The Great Fire’s Buried Treasure
A sewer crew working on Front Street unearths a long-lost safe, a fire-eaten relic from the ashes of Seattle’s 1889 catastrophe.
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 a depth of about fifteen feet, while working in the Front Street sewer Wednesday night, E. K. Sellers, one of the workmen, struck something solid that resisted all his efforts to remove. After clearing away more of the earth he discovered that he had 'cracked a safe,' as he had driven his pick through the side of the old rusted and fire-eaten relic of the Great Fire. Yesterday the foreman had a derrick rigged and the heavy load brought out to the surface, where it was viewed by a large crowd. Many questions were asked, such as 'Does it belong to King?' until someone identified it as the safe formerly belonging to the Booth & Hanford Abstract Company, whose office stood at this point at the time of the fire.
“He had 'cracked a safe,' as he had driven his pick through the side of the old rusted and fire-eaten relic of the great fire.”
The Great Seattle Fire of 1889 wiped out the entire central business district, leading to the regrading and reconstruction of the city. While the 'Front Street' mentioned is now First Avenue, finding physical debris from the 1889 fire in modern utility trenches remains a tangible reminder of the city's sudden, violent rebirth.
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