OCR Text |
Show BELLINGHAM, WASH. A Name for Three Puget Sound Citlee When They Are Consolidated. Special Correspondence.) Bellinqham, Wash., Sept. 25 If yon do not know where 'Bellinghara, Wash.," is your maps will not help you out in the matter. You will see by looking look-ing at a map of Washington, in the upper up-per left hand corner of the state, and just east of Vancouver Island, a little bay set back in Whatcom county. That is Bellingham bay. On the eastern shore of this bay, and joining each other, are three embryo cities, Whatcom being the oldest, Sehome or New Whatcom the second oldest, and Fairhaven the youngest. A recent effort to consolidate the two Whatcoms failed to carry. An effort is now being made to consolidate con-solidate the three cities, but judging from the hot rivalry between these pluces each is trying to absorb the others it will be some time before the thing is accomplished unless Uncle Bam takes a tumble to the fact that under the present syBtem he is being be-ing worked on the postoffice question. ques-tion. He is now maintaining three offices, with contingent expenses, where one would fill the bill and do it far better bet-ter at no increased expense. With the three places combined the population would secure free delivery of mails, whereas by the present system some people of each village have to walk a mile 'to get their mail, and run great risk of meeting bears, which may. be lurking yet in tho dense primeval forests adjacent to the streets and avenues. . For be it remembered that Fairhaven is not yet a year old, notwithstanding a population of some four thousand souls. It is a town such aa may be found nowhere else. It has four banks, two newspapers, one daily and one weekly; at least a dozen hotels, saloons and faro banks too numerous to mention. men-tion. Hundreds of men are busy digging dig-ging and dynamiting ont stumps and grading ' and 1 planking broad streets through the forests, and carpenters and masons and painters as thick as fleas in California are putting cp business blocks and handsome residences. Real estate agents are coining money selling lots, while printers are kept busy day and night getting out maps and charts of the dozens of "additions," which even now take in the hills and valleys for miles around. Two or more saw mills are running full force to supply the lumber, and docks cannot be built fast enough to receive the freight arriving. This is a brief picture of Fairhavea Practically the same conditions exist at ! each of the other corporations named. . The great difficulty in the way of consolidation con-solidation is the matter of the name to be given the new city. To be impartial 1 have called the consolidated con-solidated city "Bellingham," the name of the beautiful bay upon which these three hustling towns are situated. If this name is not satisfactory I suggest a combination of the three names, taking the first syllable of the first two and the last of the other. Then we have "Fair-Se-Com." If that is not sufficiently poetic let them call it "Mt. Baker," or "Baker City," in honor of Mt. Baker, whose snow capped crown rises into th heavens in full view of each town, making mak-ing a glorious background to a most lovely landscape. , :, . What is the inspiration of all the ao tivity here visible? Unlimited lumber resources, contiguous coal mines, whom veins are no less than thirty feet thick; mountains of solid iron ore of the richest rich-est quality, lime stone, sand banks, building stone, agricultural lands, unlimited un-limited fishing waters; the finest lakes, over 200 feet above the city, forming a natural reservoir of pure water within two miles of the bay; deep channels and secure harbors, railroad connection with two or more of the great transcontinental transcontinen-tal lines, a climate unsurpassed for both winter and summer, absolute freedom from stagnant water or marsh lands everything conspires to make this v$ ideal spot for a great city. There are now three daily, two weekly week-ly and one tri-weekly papers in the three towns, and ten banks. Among the hotels are at least six good ones, and two of them are fine modern structures. Houses cannot be built fast enough ,for the people. Many canvas tents and slab shanties are doing temporary duty as homes for families. Men are pouring in from all directions, and with a present pres-ent joint population of near 12,000 in the three cities five years will see a population popula-tion of 100,000 at the present rate of increase. in-crease. Men who left New York six months ago are considered old settlers, and substantial sub-stantial business houses and manufactories manufact-ories stand where six months ago were jungles so dense that ft man could scarcely scarce-ly pick his way through the brush. To clear the lund of timber costs $73 to $100. an acre, and to free it of stumps costa aa much more. An eleotrio street car line is being graded connecting the three towns, and heavy cedar and fir logs are being piled into heaps and burned up to clear the way for the car tracks through tho streets. W. . Benton. |