The Passing of Seattle's Founder
Henry L. Yesler, the man who built the city's first steam sawmill and staked the claim that defined early Seattle, dies at 81.
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.
Henry L. Yesler died at 2:30 o'clock this morning, passing away peacefully. He lacked just fifteen days of being 82 years old. Mr. Yesler had been gradually failing for three months, though he did not suffer pain until his final days. Surrounded by his wife, relatives, and physicians, he slipped into a coma and passed away. Yesler arrived in the Seattle area in 1852, drawn by the timber and the harbor. He constructed the first steam sawmill on Puget Sound, a decision that cemented Seattle’s status as a lumber hub. His name was tied to every major event in the city’s early history, and he remained an active, public-spirited citizen for forty years.
“Well, doctor, now you tell me what shape I'm in.”
Yesler Way is arguably the most famous street in Seattle, marking the historic 'Skid Road' where logs were dragged to Yesler’s mill. His death in 1892 closed the chapter on the city's frontier era, just as Seattle began its transformation into a modern metropolis.
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