The $10 Million Dream to Turn Olympia Into the Hub of the Northwest

Following up the interesting and important interview with Mr. J. R. Chaplin, printed in The Tribune of Friday, a representative of this paper saw that enterprising gentleman again this afternoon and gleaned the following:

“The scheme which I referred to,” said Mr. Chaplin, “in my hurried talk of Saturday, is no secret and I am glad to have the opportunity to make a clear and complete statement of all that I have in mind to propose now. Let the leading citizens incorporate the Olympia Improvement Company, with say ten million dollars capital stock, in shares of one thousand dollars each, to be paid in when demanded by the company under such regulations as may be thought best. Let the stock be floated and the money used to improve Olympia.”

“But can the stock be sold?”

“Yes, and as much more or twice as much more. You see we shall not be asking for donations, but, instead, we shall be asking men to invest where there is a certainty of large profits. Any individual or company having one million dollars or more can come into any of the western cities and so invest it that large profits are certain. You can easily see that such a company knowing what was preferred could take advantage of its knowledge and profit by settling in on the ground floor, as we say. Eastern capitalists can be made to see that, and so induced to invest.”

“Have you any proposition you would propose as an investment?”

“Yes, a score of them, and at the proper time I shall be glad to disclose them. I will mention one now. Look on the map and you will see that Olympia is the only city on Puget Sound that can command the whole surrounding country. It is for location the chosen city of the Northwest. West of us, and only forty miles away, is the Pacific Ocean. Four miles southwest of us is Black Lake, the waters of which flow into the ocean directly west of us. The best pass through the mountains east of us is on a direct line between Olympia and the great wheat country. Olympia is also the ‘gate city’ between the Columbia River on the south and the Sound country on the north. She stands directly between what is now the largest city in the Northwest and all that is valuable in the Sound country.

The mountain ranges on all sides of us are rich and promising, only waiting for the people of Olympia to make them pay a heavy tribute. The agricultural, horticultural and pomological possibilities immediately surrounding Olympia and tributary thereto have no equal in this country west or east. The whole world is in need of our timber, and that need is growing daily. Olympia is so located that whatever the state wants for the east or foreign markets can best be sent from here.”

“Under the circumstances what would you advise?”

“I am coming to that. Make a ship canal from Olympia via Black River, Chehalis River and Grays Harbor to the ocean. Enough is known to warrant us in believing that such an undertaking is entirely practicable.”

“Will it not require a large amount of money to accomplish such an enterprise?”

“Of course it will, but there are millions of dollars throughout the east, in small amounts, from one thousand dollars to one hundred thousand, that can be gathered together for the purpose I name.”

“What makes you think that eastern capital can be secured?”

“Because the scheme is so entirely practicable that the holders of these several amounts can easily see the advantage of combining their means. There is one hundred million or more to be made out of it. If such an enterprise is carried out Olympia becomes from that day the hub of the Northwest. Portland, Seattle and Tacoma will not be ‘in it.’ They cannot be in it, and we are unworthy of what we now possess if we do not broaden our views and increase our efforts in proportion to our opportunities. We have long been satisfied to be called ‘a nice home city,’ ‘a sleeping beauty,’ and other pet names. But the time has come for us to look for, and work for, the highest honors. I have other plans, but none that affects us all so much as the canal scheme.”