The Day the Steamers Left Puget Sound

It was not until recently, when we learned through the mails that the ocean steamers had discontinued their trips up the Sound, that we fully realized the loss sustained by their withdrawal from these waters. Annoying as was the irregularity of the overland mail, and the deplorably dilapidated condition of the mail when it came to hand, we could put up with it, and still congratulate ourselves on the fact that the steamers continued running during the mail; thus affording our business men an opportunity of shipping by them with certainty and dispatch, and communicating with their San Francisco correspondents by express as in former times. We have now not even this consoling reflection: the new owners of the steamers have withdrawn them from Puget Sound, and we know not how long it will be ere our eyes are gladdened with the sight of one of these steamers.

This withdrawal of the steamers, if long continued, must prove very detrimental to the growth and prosperity of our young and promising Territory. By the regular visits of these steamers, the character and advantages of our country were becoming extensively known and appreciated through a medium other than the press, which does not possess the power of so generally conveying a knowledge of its resources. [The remainder of the editorial is damaged in the scan.]