The hay, vegetables, fruits, and provisions generally, that are consumed by the non-agricultural portion of these communities, are furnished by the county of which Seattle is the county-seat.
Port Madison is more handsomely situated than Seattle. It lies on a smooth hill-side, and the residences all have an air of cozy comfort quite prepossessing. One charming feature of the scenery here is the magnificent growth of maple-trees, reserved for ornament and shade. Those trees are as large in proportion to others of their species as are the immense firs of the Sound to theirs: a fact which suggests something with regard to the soil bordering the waters of Washington Territory.
The Port Madison mill is one of the largest on the Pacific Coast. It is 334 feet long by 60 wide; and its machinery is propelled by two engines with eight forty-two-inch flues. Sixty men are employed about the mill, besides the many engaged in logging, rafting, etc. There are shops of every description necessary to a complete establishment, including a foundry and machine-shop. The Company own six vessels for transporting their manufactured lumber; and a steam-tug for towing rafts or vessels, as required.
Port Gamble, thirty miles farther down the Sound, on the west side also, is situated near the head of Tukalet Bay; and is reached by the steamer going fourteen miles out of her course. In its general features Port Gamble is not unlike the other milling establishments, though it is perhaps the most important in respect of the amount of lumber produced. There are two mills at this place, and quite a village of their employees. In passing up this inlet we get a peep into that remarkable arm of the Sound called Hood's Canal,
