No heritage of the state is of greater value and none more appreciated than this water power.  Since the introduction of electricity as a lighting and motive force, its creation by water power looms into immense importance.  The exhibition of its achievements to be seen in Washington today is amazing to the men whose vision of light and power was first with the tallow dip and four-footed beasts, and later with kerosene and steam.  Electricity, created by our water falls, lights our cities and farm homes, draws our street cars and some railroad cars—­pushes most of the machinery used in manufactories, to the great satisfaction and profit of our citizens.

[Page 16] game.

The State of Washington was once a paradise for the sportsman in its every corner.  Its desert lands were full of jack rabbits and sage hens; over its mountains and foothills roamed herds of elk, mountain goats, deer, and many bear, cougar and wild cats.  In its timbered valleys were pheasants and grouse in plenty.  Upon its waters and sloughs the wild ducks and geese were in vast flocks, while its waters teemed with salmon in many varieties, and several families of the cod tribe, sole, flounders, perch, mountain trout and other fish.

While these conditions cannot now be said to exist in full, yet at certain seasons, and in some places, the same game, animals, birds and fishes are in abundance, and the sportsman, while he may not have his “fill,” may satisfy a reasonable amount of his craving for the excitement of the frontier.  The state has deemed it wise to restrict the time and place within which its game can be taken and the amount a single individual shall kill.  These regulations suffice partly to preserve the game from extinction and help replenish the state’s treasury, and are considered wise and reasonable.

SCENERY.

If Washington is mighty in forest possession, provided with fuel for centuries in its coal beds, rich in precious metals, with great open waterways full of fish roads from the ocean and millions of fishes in its inland waters, with game upon its thousand hills and its vast plains loaded with waving grains and red with luscious fruits, still its crowning glory is its matchless scenery.

Towering above the clouds, with its head crowned with eternal snows, its sides forever glistening with icy glaciers till their feet touch the green tops of its foothills, near the center of the state, stands in imposing grandeur the highest mountain of the states—­grand, old Mount Rainier.

[Illustration:  Plate No. 11.—­Fish Cannery at Port Angeles, Clallam County.]

[Illustration:  Plate No. 12.—­A Forest Scene in Clallam County.]

[Illustration:  Plate No. 13.—­North Bank Bridge Over the Columbia River at Vancouver, Clarke County.]

[Illustration:  Plate No. 14.—­U.  S. Army Post, Vancouver, Clarke County.]