Chehalis county is one of the most important counties in the state, and offers an abundant opportunity for Yankee energy to exercise itself [Page 50] in almost every avenue of business.  Its opportunities and resources are numerous and vast.  The newcomer may look long and find no better place for his talents.

Principal cities and towns.

Montesano is the county seat, located at the head of navigation on the Chehalis river, and on the Northern Pacific railway.  It has a population of about 3,500.  It has sawmills, sash and door factories, and is surrounded by a prosperous farming community, dairying being very remunerative.

Aberdeen is the commercial metropolis of the county.  Nearly $15,000 is daily paid out to wage-earners.  Much commerce from the ocean is centering here, 736 vessels clearing from Grays Harbor in 1907.  Seven hundred and seventy-seven thousand dollars has been appropriated by congress for the improvement of the harbor.  The city has terminal rail rates, and the Northern Pacific and Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroads are hustling after its trade.  The business portion of the city is built of stone, brick or cement.  It has eleven large sawmills, many shingle mills and various other factories for utilizing the products of its timber, besides fish and clam canneries and other factories.  Its population, now about 15,000, is rapidly growing.

Hoquiam, Aberdeen’s nearby neighbor, has a population crowding 11,000, and is a hustling manufacturing and commercial center, not different in its general business from Aberdeen.

Elma, twelve miles east of Montesano, is a town of 2,700.

Cosmopolis, south of the river from Aberdeen, has about 1,200, and is a sawmill town.

Oakville, MAKRHAM and Satsop are small growing towns on the Northern Pacific railway.  Many other embryo towns will in time grow into prosperous business centers.

CHELAN COUNTY

Chelan county is one of picturesque beauty and abundance of both developed and undeveloped wealth.  It faces the Columbia river eastward, while its back rests against the peaks of the Cascades, 5,000 to 6,000 feet above the sea.  Lake Chelan is the largest fresh water body in the state, fifty miles long and one to four wide, and lies 400 feet higher than the Columbia river.

Chelan county has 2,000 square miles, much of it mountainous and full of minerals.  Its population is at present about 14,000.

Resources.

Horticulture, agriculture, lumbering, stock-raising, mining and dairying all flourish on the bountiful natural fitness of the county for these occupations.  The climate is attractive.  It is a sunshiny county.

[Page 51] transportation.

Steamers ply up and down the Columbia river.  The Great Northern railway crosses the county through the valley of the Wenatchee river and the Washington & Great Northern railway is projected along the western boundary of the Columbia river.