The Lottery That Built Seattle: How a $5 Ticket Bought a Sawmill and City Blocks
In 1876, the Washington Territory authorized a massive state lottery to fund a road through the Cascades. The prize? A steam sawmill worth $100,000 and prime real estate in downtown Seattle.
A State Distribution: A Chance to Win $100,000 for the small outlay of $5.
Washington Territory Lottery. Legalized by an Act of the Legislature. In aid of a great road from the city of Seattle through the Cascade mountains cut Pass to Walla Walla approved by His Excellency, Governor Ferry, Nov. 12th, 1875.
Worth of real estate in the city of Seattle, and in cash, to be distributed. Draws July 4th, 1876. Of 60,000 Tickets and 5,575 Prizes. Tickets $5 each, or 11 for $50.
Yesler's Steam Saw Mill and Mill property in the City of Seattle, valued at $100,000. (The rents from the mill and mill property equal $7,000 coin per month.)
Some of the most eligible and best business lots in the city of Seattle will be distributed, including Hovey Barker's corner, on Mill and Commercial streets, and the Pacific Brewery property. The prize drawn and distributed will be as follows:
First Prize —The Steam Saw Mill and Mill Property valued at $100,000 Second Prize —Hovey Barker's Corner $14,000 Third Prize —Pacific Brewery Property $5,000 Together with 1,011 lots in various parts of the city of Seattle and additions thereto, valued from $50 to $1,500 each. Also, 61 Prizes in farming lands in King County and next County, Divided into 1,000 Prizes of $50 each, and 500 Prizes of $10 each.
By virtue of the said enactment, appointed M. S. Booth, Esq., Auditor of King County, Capt. Geo. D. Hill, (U.S.A.) Treasurer of King County, and John Collins, Esq President of the Talbot Coal Company, Trustees, to whom the whole of the said property has been deeded in trust for the ticket holder drawing the prizes.
No scheme of this kind ever offered to the public, presented such great inducements to try for a fortune. The general public can invest with the greatest confidence, the distribution being authorized by law and guarded in every particular. Nothing of the kind can be fairer for all concerned.
Manner Of Distribution. The drawing will take place at the Pavilion, in the City of Seattle, Washington Territory, and will be made by blind-folded children from two glass wheels. The contents of the wheel can be seen by all present. One wheel will contain 5,575 gifts on printed slips in tubes or envelops; the other wheel will contain tags with numbers corresponding to those on the 60,000 tickets, and the contents of both wheels to be thoroughly mixed by revolving.
This lottery reveals how early Seattle’s infrastructure was funded not just by timber barons, but by public gambling. The prize included Henry Yesler’s mill—the very heart of the city's first industrial boom—and key commercial corners like Hovey Barker’s lot on Second Avenue. It highlights a time when civic development and speculative risk were inextricably linked, with the state literally giving away its most valuable assets to raise capital for roads.
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