The Promised Land on Puget Sound
An 1878 booster letter to the Midwest paints a portrait of Washington Territory as a temperate, fertile frontier where anyone willing to work a log house could find independence.
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 correspondent living in the Territory writes to a newspaper published at Rogers Park, Illinois, as follows: 'This may seem to you one of the uttermost parts of the earth, but I believe that to those in search of employment or homes where they can be independent, and soon acquire a competency, it is one of the most desirable places in all of Uncle Sam’s vast domain. The climate is absolutely without a rival. We have none of the enervating, tropical heats of the states farther east in summer, while our winters are milder than those of Kentucky or Tennessee. While I write, the hardier varieties of flowers in our gardens are in bloom, and cattle, sheep and horses find an abundance of pasturage on land which is common to all. Our winter rainfall is a little above the average, but our summers are dry and delightful. The soil of the valleys is of wonderful fertility and thousands of acres are still unimproved. In all this vast Territory we have but about 30,000 inhabitants, and a large part of these live in the cities and villages along Puget Sound. Our forests are practically inexhaustible and supply some of the finest lumber in the world. Game of all kinds is abundant, while the waters swarm with innumerable schools of fish. To those who are not afraid to work or to live in log houses, and who have means enough to subsist upon for one year—which among people of our simple habits means very little—and to all who are able or willing to work for their living, we say emphatically come. You will never regret it.'
“To those who are not afraid to work or to live in log houses... we say emphatically come. You will never regret it.”
This 1878 pitch echoes the perennial 'Gold Rush' mentality of the Pacific Northwest, promising low-barrier homeownership and mild climate to those willing to hustle. Today, the dream of an 'inexhaustible' frontier has been replaced by the reality of a dense, hyper-expensive urban core, but the siren call of Puget Sound remains just as potent.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.