CHAPTER IV FOUNDING OF SEATTLE AND INDIAN WAR.
From Blazing The Way; Or, True Stories, Songs And Sketches Of Puget Sound And Other Pioneers by Emily Inez Denny
35 minute read
The most astonishing change wrought in the aspect of nature by the building of a city on Puget Sound is not the city itself but the destruction of the primeval forest. By the removal of the thick timber the country becomes unrecognizable; replaced by thousands of buildings of brick, wood and stone, graded streets, telephone and electric light systems, steam, electric and cable railways and all the paraphernalia of modern civilization, the contrast is very great. The same amount of energy and money expended in a treeless, level country would probably have built a city three times as large as Seattle. In February, 1852, Bell, Boren and the Dennys located claims on the east side of Elliott Bay. Others followed, but it was not until May, 1853, that C. D. Boren and A. A. Denny filed the first plat of the town, named for the noted chief, “Seattle.” The second...
SCANDINAVIANS IN SEATTLE. CHAPTER III.
From Scandinavians On The Pacific, Puget Sound by Thomas Ostenson Stine
24 minute read
Seattle, the metropolis of Washington, and the busiest city on the Pacific coast, has a romantic history, as well as a history of thrift and progress. Thirty-five years ago only a few log cabins set on the shore of Elliott Bay, inhabited by a handful of pioneers. Bears and cougars danced around their huts, and Indians skulked in lazy hordes at their threshold. How changed! today the Queen city is spread over about fifty square miles of land, overlooking the melodious Puget Sound, and dots the green borders of three fresh-water lakes with snug cottages. She has a population of about 85,000, of which a large per cent are Scandinavians. The first Scandinavian that visited Elliott Bay, of which we have any authentic account, was Peter Friberg, formerly mentioned. Shortly after came C. E. Norager and others referred to in the previous chapter. Charles John Chilberg made a survey of...
SCANDINAVIANS IN SEATTLE. CHAPTER IV.
From Scandinavians On The Pacific, Puget Sound by Thomas Ostenson Stine
8 minute read
Societies—Press—Prominent Citizens—Churches. Scandinavians in Seattle have contributed largely to the social feature of life. They have organized a number of societies, some flourished immensely for some time, then died a natural death, others have continued to prosper through sun and storm. The Normanna Literary and Social Club was among the first Norwegian societies, but alas! only a few days of sunshine then clouds and dispersion. The Baltic Lodge, I. O. G. T., was placed on record February 10, 1888, and has since its birth drank vigor from the fountain of wholesome reform. In a word, it is the healthiest Scandinavian society in the city of Seattle, and some of the members merit gratitude for their indefatigable work. G. Nygard, Gust. Thompson, Ole Finnoy, Martin Erickson, Ole Larsen, James Eggan, Anton Peters, B. H. Miller, Peter Peterson, W. T. Hillestad, A. Zaar, and Belle and Lena Egge, Christina Newgard, Augusta and...
CHAPTER VIII TACOMA AND SEATTLE.
From Another Summer by Charles J. Gillis
2 minute read
Tacoma, Washington, July 5, 1892. W E left Portland at 8 a.m. on the 2d by rail, and arrived at this fine hotel, “The Tacoma,” at 3.30 p.m. after a very agreeable and comfortable trip. The first thing to attract our special attention was a view of Mount Tacoma, as seen from the rear windows of the hotel, truly a royal and splendid sight: a great mountain, of symmetrical shape, covered with pure white snow. There are not many such mountains to be seen anywhere; none so beautiful, as I remember, except the Jungfrau at Interlaken, and Fusiyama in Japan. We have been in this place for three days, going about everywhere, and find it a wonderful example of a rapidly built city—solid and substantial, wide streets, great and costly public and private buildings, an admirable system of swift-going street cars, running in every direction, by cable or electric power;...
CHAPTER X PRINCE RUPERT TO VANCOUVER, VICTORIA, SEATTLE, AND THE GOLDEN GATE
From Canada The Spellbinder by Lilian Whiting
10 minute read
The voyage from Prince Rupert to Alaska is unparalleled in its glory of scenic enthralment; it is a trip unique and, indeed, quite unrivalled by any that this terrestrial sphere has disclosed to the wanderer over her spaces; yet hardly less interesting in a different way is that lovely sail of two days and two nights from Prince Rupert to Seattle, with calls at the ports of Vancouver and Victoria. The one enchants the imagination; the other relates itself to the great social order of human life. The latter reveals the vast resources of British Columbia; the almost infinite possibilities for the transcendent future of a new and still higher civilisation; the regions of the homes, the development, the nobler and still nobler culture of life in its evolutionary progress. The comfort and beauty of these Grand Trunk Pacific steamers are, as noted in the preceding chapter, responsible for much...
TWELFTH LETTER. SEATTLE, THE FUTURE MISTRESS OF THE TRADE AND COMMERCE OF THE NORTH.
