lletter.html

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., March 16, 1911, page 1

LETTER FROM LAUREL

Laurel is to be a town built along modern lines and with modern improvements and conveniences.
Peek Brothers the owners have a crew of surveyors, under the direction of Mr. Homer Thacker, of Husum, engaged during the past week surveying and plotting a town-site surrounding Laurel post office. The tract being sub-divided consists of one hundred and sixty acres of bench land nearly level and very even in slope, lying about fifty feet above the upper, or south, end of Camas Prairie. The lots are large providing sufficient ground for garden and lawns for which the soil is eminently suited.
In its natural state the townsite is heavily timbered with fir and pine. This will be the first of the Peek Brothers' holdings of timber land to be logged off, and as the timber is cut the stumps will be removed and streets graded. Advantage will be taken of nature's lavish bounty in providing this forest with wonderfully beautiful specimens of noble fir and pine trees, to preserve for shade and ornamental purposes the finest of the trees; and after selection has been made of the best trees to be saved, lots will be sold with a clause in the deed contingent upon their preservation. No more beautiful or healthful site for a town can be found in this section of the country and the Peek's mean to ensure the preservation of its natural beauty.
A large spring on an adjoining tract is to be piped to every lot, and as the spring is at a considerable elevation above the townsite it will allow a gravity system to be installed, which will furnish an abundant supply of the clearest, purest and coldest water. Mr. Thacker has surveyed a pipeline from the spring and finds the fall ample to insure a good pressure.
Announcement was made Saturday by the resident partner, Mr. A.E. Peek that a commodious hotel building will be erected at an advantageous site near the store, the cost of the building to approximate $3500. Plans and specifications are being prepared and work will be started at once. The design of the building will be in harmony with the sylvian surroundings and will make it a unique hostelry with the catching name of "The Laurel Inn." The house will be rushed to completion and will be ready to care for the increasing number of summer travelers who come to look over the Laurel district. Already negotiations are underway toward securing an experienced hotel man to take charge. The house and grounds will have electric lights to be furnished from the mill plant.
The Laurel Mill Company will install a part of their equipment this spring, as soon as the roads are in condition to permit of hauling of the heavy machinery to the mill site. A blacksmith and wheel wrights' shop will be built near the mill site and the blacksmith announces he will arrive as soon as the building is ready.
Last week the preliminary steps were taken for the organization of the Laurel Co-operative Dairy Association. As Mr. Peek offers to donate the use of a building and furnish ice free for one year, and as power and steam can be cheaply obtained from the saw mill plant, it was decided to place the initial capitalization at $1500, divided in shares of a par value of $50. The plan is to install a butter making machinery at once if sufficient support is assured by contracts for cream to be furnished by the dairymen of the Prairie. A meeting of the stock subscribers will be held soon to effect an organization, when the company will be duly incorporated.
The Laurel Development Club is active and already results are to be seen from their work. At present the membership is forty-four. Other developments are yet in the embryo state and so the plans under consideration cannot be given at present. But from all present indications there will be "things doing" at Laurel all the time from now on.