Tacoma

“ A journey down its winding channels, through its narrow passages, among its hundreds of islands, past its cities, towns and busy mills, the eye constantly greeted by new and ever-changing landscapes of beauty, is one never to be forgotten by him who takes it when a clear sky and full moon combine to reveal its beauties, both day and night. Tacoma’s location renders it the best headquarters for tourists while enjoying the beauties of the sound. ”

“ South of Kulshan, the range continues dark, rough, and somewhat unmeaning to the eye, until it is relieved by Tacoma, vulgo Regnier. Upon this Tacoma’s image I was now drifting, and was about to make nearer acquaintance with its substance. One cannot know too much of a nature’s nobleman. Tacoma the second, which Yankees call Mt. Adams, is a clumsier repetition of its greater brother, but noble enough to be the pride of a continent. Dearest charmer of all is St. Helen’s, queen of the Cascades, queen of Northern America, a fair and graceful volcanic cone. ”

“ Tacoma commands the best view of the Sound and of Mt. Tacoma, with its fifteen thousand perpendicular feet looming rose-pink in the heavens, and all its fifteen glaciers seeming to glow with an inner tropic warmth. There are eighteen hundred miles of shore-line embroidering this marvellous Sound. We are continually rounding abrupt points, as in a river,—points so much alike that an untutored eye can not tell one from another. Old Probabilities industriously taking his reckonings and growing more and more enthusiastic at every turn—especially so when the after-glow burns the sea to a coal ”

“ Tacoma has well been called the “City of Destiny,” for never in the history of our great republic has the finger of destiny so unerringly pointed to the location of a large commercial and manufacturing metropolis as it did to the shores of Commencement bay when the Northern Pacific located here the terminus of its main line on Puget sound. In its history, years have witnessed more life and growth, more progress in business and wealth and the creation of more permanent values of property, than decades in the history of older and admittedly prosperous cities of the eastern states. ”

“ Twice more the searchlights were thrown on the Tacoma, but a clattering answer from the signal lantern at once conveyed the information that all was in order, whereupon the glaring ball of light disappeared silently, and there was nothing on the whole expanse of dark water to indicate that invisible eyes were on the lookout for every ship whose keel was ploughing the deep.
The Tacoma arrived at Yokohama the next morning, the passengers were sent ashore, and the steamer herself was added as an auxiliary cruiser to the Japanese fleet. ”

“ Beautiful, too, are the broad tree- lined streets and the parks, some comprising many acres of shaded lawns and gorgeous flower beds. But Tacoma, like all modern cities, has its slums—dingy old buildings converted into rooming houses, squalid un- sanitary shacks, and crowded, cheap hotels. The people of Tacoma are on the whole a stable population; more than 50 per cent own their own homes, and local pride and interest are strong. About one-fifth of the townspeople are foreign born, and many more are the children of foreign born, representing a variety of ethnic groups. ”

“ Dear Sir:—I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of Sept. 21st, making certain inquiries about the change of the name of Mt. Rainier to that of Tacoma. Upon careful and diligent inquiry among the Puyallup Indians, I find the following to be the true condition of things:
There is a general impression that the name Tacoma was the original name of the mountain among Indians, and that it signified "nourishing mother," and was so named on account of its being the source of a number of rivers which head there and flow into the waters of Puget Sound. ”

“ Tacoma is situated on Commencement Bay, an arm of Puget Sound, and has a harbor navigable for the largest ocean steamships. The vast forests of pine, fir, and cedar, with which it is surrounded, give Tacoma great commercial importance as a lumbering town, and the rich agricultural valleys thereabout assure home production of breadstuffs, vegetables, meats, etc., sufficient to feed its army of workingmen. ”

“ Glimpses are never wanting to sustain us, lest we faint and fail along the lacerating ways. Such a glimpse I was now to have of Tacoma. I had long been obstructedly nearing it, first in the leaky Bucentaur, propelled over strong-flowing Whulge by Klalams, drunken, crapulous, unsteady, timid, — such agents progress finds; next by alliance of Owhhigh, the horse-thief, and aid from the Hudson’s Bay Company; then between the files of veteran evergreens in plate-armor, tempered purple by the fiery sun, and across prairies where might have hung an ominous mist of blood. ”

