The High Cost of Keeping Warm in Pioneer Seattle

That there is an evident need for a cheaper fuel supply for this city is beyond question in the minds of all our practical men. Three years ago, good oak could be laid in for the winter's use at the cost of five dollars per cord at any time before the first of December; now it costs six, while fir wood is worth five and saw mill slabs four. Give this town a chance to grow to 45,000 inhabitants and oak will be worth eight dollars. As it is already plain that the two principal expenses of living—house rent and fuel—are higher than in Portland, it becomes a duty to devise some cheaper means for supplying fuel, especially when the forests between here and the Cascades are beginning to show signs of depletion.

We have heard that Mr. Villard has purchased the Seattle coal mine and its railway, and we begin to expect some relief from that quarter. Seattle coal can be bought in Portland for $7.50 per ton and here for ten dollars at a profit, if the O.R. & N. Co. see fit to go into the business extensively. At ten dollars per ton it is cheaper than wood at $4 per cord, because it does not require sawing or splitting, besides which it takes less room and makes less ashes in the stove.