The Onions That Proved the Sound Wasn't a Wasteland
When skeptics doubted the agricultural potential of Western Washington, one local editor pointed to the bounty of the wharves to silence the critics.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
At the first meeting held to adopt a Constitution and By-Laws for the Olympia Farmer’s Club, the Committee reported a preamble which started out by saying: 'Whereas it is a disputed matter whether Washington Territory, West of the Cascades has any agricultural capacity, therefore etc.' If these gentlemen could take a walk on Stone Burnett's wharf they would see 500 bushels of A 1 onions, neatly boxed and to be shipped this week to San Francisco. Then a good run and jump would land them on Crawford Harrington's wharf where are 1,000 bushels of Kidney and Pink-eye potatoes to be shipped by the next trip of the Steamer California to Portland. Only think of that, ye buggers of Wallamet. Where's your unrivalled agricultural valley now? The truth is there is great agricultural capacity in this Sound region. The uplands will make the best grazing country in the world, and the river bottoms are as rich in soil as the famed bottom lands of the Scioto and the Miamis.
“Where's your unrivalled agricultural valley now? The truth is there is great agricultural capacity in this Sound region.”
Long before the tech booms, the Pacific Northwest's identity was defined by a desperate need to prove its economic viability to outsiders. This 1872 defensive posture over onions and potatoes reflects the same regional insecurity that echoes today whenever Seattleites react to national headlines about the city's 'decline.'
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