Gold Fever on the Skagit: A Prospector's Report
Fresh from the gold fields, miners report that the Skagit region is sparkling with riches, promising to make skeptics take a backseat.
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.
The steamer Josephine arrived late last evening from the gold fields, bringing quite a number of miners, who came in for fresh supplies. Among them were five men who have been prospecting on the Skagit near the Tunnel House, just above Goodell’s. They report the diggings the richest ever known on the coast, and say the excitement hasn’t begun yet. In the language of one, 'You can turn up a stone anywhere in that section and see the gold fairly glitter from its bed.' They all located claims, and will return immediately. One of them, Mr. Merritt, had $60 in dust which he collected from different prospects he had made during the few weeks he was in the mines. Others in the same company had plenty of dust to buy their supplies with. This begins to look like business; and as though some of the skeptics will have to take a back seat. These same men went in by Fort Hope, and report that route the biggest swindle on record, it taking them 16 days to reach the mines from Victoria. They came out via Skagit, and reached Seattle in five days from the mouth of Ruby Creek.
“You can turn up a stone anywhere in that section and see the gold fairly glitter from its bed.”
The 1880 Skagit gold rush was a fleeting, feverish moment of speculative boom-and-bust that defined Seattle's role as a supply hub for the interior. Much like today’s tech or real estate bubbles, it drew adventurers hoping for a quick strike, only to find the journey often more grueling than the harvest.
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