to secure for this region a cheaper, more frequent, and regular mail service. Under these circumstances the population increased much more rapidly than formerly; in spite of the glittering attractions of California property rose in value and general prosperity prevailed.
Prosperity of the Puget Sound colony. When the discovery of gold was first reported in the autumn of 1848, there were only a few settlers on Puget Sound, most of whom were engaged in making shingles and getting out timber for the Hudson's Bay Company. This was almost their only means of securing the supplies needed to support their families. About twentyfive of the men immediately set out for the gold mines, leaving a very small remnant of population in the country. In a few months many of them returned with an abundance of money, to be used in making improvements. Samuel Hancock tells us that when he came back to Olympia in the fall of 1849, after spending a year in the mines, "everything bore the impress of prosperity." Among other things a grist mill had been erected, which was of great benefit to the community.
Beginnings of lumbering on Puget Sound. The settlement on Puget Sound received special benefits from the great demand for lumber which came from San Francisco and the other California towns. No portion of the Pacific Northwest was better fitted by nature to supply this need; for here the forests usually came down to the water's edge, while many of the
tained by private subscription before the public school system went into effect.
