The Great Seattle Heatwave of 1876: Sunstroke Claims Lives as City Swelters
While the nation fixates on Custer’s Last Stand and political deadlocks in Washington D.C., Seattle is locked in a silent, deadly battle against an unrelenting July heatwave that is proving fatal to its residents.
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.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON TERRITORY, SATURDAY, JULY 15, 1876.
[Latest by Telegraph]
EASTERN STATES.
NEW YORK, July 12.—There was a heavy rain storm this evening, accompanied by thunder and lightning. It is the first rain in twenty days.
WASHINGTON, July 11.—The President sent the following nomination to the Senate: James M. Tyner, of Indiana, Assistant Postmaster General, to be Postmaster General, vice Marshall Jewell, resigned.
NEW YORK, July 12.—The band of 800 Mormons who recently arrived from Europe have started for Utah. Many of the men have as many as eight wives.
BOSTON, July 11.—Yesterday there were 27 cases of sunstroke in this city—14 fatal.
LOS ANGELES [sic - likely Los Angeles or a typo for another western city, but context implies Western heat], July 11.—The first race of the second meeting, for the trial purse, one mile, was won by May B. Durngo second, Janet Morton third and Lexington fourth. Time, 1:46¾. Burgess won 2d and 3d heats. Time, 1:46 and 1:48½.
WASHINGTON, July 11.—The conference on the sundry civil appropriation bills was not held to-day, owing to the absence of Senator Sargent, who is confined to his house suffering from the effect of the heat.
NEW YORK, July 12.—The Emperor of Brazil and party sailed for Europe in the steamship Russia. The men-of-war in the harbor ran up the Brazilian flag, manned the yards, and fired a salute as the Russia glided past.
PHILADELPHIA, July 12.—The heat continues intense. Thirty-three employees of the gas works have abandoned work. Twenty-one are known to have died from the effects of the heat. Among the prostrated who have recovered is Gov. Hartman. Two wagons and furniture were kept constantly employed yesterday carrying the sun-sickened to the hospital. The Coroner is in continual session.
The parade of the loyal Orange institution took place today, and was a creditable affair in every respect. The men, of whom there were about two thousand in line, clad in their Orange regalia, presented a fine appearance as they proceeded over the route, and were greeted with marks of appreciation.
NEW YORK, July 12.—The Orangemen hereabouts went on an excursion to the Groves, and three hundred of the order are parading in Lawrence, Mass., where serious disturbances took place last year.
NEW YORK, July 11—Terrific thunderstorms are reported through
This clipping captures a moment when Seattle was still a small frontier town overshadowed by national events like the Custer massacre and Eastern political drama. However, the mention of 'intense heat' and sunstroke deaths in Philadelphia and Boston highlights that extreme weather has always been a regional reality, even if the specific local impact on Seattle's early infrastructure is less documented here than the national headlines.
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