The $100,000 Gamble: Yesler’s Great Lottery
To fund a mountain road, Seattle pioneer Henry Yesler turned to a massive, state-sanctioned lottery, putting his own saw mill and downtown lots on the line.
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 grand distribution is taking place in aid of a great road from the city of Seattle through the Cascade mountains via Snoqualmie Pass to Walla Walla, approved by Governor Ferry on November 12th, 1875. Worth of real estate in the city of Seattle and cash is to be distributed. There are 60,000 tickets and 5,575 prizes. Tickets are $5 each. The prizes include Yesler’s Steam Saw Mill and mill property in the City of Seattle, valued at $100,000; the Hovey Barker corner on Mill and Commercial streets, valued at $14,000; and the Pacific Brewery property, valued at $5,000. Together with these, 1,011 lots in various parts of the city and additions thereto will be distributed. The drawing will take place at the Pavilion in the City of Seattle, and will be made by blind-folded children from two glass wheels. The contents of the wheels can be seen by all present, ensuring the process is fair. Mr. Yesler has been busily engaged getting his property ready to put into the hands of the trustees appointed by the Board of County Commissioners.
“No scheme of this kind ever offered to the public presented such great inducements to try for a fortune.”
In 1876, Seattle's growth was so desperate for infrastructure that civic leaders turned to a state-authorized gambling scheme to fund the Snoqualmie Pass road. It echoes the perennial modern struggle of how to fund massive public infrastructure projects in a rapidly growing city, though today’s public-private partnerships rarely involve raffling off a downtown lumber mill.
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