“ Continuing its panoramic studies, Tacoma could trace the chasm of the Columbia by silver circles here and there, — could see every peak, chimney, or unopened vent, from Kulshan to Shasta Butte. The Blue Mountains eastward were within its scope, and westward the faint-blue levels of the Pacific. ”

“ He looked back at Tacoma and admired the splendor of its snows and the beauty of its form, and had never a care for the riches in its crater. The wood was strange to him as he descended, but at sunset he reached his wigwam, where an aged woman was cooking salmon. Wife and husband recognized each other, though he had been asleep and she a-sorrowing for years. In his joy to be at home the miser dug up all his treasure that he had secreted and gave of his wealth and wisdom to whoso needed them. Life, love, and nature were enough, he found, and he never braved the tamanous again. ”

“ Another region, worthy of any mountain’s beholding, Tacoma sees, somewhat vague and dim in distance: it sees the sweet Arcadian valley of the Willamette, charming with meadow, park, and grove. In no older world where men have, in all their happiest moods, recreated themselves for generations in taming earth to orderly beauty, have they achieved a fairer garden than Nature’s simple labor of love has made there, giving to rough pioneers the blessings and the possible education of refined and finished landscape, in the presence of landscape strong, savage, and majestic. ”

“ The yellow prairies rolled up where the piny Cascades, dwarfed by distance, were a dark ridge upon the horizon, and the overtopping bulk of Tacoma rose directly from them, a silver mountain from a golden sea. No tameness of thought is possible here, even if prairie-land lies dead level for leagues, when on its edge the untamed forces of Nature have set up these stately monuments. ”

“ Hiaqua and wealth seemed to have lost their charms for him. Tacoma, shining like gold and silver and precious stones of gayest lustre, seemed a benign comrade and friend. All the outer world was cheerful and satisfying. He thought he had never awakened to a fresher morning. He was a young man again, except for that unusual stiffness and unmelodious creaking in his joints. He felt no apprehension of any presence of a deputy tamanoüs, sent by Tamanoüs to do malignities upon him in the lonely wood. ”

“ Whenever so young a city as Tacoma is mentioned it is generally spoken of as a prospective metropolis, whose present growth is based largely upon the future. Great as Tacoma’s future is sure to be, its present condition has not been reached by discounting it nor is its great prosperity due to large drafts on future industries. ”

“ From the deck of the steamer, as we sail northward, the irregular-formed, but well-wooded shore is seen to be dotted with hamlets, sawmills, farms, and hop-fields, all forming a pleasing foreground to the remarkable scenery of land and water presided over by the snow-crowned peak of Mount Tacoma, which looms fourteen thousand feet and more skyward in its grandeur and loneliness. ”

“ Tacoma offered no privileges for the destitute out-of-work man. Here he will find no free bath but the Sound, no free bed but a chair in an all-night saloon or the jail, no free meal without begging or snatching from the free lunch counter. I counted just one hundred men sitting up all night in chairs in the various saloons of the city, and once more I appeal to Tacoma, and to every other city, not to take the saloon from the needy until it can give something in its place. ”

“ Tacoma is Twhauk, which was derived from Twheque, snow, and [Pg 58] Swheque ad. Bright, clear, cloudless sky. Ta-ko-man is mostly used for the Mt. Tacoma, as it is held with much respect and esteemed by nearly all the Indians of the Northwest. The reason for conferring the great honor upon Twhauk, is that the second syllable ko, means water, corresponding with the water, or little lake on top of the mountain, and also in that lake is a great abundance of valuable shells, from which the Indians made their nose and ear-rings, and other valuable jewelry. ”

“ Every tree has a soul; the forests were peopled with good and evil genii, the latter receiving oblation at the devil-dances, for it was not worth while to appease those already good; and the mountains are the home of tamanouses, or guardian spirits, that sometimes fight together—as, when the spirits of Mount Tacoma engaged with those of Mount Hood, fire and melted stone burst from their peaks, their bellowing was heard afar, and some of the rocks flung by Tacoma fell short, blocking the Columbia about the Dalles. ”

