A Gilded Vision of the Northwest Frontier
Celebrating the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad, a booster-style manifesto maps out a future for Washington’s 'infant cities.'
The completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad, connecting the Atlantic States to the Pacific at Puget Sound, places this entire region—including Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska—at the very forefront of commercial importance. It plants our infant cities—Port Townsend, Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia—in a line of influence with Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, and New York. Washington is central to our Pacific possessions, with a vast capacity of waters, immense wealth of forests, mines of iron and coal, and a mild, healthful climate. While the Western portion is a wilderness of firs and cedars, and the Eastern portion a vast agricultural plateau, the territory is perfectly adapted to maintain the responsibilities that have so suddenly fallen upon us. We invite all people of true courage to breast the hardships of life in a new country, for no other can present more advantageous inducements for prosperity.
“The Northern Pacific Railroad... constitutes a natural counterpart to the eastern shores of Asia, the maritime States of Europe and the Atlantic front of our own great country.”
This 1883 article captures the breathless, expansionist optimism that fueled Seattle's rapid Gilded Age growth following the arrival of the transcontinental rail line. It is a striking document of settler colonialism, framing the 'unspoiled' land as an empty vault of resources waiting for the 'right' people to extract them, a narrative that set the stage for Seattle's century-long boom-and-bust cycle.
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