From In To The Yukon by William Seymour Edwards
16 minute read
The Portland Hotel , Portland, Oregon, October 3, 1903. } Just one week ago to-day the steamer “Dolphin” landed us safely at the pier at Seattle. The sail on Puget Sound, a body of deep water open for one hundred miles to the ocean, was delightful. We passed many vessels, one a great four-masted barque nearing its port after six or eight months’ voyage round the Horn from Liverpool. Seattle lies upon a semi-circle of steep hills, curving round the deep waters of the Sound like a new moon. An ideal site for a city and for a mighty seaport, which some day it will be. Many big ships by the extensive piers and warehouses. The largest ships may come right alongside the wharves, even those drawing forty feet. The tracks of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railways bring the cars along the ship’s side, and there load and...
CHAPTER V. LOUISA BOREN DENNY, THE FIRST BRIDE OF SEATTLE,
From Blazing The Way; Or, True Stories, Songs And Sketches Of Puget Sound And Other Pioneers by Emily Inez Denny
15 minute read
Was born in White County, Illinois, on the 1st of June, 1827, and is the daughter of Richard Freeman Boren and Sarah Latimer Boren. Her father, a young Baptist minister, died when she was an infant, and she has often said, “I have missed my father all my life.” A religious nature seems to have been inherited, as she has also said, “I cannot remember when I did not pray to God.” Her early youth was spent on the great prairies, then a veritable garden adorned with many beautiful wild flowers, in the log cabin with her widowed, pioneer mother, her sister Mary and brother Carson. She learned to be industrious and thrifty without parsimony; to be simple, genuine, faithful. In the heat of summer or cold of winter she trudged to school, as she loved learning, showing, as her mind developed, a natural aptitude and taste for the sciences;...
SEATTLE.
From A Report On Washington Territory by William Henry Ruffner
3 minute read
Commercial and manufacturing advantages. Concerning this city of 15,000 to 16,000 inhabitants, I need not repeat what has been so well said in the reports of Governor Squire, and of United States officers who have examined and reported to the Government with regard to this location—notably, Gen. Isaac I. Stephens, Gen. George B. McClellan, Gen. Nelson A. Miles, and others; also by the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Its location, its harbor, its people, its commerce and manufactures, its solid and rapid growth, and its local relation to all the great natural resources of the Territory, give to Seattle advantages which cannot be equaled by any other port on the Sound. Its climate, as to temperature, both in winter and summer, is remarkable. Good climate. It is pleasantly cool in summer, and in winter rarely severe. Its only drawback is an excess of moisture for perhaps four months of the winter...
REPORT FROM F. H. WHITWORTH, ESQ., CIVIL AND MINING ENGINEER ON SEATTLE, ETC.
From A Report On Washington Territory by William Henry Ruffner
8 minute read
Seattle , W. T., Oct. 2, 1888. I now proceed to answer your questions. 1. Present population of Seattle, and commercial growth? Population of Seattle. A census was taken in June of this year, and the total enrolled was 19,700. I presume it was safe to say that the population then was 20,000, and that now it is from 22,000 to 25,000, for although houses have been built very rapidly, there is not a house, or a room hardly, that is not occupied. New manufacturing establishments. There are now seven brick-yards in operation, each manufacturing from 10,000 to 50,000 per day. Two boiler-works have been added to the manufacturing interests since you were here. Three saw-mills, besides four on the line of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway between here and Gilman, have been built, and all have more than they can do. A new fish-canning establishment has been...
REPORT FROM PAUL F. MOHR, ESQ., CHIEF ENGINEER OF THE SEATTLE, LAKE SHORE & EASTERN RAILWAY, CONCERNING THE CADY'S PASS AND WENATCHIE ROUTE.
From A Report On Washington Territory by William Henry Ruffner
5 minute read
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: Engineering details of the new route. The proposed line will leave the West Coast Branch at a point six miles south of Snohomish City, running east, crossing the Snohomish River on drawbridge at the junction of the Snoqualmie and Skykomish rivers: thence up the right bank of Skykomish on a 1 per cent. (52.8 feet per mile) grade, a distance of forty miles from point of beginning. Thirty-five miles of 2 per cent. (105.6 feet per mile) grade carries the line to Cady's Pass and mouth of tunnel. The tunnel will be 3,500 feet long, in granite rock; probably little or no lining will be necessary. Descending to the east by a 2 per cent. grade, following the Wenatchie River, a distance of twenty...
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, MAY 6.
From Benjamin Harrison Papers by Benjamin Harrison
9 minute read
The steamer bearing the presidential party, followed by a great flotilla that had come out to greet them, arrived at Seattle at 1:30 P.M. , and fully 40,000 people witnessed the disembarking. The city was profusely decorated. On Pioneer Place stood a triumphal arch bearing the ensigns of all nations. Ranged at its entrance were the Sons of Veterans in uniform and 75 school-girls. As the President's carriage entered the great arch the choir-girls greeted him with a song of welcome, composed for the occasion by Prof. L. A. Darling. Near the arch, on a platform, sat the shrivelled form of Angeline, daughter of Chief Seattle, the last of the race of royal barbarians who once ruled in the bays and forests of the sound. She was an object of great interest to the President and his party. After visiting Lake Washington on the cable cars the President was escorted...