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Show 68 IMMIGRANTS' AND SETTLERS' GUIDE · that everything the farmer would :require to purchase would not generally be found to exceed in price the cost of similar articles in the Eastern markets, adding thereto the difference between paper currency and gold-that is to say, prices in gold in Washington Territory are much the same as prices in paper here in New York. MINERAL RESOURCES. Thus far, comparatively little is known of the mineral resources of Washington Territory. Gold is known to exist, but nothing has yet, I believe, been done to ascertain its quality or quantity. The amount deposited in the U.S. Mint during the year 1862, is set down in Hallet's Circular at $216. Men and means are both much needed in the Territory, and not until the intro .. duction into th~ cou~try of more muscle and money can the extent of Its mineral resources be adequately estimated. .. Coal has been discovered of a good quality. The m~ne.s at p;esent being worked are on Puget Sound, Within Belhngbam Bay, and accessible to shipping, with the c~st of wh~rfing. Protective legislation by Congress IS all ~bat .Is n~ede? to induce enterprise and capi- . tal to flow In th1~ dir~cti?n, and to develop this valua~ le, and, as I beheve 1t will prove to be, most important Interest of the Territory. . ~he following extract from a letter on the subject, written by an old and well informed settler in the count: y, and addresse~ to Judge J. M. Edmunds, CommisSioner of the U ntted States General Land Office is ~mportant, .a~d will be read with interest by all ;ho mtend to VISit or settle there : ''These lands will be immensely valuable; and aJready they are squatted upon by a class of men who will never make improvement on the ~and, but w~o hold them for themselves and others at enor· mous prices. Certain parties from Ohio and Illinois who have tho· roughly tested the. coal, have pronounced it by far the best yet disco· vered on the Pacific coast, and havo been here to purchase these TO THE NEW STATES .AND TERRITORIES. 69 squatters' rights. But the squatters ask fabulous pr~ces for their rights. One man, I have heard, asked $100,00? for ~Is,~_IOO. acres; others are about as crazy, This coal, to reach sh~p navzga~~'!on, ttnvolves the building of a railroad some twenty-five or thirty miles. Of course capitalists out of the Territory only will come and develop. these coal resources and work the coal·beds, and no company c~n begin to work these mines and build a railroad, unless they can obta~n a large amou~t of land at first· but these worthless squatters stand In the way of this just public int~rest. Totally unable to do anything themselves, they prevent others from doing anything. . "Now if the Government could survey these coal1ands,first 'J'eservzng all coalldnds in the Territory from settlement and sale, and when. sur-ed sell the lands in whole sections or even large amounts, eit~er :.:~udtion or private sale, at a price far jn adv~nce of the ~resent pnce of the public lands, then, and I fear,not till then, Will the coal resources of the Territory be developed. This statement has called forth the followi~g lett~r 'from Mr. George Gibbs, Geologist of the Pacific Rail-road Survey : To the Editor of the N Y. Tribune : SIR: In your paper of the 15Lh ~nst., I ,~n~ letter No.7 o~ the '' Great West," in which, under th~ t1tle of :Mmeral Resources (of Washington Territory) is the fo~lo'\\?ng ~tatement: . . .. " This coal to reach ship nav1gatwn, Involves the bu1ldmg of a rail road some twenty-five or thirty miles.'' . . Where the coal of which the writer speaks IS s1tuated, I cann_ot • C/'. ~he only workable mines known to me-and as geolog1st Imaoln~. ely of the Pacific Railway Survey and of the North-West sBuocucensdsaiVr Commission, I have exami. ned a1 1 t h a t h ave b ee?- d.'1s covered. , at least ~0 a very recent date-are on P~get S~und, w1tb1n what ~s known as Bellingham Bay, and are situated 1mme~1ately on the water~ d The only structures required to put thmr products on boar e hfe~re iers and tramways about as many rods long as your corre· : !den£ C/'ives miles. This coal, like all the rest ~s yet known on the /acific co~st with the exception of that at W ana1mo, on Vancouver Island is a' light, bituminous, tert.iary coal, somewhat altered by vol- . ' t• The Wanaimo coal 1s of the cretaceous age. But all ~~~~~~~~~·are accessible to shipping with the mere cost of. wl~arfin{?. What the " squatters" of Washington Territory ask for thmr n ghhts ~~ their own business. Their claims are from 3 20 to 640. acre~:~~ ~~n ithey hold them, not as squatters, but ut 1der t~~~:;t~~~n ~ates wbi~h na.l settlers, having an absolute gran rom cannot be taken away. . 'th. the limits of Washington One or the Bellingham Ba.y mines, Wl In |