.h.i.+ngton and the famous red apple district. Crossing the Columbia it proceeds along its east bank to Orondo, whence, plunging through a winding canyon, it rises rapidly to the great wheat plateau of the Big Bend, which bursts suddenly upon the view. Leaving Waterville, the county seat of Douglas county, it turns abruptly eastward to continue in an almost unbroken line through expansive wheat fields towards Spokane, the metropolitan city of the Inland Empire, over a hundred miles away.

At Coulee City, forty miles from Waterville, it would be worth while to linger long enough to explore the Grand Coulee, said to be the old bed of the Columbia. Full of strange features, it has attracted attention from geographers of international reputation. Wilbur, Davenport, the county seat of Lincoln county, and Reardan, besides many smaller settlements, almost lost in the midst of the great wheat fields, appear before the thin woods shading the approach into Spokane are reached.

INLAND EMPIRE HIGHWAY.

At Ellensburg the Sunset Highway connects with the Inland Empire Road, a southern route to Spokane via Walla Walla. Following the Wenas Valley to North Yakima, it continues southeast through the Union Gap and along the Sunnyside Ca.n.a.l, the largest irrigation ditch in the state, where a splendid view of the valley, with Mount Hood in the distance appears.

From Prosser, county seat of Benton county and entrance to the Horse Heaven country, the road drops toward the Columbia river and soon reaches Kennewick, the home of early strawberries, and Pasco, county seat of Franklin county.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LOWER SPOKANE FALLS, AND BRIDGE WITH SECOND LARGEST CONCRETE ARCH IN THE WORLD.

Photo by Frank Palmer.]

From here the Central Was.h.i.+ngton Highway threads the extensive wheat fields toward the northeast, pa.s.sing through Connell, Lind, Ritzville, and Sprague, all important wheat s.h.i.+pping centers; and Cheney, the site of another state normal, fifteen miles southwest from the city of Spokane.

The Inland Empire Highway leads on to the beautiful city of Walla Walla; but at Dayton, the quaint county seat of Columbia county, it divides, uniting again near Rosalia, twenty-five miles south of Spokane. The shorter route trends northeast, crosses the Snake at Pataha and pa.s.ses through Colfax, county seat of Whitman county, in the rich Palouse Valley. The other branch penetrates extensive barley and wheat fields, enters Pomeroy, county seat of Garfield county, and Clarkston, on the eastern boundary line, named for the great explorer. Bending northward it transects irrigated lands and wheat fields; enters Pullman, home of the State College, Palouse, Garfield and Oakesdale; joins the other branch at the county boundary line and soon reaches the southern outskirts of Spokane.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INLAND EMPIRE HIGHWAY, TEN MILES EAST OF WALLA WALLA.]

From Spokane this road presses northward through the Colville Valley to the Columbia, and thence to the international boundary line, having previously pa.s.sed at Deer Park the Arcadia orchard, largest commercial apple orchard in the world; Loon Lake, a summer resort; Chewelah, a mining town surrounded by a dairying country; and Colville, county seat of Stevens county and largest city in this section. A pleasant contrast is this northern extension, regaining the mountains and evergreen forests, the swiftly flowing rivers with glorious waterfalls, and the chains of lakes adorning irrigated vales and green meadows.

OLYMPIC, NATIONAL PARK AND OTHER HIGHWAYS.

The Olympic Highway, when the few miles from Bogachiel to Lake Quiniault, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, are completed, will form a complete loop around the Olympic Peninsula, from which it derives its name. Winding along at the foot of the mountains, it connects the leading cities of the district and exposes some of the most scenic features of the Sound country, including Hood Ca.n.a.l, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Grays Harbor, and occasionally the Pacific Ocean. The princ.i.p.al cities touched at are Shelton, Port Townsend, Port Angeles, Hoquiam, Aberdeen, Elma and Olympia.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANACORTES ROAD.]

