The Great Smokestack Hoax: Seattle’s Mountain Top Mystery
In 1873, local entrepreneur S. W. Peck convinced the city that a legendary 'living rod' lay buried atop American Flat. His desperate drilling operation reveals more about the era's speculative fever than geological truth.
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.
AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT.
S. W. Peck, the owner of the famous living rod in his hands and his only property, has determined to locate this hoax. Since then the work of proving its existence has been pushed with considerable effort.
Whether or not everybody is interested in the result, the location is made on the top of the dividing ridge, near American Flat, and well up on the mountain. A ravine which comes down to American Flat, between the Deck Island mine and north of the Florida loan is to the location.
At first it was sought to test both red and legation by a diamond drill, and this was attempted, but a soft strata of clay intervened and rendered the drill unsatisfactory, and a shaft was sunk through this to the hard rock and then the drill put to work. The top of the smokestack is visible up the ravine as the road is traversed beyond the American Flat.
Should it, indeed, prove true that a 'loana' lies there, Mr. Peck and his rod will be in demand. Should the expense of prospecting result in a failure, then the question of the rod will be settled. Hence the interest, especially among the disciples of Mr. Peck.
This 1873 account captures Seattle’s early days defined by speculative manias and 'boosterism,' where entrepreneurs sold dreams of underground treasures to fund their ventures. It mirrors modern real estate bubbles where developers market unproven potential or 'ghost' developments, relying on the public's willingness to believe in a miracle before the ground is even broken.
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