t that this was the desired waterway, but
various navigators, among them Vancouver, explored the body of
water into which the Strait of Fuca opened, only to find that every
branch and inlet terminated in the land. Puget Sound is nearly
enclosed by water and is so large as really to form an inland sea.
Its long arms reach out in three directions among the most heavily
timbered valleys and mountain slopes of the United States.

The cities of Puget Sound had a later start than most of the other
cities of the Pacific coast, for this portion of the old Oregon
territory was for a long time claimed by the English, and during
that period was peopled only by Indians and trappers. In 1846 the
present boundary was established, and Puget Sound passed into the
possession of the United States.

Because of the dense forests, agriculture could not play an important
part in the development of the sound region for some time. Lumbering
was naturally the leading occupation. This industry could be carried
on all the more advantageously because of the innumerable inlets
penetrating the land.

The advantages of Puget Sound for foreign commerce began to be
evident, but the Cascade Range stood in the way of railroads from
the eastward. Although it was a comparatively easy task to build
a railroad north from Portland, yet the sound region did not begin
to grow rapidly until, after careful surveys, two railroads finally
found passes through the Cascade Range so as to reach tide-water.
As in other places, when the necessity for overcoming them arose,
the obstacles which Nature had interposed were found not to be
so troublesome as was at first supposed. Now the once formidable
range has been tunnelled and will no longer form a serious barrier
between the interior portion of Washington and the coast.

Tacoma, Seattle, and Everett have grown up on the sound as important
commercial and manufacturing cities, and will, on account of their
favorable situation, receive their share of the commerce of the
Pacific. The cities of the sound are particularly well situated
for intercourse and commerce with Alaska and northeastern Asia.

These cities are also well situated for manufacturing, because
coal and wood are plentiful and consequently cheap, but they have
not in their immediate vicinity so extensive agricultural valleys
as the Willamette and the Great Valley of California. The lumberman
must be supplanted by the farmer and fruit-grower before the s