“ S. Samson.—For being a young man few have displayed steadier habits and more business capacity than the congenial proprietor of the People's Hotel and Restaurant, 913 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma. He was born in Ostra Torsa, Kronoberg, Sweden, November 29, 1869, where he enjoyed the training of splendid school facilities. In 1888 he crossed the stormy Atlantic, and selected Tacoma for his permanent location. During his early time in the New World he shared the vicissitudes of circumstances, ever converting his leisure to useful acquirements. ”

“ Tacna (14) , capital of a province (32) in North Chile, 38 m. N. of Arica, with which it is connected by rail; trades in wool and minerals; taken from Peru in 1883.
Tacoma (38) , a flourishing manufacturing town and port of Washington State, on Puget Sound; has practically sprung into existence within the last 15 years, and is the outlet for the produce of a rich agricultural and mining district. ”

“ About 700 or 800 Negroes live in Tacoma; many work in the smelter and as employees of the city, and a fair proportion have entered the professions. Indians from Muckleshoot Reservation are often seen in the streets of Tacoma, but the majority live outside the town. Many Filipinos, Chinese, and Japanese are found in the service trades. Truck gardening is a favorite occupation also with the Oriental people, and they peddle their fresh and brightly colored produce about the streets. ”

“ If Mount Hood can claim to be considered, as is generally admitted, the most graceful and beautiful mountain on the Pacific coast, Mount Tacoma can certainly claim to be the most majestic and sublime. Towering 14,444 feet above sea-level, and thus exceeding by more than 3,000 feet the height of any other mountain in Washington or Oregon, it seems to rear its massive head close to the very battlements of heaven. No other mountain, even in the Yellowstone National Park or in the main range of the Rockies, will have produced so great an impression upon the traveler as will the mighty Tacoma. ”

“ Call it what you will to-day, yesterday, in the talk of the Indian fishers of Whulge, it was known as Tacoma, a word generically applied to snow mountains.
No truly great mountain in America is as readily [Pg 131] accessible and as widely enjoyed as Tacoma-Rainier. To Seattle and Tacoma it is an ever-present companion, and all the Puget Sound country basks in its shadow. A most excellent automobile road winds through its forests up to the snow fields, the only highway on this continent which actually reaches a living glacier. ”

“ Beautiful and costly residences, occupying commanding sites and standing in the midst of green lawns ornamented with a profusion of flowers and shrubs, are one of the noticeable features of Tacoma, and they speak of the culture and refinement, as well as the material prosperity of the people. ”

“ Scandinavians have made Tacoma their stronghold, about 10,000 dwell within the city boundary. Some rank among the most thrifty and highly esteemed citizens. They also bear the honor of being among the early pioneers who gave [Pg 109] light and courage to subsequent settlers. Mrs. Fredric Meyer, a native of Norway, previously alluded to, was one of the first white women to alight in Pierce county. Anton Malm, born in Sweden, came to the coast in 1870, and mingled with the first pioneers of Tacoma.
The Scandinavian business and professional men of Tacoma merit kind consideration. ”

“ More melodiously the Siwashes call it Tacoma,—a generic term also applied to all snow peaks. Tacoma, under its ermine, is a crushed volcanic dome, or an ancient volcano fallen in, and perhaps not yet wholly lifeless. The domes of snow are stateliest. There may be more of feminine beauty in the cones, and more of masculine force and hardihood in the rough pyramids, but the great domes are calmer and more divine. ”

“ American lake, shown in the engraving opposite, where it forms the foreground for a beautiful landscape, of which Mount Tacoma is the central figure, attracts hundreds of pleasure seekers. Its waters teem with trout, and its shining surface offers both the oarsman and the yachtsman an opportunity to indulge in their favorite amusement. The drive from the city to the park is one of keen enjoyment to one whose eye drinks in the beauties of nature, and who delights to fill his lungs with the pure air, fragrant with the odor of forest and mountain. ”