The Paradox of Plenty: Seattle’s Lumber Boom Leaves No One to Live In
In August 1872, the city's primary industry is churning out lumber at a staggering rate, yet the town faces a bizarre crisis: there are simply no houses left to rent.
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.
Financial and commercial notes dated Aug. 28, 1872, report money in fair demand at 1½ to 2 percent a month, with exchange premiums on Portland, San Francisco, and New York. The bark Powhatten was loading 700 tons of coal for the Seattle Coal Company, a new schooner was loading lumber at the Seattle Mill for San Francisco, and the Amelia was nearly loaded.
Under Mr. Coleman, the Seattle Mill was called a great benefit to Seattle. The page states that the average use of lumber sawed by the mill in the city was 10,000 feet per day, and yet there were no houses to rent.
Other commercial items noted the dissolution of Farnham & Pinkham, with E. G. Farnham continuing the business at the same place. Capt. N. C. Huloy had started business in the Post Office Building with a stock of sugar, molasses, and other goods brought from the Sandwich Islands, intending to open a commission house; trade during the week was moderate.
This 1872 observation captures an early version of Seattle's chronic housing shortage: a booming economy that generates wealth and materials but fails to provide shelter for its workers. It mirrors modern tensions where industrial growth and real estate development often outpace the construction of affordable housing, leaving residents in a paradoxical state of 'plenty' amidst scarcity.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.