The National Park Highway extends from Tacoma to Rainier National Park, whence it bears southward to the headwaters of the Cowlitz, crosses to the Chehalis Valley and, after connecting with Chehalis and Centralia, leads southwest, over the low coast range to Raymond and South Bend on Willapa Bay, and from there continues to the mouth of the Columbia.

Other scenic routes are planned to cross the Cascade mountains. Two are nearly completed, viz., the McClellan Pa.s.s Highway, paralleling the Sunset as far as North Yakima, and one along the north bank of the Columbia. A third will sometime cross and connect the Skagit Valley with the Methow.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WILD ELK IN THE OLYMPIC MOUNTAINS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A SPORTSMAN'S PARADISE

"The antlered monarch of the waste Sprang from his heathery couch in haste"]

This book cannot expect to win the largest measure of approval from the followers of Nimrod unless a few paragraphs are devoted to the opportunities for the chase and the plentifulness of game fish and birds. Of course, the real sportsman would rather discover the prey for himself. To tell minutely where every prize is to be found would be like disclosing the end of an interesting story before the beginning had been read. But even if it were well to do so, every page in this publication would be needed just to mention each stream and lake containing fish, every coppice concealing fowl, and every wood protecting the quarry.

That the common species of game are plentiful is superfluous to say. On holidays and at week ends, during the open season, it is a familiar sight to witness the khaki-suited brave looking sportsmen, with guns or fish baskets and rods, clambering onto the trains or hiking to the nearest point where the welcome woods and the realm of habitation meet.

It is equally common to behold this same army of hunters trailing along at the close of the holiday, burdened with fish of many species, vari-colored fowl, or the hides of various game animals.

Game birds are very prolific. Among the most prominent are the Chinese pheasant, bob white and California quail, Hungarian partridge, and native prairie chickens; all are found along the streams or in the clearings and fields of nearly every part of the state. Blue grouse are quite plentiful in western Was.h.i.+ngton and in the wooded sections of eastern Was.h.i.+ngton. Ruffled grouse are plentiful in the Okanogan Highlands and in several of the western counties. All species of ducks are to be found on Puget Sound and along the rivers and lakes tributary thereto, also along many streams and lakes of the Inland Empire; while geese infest the Columbia and Snake river regions in eastern Was.h.i.+ngton.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ANGLER'S REWARD.

Photo by B. C. Collier]

Perhaps no state in the Union has as many varieties of real fighting trout as Was.h.i.+ngton; including especially the mountain, rainbow, cut throat, beardsley, crawford, lake, steel head, and eastern brook, in all lakes and mountain streams. Black ba.s.s and perch are very plentiful in the land-locked lakes; and certain sections produce also many varieties of white fish, sun fish, croppies and cat fish. The waters of Puget Sound, the harbors and the Columbia River contain many species of salmon.

The commonest and most hunted large game is the deer, found chiefly in the hills and mountains, although in some localities it invades the domains of domestic animals. The leading varieties noted are the mule and black tail, there being also a few white tail. In the Olympic region are large herds of elk and a few in the southwest and northeastern counties. These, however, are temporarily protected by law. Mountain goat and sheep are found in the rocky peaks of the Cascades; while the black and brown bear are found in the wooded hills and mountains; also occasionally cougars, wild cats, and wolves. These latter, however, keep themselves far removed from the main traveled roads; only by much care are they located, so that the timid need have no fear of wandering in the woods alone.

In order to insure plenty of game at the right season of the year, five trout hatcheries are supported by the state and a number by separate counties. The state hatcheries alone planted 4,399,050 trout in 1913.

The common birds are propagated and set free at both public and private expense.

With nature's already liberal supply, and the state and counties blending their united efforts to supplement and conserve, the true sportsman will never regret casting his lot with the state of Was.h.i.+ngton, where his outdoor propensities may be encouraged to the fullest degree.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HAYDEN LAKE

ROSE GARDEN HAYS PARK

MANITOU PARK

WATERFALL, INDIAN CANYON

DOWN RIVER DRIVE

IN AND ABOUT THE CITY OF SPOKANE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CITIES AND SUGGESTED TRIPS

"Spreads now many a stately city; Solitude returns no more!