her agricultural and other resources which in some sections are not inconsiderable. Moreover, Alaska has an enormous reserve in her timber, which one day will seek an outside market in competition with that from the Northwestern states, and the exports of lumber will purchase, partly in foreign markets, many of the articles now brought in from Seattle or from Portland.
Influence of the Isthmian Canal. It is too early to speak definitely about the changes in Northwestern commerce due to the Isthmian Canal. But it is clear that, while the canal w'ill open the Pacific basin to the trade of Atlantic and Gulf ports, it will at the same time open the Atlantic basin to the ports along the Pacific, including those of the Northwestern states, and such an exchange should prove not unfavourable to this region. The general feeling here is that, for the first time in the history of the Pacific coast states, their commercial opportunities are equal to those of the Atlantic states; and it is expected that when the European war ends, and the distinctive products of the Northwest—especially lumber, fish, and fruits—come once more into normal request abroad, the commercial progress of these states is likely to be phenomenal.
