Olympia, W. Ter., Oct. 10th, 1881

Mr. A.H. Bukey:

Dear Sir,

Perhaps by this time you begin to breathe freely, and think that you have escaped hearing "What I know about Washington Territory": but do not lay any such flattering unction to your soul, for I never permit a good chance to inflict torture upon people to escape me.

I have not a very great stock of information concerning this corner of our great republic but "Such as I have give I unto thee" and in doing so I propose to begin in the middle and work both ways. Olympia is a small, quiet town containing about fifteen hundred inhabitants. It is situtated on a gentle slope at the head of one of the bays of that great body of water known generally as Puget Sound, but which, here goes under a variety of local names of which Puget Sound forms a small part. The location is a very pretty one for a city, having a view of the bay for some eight or ten miles.

One great draw-back is the lack of deep water; the larger vessels can come up only to what is known as the long wharf about four miles below the city. There is very little business done in the city except a small retail trade; the business houses, being, for the most part, very rude, unsubstantial structures built without any rigard to appearances, do not impress a newcomer very favorably. There are but two brick buildings in the city-- the bank and one dwelling house. There are a good many neat, pretty cottages in the upper portion of the city but the most of the residences. like the business houses, evince a want of architectural taste. The place is well supplied with churches, there being one of almost every denomination; but said churches are very poorly supplied, the only one having "the mules in harness" being the Methodist, Presbyterian and Catholic. The public schools here are in a very bad condition, poor buildings, poor scholars, poor pay and consequently poor teachers (Yours truly being the present principal). There is also a private academy, another private school taught by a lady and still another under the management of the Sisters of Charity. The city has been rather retrograding for some years back, no new buildings are being erected, quite a good many houses are without occupants, and yet rents are very high. The people seem to have great confidence that better times are at hand and that the city will now begin to go forward, but for my part I cannot see any very flattering prospects in the near future for Olympia. There is no doubt a great many immigrants coming to W.T., but East Washington is getting the great majority of them and is growing much more rapidly than West Washington. East W., already has the preponderance of power and I should not be supprised were the capital removed to that section within a very few years. Seattle, a city much further down the sound than Olympia, is at present the metropolis of W. Washington, said city containing about four thousand inhabitants.

New Tacoma, the terminus of the N.P.R.R., as at present located, is about thirty miles below here on the sound and is growing quite rapidly, but the unsertanity that envelops the intentions of the managers of the R.R., make the growth of such a character that it may, and very likely will prove only temporary.

Land here can be bought at prices ranging all the way from one dollar per acre up to Ohio prices. It costs at least one hundred dollars per acre here to clear the timbered land even after the good timber has been removed, so you see that unless a man feels disposed to do the grubbing and chopping himself and live as a "Si-Wash" a well cleared farm requires the outlay of considerable ready cash. The prairie lands are of poor quality and will not produce heavy crops; the river bottom lands produce very heavy crops of hay, oats and potatoes. The stockmen prefer California hay to Washington hay and will pay sixteen or eighteen dollars per ton for the former when the latter is selling for only twelve dollars. Plums grow in their perfection here, and both in quantity and quality beat any thing I ever saw. Most of the other fruits grow here but with the exception of plums I have seen much finer fruit at home than I have seen here, and the fruit grown back east has a much finer flavor than that grown here. Peaches, grapes, melons, sweet-potatoes and corn cannot be grown successfully in West Washington. I would say on the whole, that West Washington is not now, neither will it ever be, an agricultural country, Gov. Newell to the contrary not withstanding. There are doubtless considerable mineral deposits in various localities, but whether these deposits will pay for working or not remains to be seen. Taxes are minimal-- at least Gov. Newell says so-- but I do not think that an Ohioan would agree with him. Property is appraised at its full value and the tax is two per cent, then there is a poll tax of two dollars per head and a road tax of four dollars per head.

Water in Olympia is furnished by a company and each family must pay from one to three dollars per month water tax, the rate depending on the number of faucets used. A few weeks ago I went with a camping party and spent several days on the banks of the De Chutes River at a point about twelve miles from Olympia. Along the river are many cedar trees eight or ten feet in diameter and several hundred feet in height.

