The 'Gold Rush' Pioneers Who Couldn't Leave
After the collapse of the 1858 Whatcom boom, two businessmen fled to Wisconsin—but the pull of the Pacific Northwest proved impossible to resist.
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.
A.W. and C.W. Pettibone have purchased the new portion of the Whatcom Hotel building and have extended the lease to Mr. Nelson Keller, the present landlord. The Messrs. Pettibones were the original owners of the lot on which the building stands, and during the golden days of '58, had a mercantile establishment located thereon, transacting an extensive business. When Governor Douglas, of Victoria, issued his never-to-be-forgotten proclamation requiring miners to take out a license and passport in Victoria, the bottom fell out of the Whatcom boom, and the Pettibones returned to Victoria before heading to Wisconsin. However, the peculiar charm that clings to the wanderer after once having enjoyed the beauties and glories of this grand Italian climate made its influence felt. They have now yielded to the inevitable and have returned to Whatcom to remain permanently. This incident serves to demonstrate the fact that no one who has lived on Bellingham Bay can go away and remain permanently. Old timers are trickling back to Puget Sound and Bellingham Bay by every boat, and this time, they are coming to stay.
“That peculiar charm and fascination which clings to the wanderer after once having enjoyed the beauties and glories of this grand Italian climate... in all the succeeding years continued to make its influence felt.”
The 'Whatcom boom' refers to the 1858 Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, which briefly turned Bellingham into a frenzied frontier town. Today, this cycle of departure and return is a staple of Seattle's tech-driven economic waves, as former residents often find themselves drawn back to the region's climate and geography despite the shifting tides of industry.
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