A syndicate of men prominent in the Southern Pacific Railroad management purchased Milton Point, the land directly west, across Seattle Bay, from the town, and are clearing it off, and say they will make extensive improvements over there in the near future. They are building a large ferry steamer, and have a franchise to run a ferry hourly between town and the front. It is to be on the route by December 1st. Report says that the Southern Pacific is coming in there. At Smith Cove quite a little town is building up, and property is advancing all around there. REPORT FROM E. A. ROUTHE, ESQ., CONCERNING SPOKANE FALLS, ETC. SPOKANE FALLS, Oct. 17, 1888. [Sidenote: Growth of Spokane Falls.] Our city has progressed in growth splendidly since you were here. There are now fully 13,000 inhabitants. The census of July 1st showed 12,000. About $1,500,000 have been expended in buildings this year. Eight business blocks of brick and granite have been built this season. One of these cost $150,000. Four of these blocks are three stories, three are four stories, and one five stories. [Illustration: SPOKANE FALLS, WASHINGTON TERRITORY.] Forty miles of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway will be completed between here and the Big Bend by December 1st. The iron, engines and cars are nearly all here, and the farmers in Lincoln County are greatly rejoiced at the opportunity for shipping their grain and stock to market. [Sidenote: Prodigious development of the mining interests.] The development in the mines this year has been greater than all the work done heretofore. The gold mines near Murray, Idaho, have yielded beyond the hopes of all interested in them. I saw four gold bricks, at the First National Bank, said to contain $37,000. These were from one mine, a South Fork mine of the Coeur d'Alene. The Kootenai country is now reached by steamer after leaving the Northern Pacific road at Sand Point. A good deal of development work is progressing, and the ore is being shipped out daily. It is mostly silver-bearing galena. A new town just above the British line on the Kootenai Lake has been started. It is called "Nelson." I shall send you some formulated data at an early date. The crops have been good, though not so good as last year. Emigration to the farming sections does not come in as fast as we would like--in fact, not as rapidly as to the towns. I think it will be better after the election. REPORT FROM PAUL F. MOHR, ESQ., CHIEF ENGINEER OF THE SEATTLE, LAKE SHORE & EASTERN RAILWAY, CONCERNING THE CADY'S PASS AND WENATCHIE ROUTE. SPOKANE FALLS, W. T., Dec. 3, 1888. The following is a report of the proposed line from West Coast Branch to mouth of Wenatchie River: I. ENGINEERING FEATURES. [Sidenote: Engineering details of the new route.]