The Professional Pessimists of Early Seattle
A 19th-century editorial takes aim at the 'croakers'—the local doomsayers who claimed the town's prosperity was always on the verge of collapse.
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.
Croakers are a sort of moral drag on the wheels of progress, forever prognosticating evil, their stock cries being 'Didn't I tell you so?' or 'Hope is dead!' So far back as '49 the family was numerously represented here. When men could obtain fifty-vara lots with adobe houses on them for an 'ounce' ($16), these representatives of the tribe croaked their ominous warnings that the 'mines were played out' or that the 'bubble had burst.' As they luxuriate today over their baked beans at free-lunch tables, they moodily tell of the 'chances they missed to make their piles.' So too after the great fire in San Francisco, the croakers stood aghast at the temerity of others of keener wits, who bought real estate at what were seemingly high prices, but which have since been found remarkably cheap. The best policy of all is to be guided neither by the croakers, nor by those extremely sanguine folks who see a bonanza in every transaction, but to steer between both. Watch your opportunities, and, above all, be very sure in purchasing real estate, as the chances are infinitely in favor of making money.
“Croakers are a sort of moral drag on the wheels of progress, forever prognosticating evil.”
This 1877 editorial highlights a recurring character in Seattle's history: the cynical observer who insists the city's growth is a bubble. Whether it’s the gold rush era, the mid-century aerospace boom, or the modern tech expansion, the tension between those who see a 'bubble' and those who invest in the city's future remains a defining feature of local civic discourse.
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