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Steep Trails-Part24_John Muir(1838-1914)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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the wilderness and abolished the old distances. It is now near to all

the world and is in possession of a share of the best of all that



civilization has to offer, while on some of the lines of advancement

it is at the front.



Notwithstanding the sharp rivalry between different sections and

towns, the leading men mostly pull together for the general good and



glory,--building, buying, borrowing, to push the country to its place;

keeping arithmetic busy in counting population present and to come,



ships, towns, factories, tons of coal and iron, feet of lumber, miles

of railroad,--Americans, Scandinavians, Irish, Scotch, and Germans



being joined together in the white heat of work like religious crowds

in time of revival who have forgotten sectarianism. It is a fine



thing to see people in hot earnest about anything; therefore, however

extravagant and high the brag ascending from Puget Sound, in most



cases it is likely to appear pardonable and more.

Seattle was named after an old Indian chief who lived in this part of



the Sound. He was very proud of the honor and lived long enough to

lead his grandchildren about the streets. The greater part of the



lower business portion of the town, including a long stretch of

wharves and warehouses built on piles, was destroyed by fire a few



months ago[28], with immense loss. The people, however, are in no

wise discouraged, and ere long the loss will be gain, inasmuch as a



better class of buildings, chiefly of brick, are being erected in

place of the inflammable wooden ones, which, with comparatively few



exceptions, were built of pitchy spruce.

With their own scenery so glorious ever on show, one would at first



thought suppose that these happy Puget Sound people would never go

sightseeing from home like less favored mortals. But they do all the



same. Some go boating on the Sound or on the lakes and rivers, or

with their families make excursions at small cost on the steamers.



Others will take the train to the Franklin and Newcastle or Carbon

River coal mines for the sake of the thirty- or forty-mile rides



through the woods, and a look into the black depths of the underworld.

Others again take the steamers for Victoria, Fraser River, or



Vancouver, the new ambitious town at the terminus of the Canadian

Railroad, thus getting views of the outer world in a near foreign



country. One of the regular summer resorts of this region where

people go for fishing, hunting, and the healing of diseases, is the



Green River Hot Springs, in the Cascade Mountains, sixty-one miles

east of Tacoma, on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Green



River is a small rocky stream with picturesque banks, and derives its

name from the beautiful pale-green hue of its waters.



Among the most interesting of all the summer rest and pleasure places

is the famous "Hop Ranch" on the upper Snoqualmie River, thirty or



forty miles eastward from Seattle. Here the dense forest opens,

allowing fine free views of the adjacent mountains from a long stretch



of ground which is half meadow, half prairie, level and fertile, and

beautifully diversified with outstanding groves of spruces and alders



and rich flowery fringes of spiraea and wild roses, the river

meandering deep and tranquil through the midst of it. On the portions



most easily cleared some three hundred acres of hop vines have been

planted and are now in full bearing, yielding, it is said, at the rate



of about a ton of hops to the acre. They are a beautiful crop, these

vines of the north, pillars of verdure in regular rows, seven feet



apart and eight or ten feet in height; the long, vigorous shoots

sweeping round in fine, wild freedom, and the light, leafy cones



hanging in loose, handsome clusters.

Perhaps enough of hops might be raised in Washington for the wants of



all the world, but it would be impossible to find pickers to handle

the crop. Most of the picking is done by Indians, and to this fine,



clean, profitable work they come in great numbers in their canoes, old

and young, of many different tribes, bringing wives and children and



household goods, in some cases from a distance of five or six hundred




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