The Passing of the Father of Seattle’s Lumber Industry
A tribute to Henry L. Yesler, the man who brought the steam sawmill to Elliott Bay and defined the city's early industrial identity.
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.
In the death of Henry L. Yesler, Seattle loses a citizen whose name is written on every page of its history. He was among the leading spirits of Seattle, alike when it was a frontier settlement, a straggling village, a growing town, and a great commercial city. While there are many who have done much in the work of building this city, it may be said with justice to all that no man has done more than Henry L. Yesler. He brought the steam engine and the saw to Puget Sound. He may well be called the father of the lumber industry of Puget Sound, for he constructed the first saw mill on its shores. The great industry which has made Puget Sound lumber a familiar article of commerce throughout half the globe had its inception in the modest mill erected by Mr. Yesler on the shore of Elliott Bay less than forty years ago.
“If there ever was a day, from the moment that he first selected Seattle as his home until the day of his death, that he did not believe in the greatness of its destiny and the certainty of its future, he never revealed the doubt.”
Yesler Way in Seattle is named for the man who cleared the trees from the waterfront. Today, that same ground is the heart of Pioneer Square, and the 'industry' has shifted from timber to global tech, yet the tension between rapid expansion and the city's identity remains a core Seattle narrative.
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