The timbered lands of Washington are being rapidly taken up and no sooner is a new township surveyed than parties file their applications for the purchase of those lands that are well timbered, and no sooner have the said parties obtained a title for the lands than they sell out to the great mill company of Pope & Gamble. No man can purchase more than one timber claim of the government, and when purchasing such claim, he must make an affidavit that he wants the land for his own use, so when he sells out to the Mill Co. he really breaks the intent and spirit of the law. It is said that the surveyors are in the pay of the Mill Co. and that consequently the latter are always kept posted as to when and where new townships will be surveyed and whether or not there are any available timber claims thereon. The said mill Co. of Pope & Gamble already own several hundred thousand acres of the finest timber lands in the territory.

We left San Francisco on a Saturday afternoon and had a rather rough ocean voyage until we reached the Strait of San Juan de Fuca on the following Wednesday morning. We stopped at almost every port on the Strait and on the sound, and did not reach Olympia until Friday evening. Puget Sound is a beautiful sheet of water and we made our journey up it at a time most fortunate to see it in all its beauty: there was scarcely a ripple on the water save that made by the ships; the shores, covered with evergreens were duplicated by the waters while here and there, bays branching off looked like great broad, smooth rivers; the low wooded hills near the shore were over-topped by the distant mountains with their rugged peaks covered with eternal snows and last and most imposing Mount Rainier, a huge cone of glistening snow, extending far above all surrounding mountains appears to be only five or six miles distant while in truth it is some eighty miles away. The days were bright and warm but not sultry and I was almost sorry when we arrived at our destination. The climate here during August and the first part of September was all that the heart could desire, bright pleasant days and cool nights. Since the 20th of Sept. the weather has not been as pleasant. The air has been damp and chilly and it often rains for several days at a time, a cool dizzling rain. Last week was, for the most part, clear and cold with heavy frosts each night: One night we had ice about as thick as ordinary window glass. The Thurston Co. Fair was held here last week; it was a very poor affair, so those who attended say. I did not go up.

Gov. Newell is a tall, spare man with dark iron-grey hair, with a heavy mustache and whiskers a la Burnside, the coal black hue of which can evidently be attributed to the combined skill of the patent medicine man and the tonsorial artist. His gait is very much constrained and affected and gives you the idea that his mind is wholly consentrated upon himself. I have not met him personally, but heard him make a few remarks on the occasion of the President's funeral, and was not favorably impressed with the man; there was too much air-sawing and noise for the amount of wisdom. Many of his own party friends say that he is turning every stone to increase his popularity in order that he may be sent to the U.S. Senate when W.T. is admitted as a state-- I think there is perhaps some truth in the statements, but there is such a thing as over-doing matters. I learned from the Morning Oregonian, a newspaper published at Portland that Foster's majority is about twenty-three thousand and that the legislature is strong Republican, but have heard nothing from Washington Co.. Dr. Riley is doing very well here, having struck the place in a good time: there were only two doctors in the city, both old men, one deaf, and both dumb. Neither of them would go into the country; so if a person there got sick or was hurt he had to trust to Providence or be jolted into town over rough roads. The Dr. has now quite an extensive practice which is steadily increasing. Another new physician came here a short time after we arrived, but I think he is not doing much.

The outlook for a limb of the law is not good: about ten lawyers here and but very little business to be divided amongst them. I shall most probably leave here next summer and go to East Washington, Idaho or back to California, very likely to the latter place. The Territorial Superintendent of Public Instruction wanted me to go to East W. this fall and said he would secure me a better position than the one offered me here, but I wanted to spend one winter on the sound and so declined his offer. Some of the citizens wish me to locate here and urge me a reason for my so doing that all the best lawyers have left the place and consequently there is a good opening for a new man. I think that argument has more force on the other side of the question. If those who had shown that they had the ability [required?] for the profession, who by long residence in the place had worked themselves into the confidence of the people, were unsatisified with the results of their labors, and were compelled to seek "Green fields and pastures new," why should a young man and a stranger hope to do any better?

I have gained fourteen pounds since I came here and no longer have "a lean and hungry look."

With kindest wishes for yourself and family and hoping to hear from you I remain,

Respectfully yours,

A.L. Smith.