A Look Back at Seattle's First Newspaper
An archival find reveals the humble, fragile origins of the city's press during the Civil War era.
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.
Some one brought into our office yesterday a copy of the Seattle Gazette, published December 10th, 1863, it being the third issue of that sheet, the first newspaper printed in the new metropolis of Washington Territory. It was a paper about one third the size of the Daily Post-Intelligencer. Its publishers were J. R. Watson and M. D. Cavnavan. It was published during the heat of the war of the rebellion, when news came slowly. The University had but recently opened, and was duly advertised. D. Horton kept a general store where the bank over which he presides now stands. Yesler, Denny & Co. were dealers in lumber, flour, dry goods, etc. Not a single law card appears in the paper. The Seattle of that day, though, was not much of a town to blow about, having a population of about 300, one mail a week, and all other things in proportion.
“The Seattle of that day, though, was not much of a town to blow about, having a population of about 300, one mail a week, and all other things in proportion.”
Comparing the massive Daily Post-Intelligencer to its meager ancestor, the Seattle Gazette, underscores the breakneck speed of Seattle's transformation from a hamlet of 300 into a major metropolis. It is a reminder that the city's powerhouses, like the banks and universities, all began as modest, unverified experiments.
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