Show SEATTLE A METROPOLIS I Its a Place Where You Meet Everybody You Know GREAT BUSINESS ENTERPRISE All the Intermountnin Country Contributes Con-tributes its Quota The Brilliant Success of Robert C McCormJck Formerly a Successful LiveStock Mfin of Haft River Ida Grent Importance of the Pish Industry of r the North Coast The Sound Country Coun-try Great Demand for Shipping Correspondence Tribune Seattle Jan 15 Seattle is a good place to meet people from all over the Intelmountain country I have met enough of such people to fill a column with names Among these I frequently run across one so well known in Idaho and Utah that a personal of him will Interest very many readers of The Tribune For eighteen years Robert C McCor mid lived on Raft river in Cassia county Ida and made a success In the sheer business His flocks became so large as to take him to other parts of the State for grazing and ho became extensively known throughout that State find Utah as a successful flock master For someyears he made his home at Ogden but having visited Seattle some years ago he began investing in-vesting here and eventually sold hln sheep Interests In 1S9S Ills first purchase pur-chase here was In the Gorton Hardware Hard-ware block a splendid livestory and basement stone and brick structure In the very heart of time city and now used by Stewart Holmes In a general gen-eral drug business In ISI7 he bought SI the Korn block a threestory and basement corner building opposite the Seattle hotel and this was followed in 3898 by the purchaso of the Langston block on Second avenue and the Crist property of live buildings on Jester All these buildings are bringing enough rentals to make the owner well pleased On the Jester street property he Is on the eve oC erecting a fine threestory block for which plans have already been prepared by Mr Thompson who was the architect of the Utah Agricultural Agricul-tural college tho Reed hotel at Ogden and the Salt Luke city and county building A recent purchase by Mr McCormick look the Strati man property prop-erty on Battery and Sixth streetS IN STEAMBOATS It looks strange to see a man who was so long engaged in the sheep industry in-dustry as was Mr McCoimlck embarking em-barking In the steamboat business but he acorns to be at home In this as well us making largo deals In real estate The Oregon Railway Navigation company some years ago had some magnificent passenger steamers built and operated them t between Portland and San Francisco The Oregon In j ihoHO days was the favorite vessel on that route She Is U10 feet long and her eam Is 3S l feel and the registered capacity lH2135lons She has a Capacity Ca-pacity for LV > 0 llrstclass and 750 second class passengers She is an iron boat and a slater lo the George W Elder which Is now In the Government transport trans-port service Mr McCormlok latHy purchased the Oregon and Is having It overhauled and refitted throughout for the Cape Nome trade Ills part lids are Charles D Lane of San Francisco Fran-cisco who Is so well known throughout the West and S G Simpson of Seattle who Is one of the largest lumbermen of the country each owning a third of the steamer The Oregon will pruba bly leave here for Nomo about May 1st that being early enough for the season The company will have In all three hteamors the Oregon Townsend and Irrawaddy The latter wan recently re-cently purchased in Now York city by 1 Mr Lane and she Is to arrive at San Francisco with a freight load about April 1st The Irrawaddy has a capacity ca-pacity ot 1000 tons Many passengers arc already booked for this new line THE FISH INDUSTRY One of the most wonderful things of this northern Pacific coast is the immense im-mense quantities of fish that abound in these waters Despite the talk that the Falmon business is decreasing in the West and that it would be but a few decades until un-til this famous llsh was oft the market the figures do not show It as the pack of ISflb was greater than at any time In tilts past four years showing a steady gain over even tho heavy business busi-ness of 1807 The total pack of the coast during 169D In number of cases with the val tics computed on the basis of SIJG per case according to Taylor Young Co the Portland marine agents wasp was-p Total Value Alaska 1033833 5 1G70CMn 1 Puget Sound etc S71600 370387 British Columbia 7000CO 275000 Columbia river ffiOlTO 1360G3S Coast rlverf and bays CS7C JOCO Wlllapa and Grays harbors har-bors 13000 14S7rX Sacramento river 33r 5f J5r > S7 Hoguo river CCW i2O S Totals 31230SS 5U331D1W This was a gain of 700000 cases over that of 1S9S The pack of Alaska amounted to 35 per cent of the total pack of the coast that of Puget Sound to 2S per cent that of British Columbia to 22 per cent and that of the Columbia Colum-bia river to 10 per cent Alaska and Puget Sound produced a business that in the aggregate during lSO alone amounted to S373915 01 W12S3S1 more than all the remainder of Hip coast combined If the llsh of all kinds marketed from these waters as fresh i fish were Included In-cluded In this report the amount ofto tal catch would show a wonderful addition ad-dition to that packed Hundreds of llslifng boats 11 ml profitable employ nicnToii the Sound every train leaving leav-ing the Sound towns where fishermen live carries supplies to the Interior hundreds and thousands of miles away while citizens on the Sound con uume large quantities of flab PUG 1ST SOUND The Puget pound country prows In importance with the newcomer as he 1 looks Into Its resources and general business affairs When it la clear weather one can stajid on some ot inu many hills In Seattle and see the white buildings and steam rising in a dozen towns skirting the sound and there are other dozens of towns which arc too far off to bo seen and yet they are none the less active in business Go v along the water front amid the shipping ship-ping and you will sec steamers from the size of small launches to the largo sldewheil and sternwheelers built after the Eastern river patterns and each of these has Ito regular route a a passenger and freight packet between be-tween Seattle and some one of the 0 Sound towns as tormina while they make landings at other points between Some of these craft are slow going j while to the Important places such as have rail competition the steamers are fast and luxuriant Between Seattle and Tacoma there IK the Flyer which makes the thirtyone miles In less than ono and a half hour after making a speed of twentylive miles per hour This and othnr boars bring I the people of the two cities very near to each other and hence with a roundtrip round-trip fare of 12o the boats run full and are popular In their service of round trips every three hours amounting to four per Hay DEMAND FOR BOATS There IB such a demand for boats that several shipyards have recently been established on tho Sound Moran RrrithiMs have an Immense sawmill plant on the Seattle front and i have recently gone more extensively Into shipbuilding They have the shops and machinery to make all the machinery ma-chinery Iron and steel work and soon will turn out their first two Iron steamers steam-ers whlc tho frame of a small wooden schooner has been laid the jmst few days With steam electricity and com pressod air as applied In their yards It seems to be an easy mailer to build a small vessel There Is such a demand for vessels that these yards will have all they can dn for quite awhile yet The prospective Alaska business for this year has Induced a number of steamer men to go east and buy slcam 1 < era to bring around Cape Horn and put i Into service here Several old steamers steam-ers have been bought up on this coast and are being repaired ready for service ser-vice In the spring J M G I |