The Tacoma Oil Rush
A secret discovery in the heart of the city sparks a high-stakes land deal.
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.
Another oil well has been struck in western Washington, this time in the heart of Tacoma, just north of the exposition building. The discovery was made accidentally some time ago by Joe Derringer on land belonging to the Tacoma Land Company. Derringer, it is said, was not on good terms with Mr. Anderson, the manager of the company, so he let George W. Dickenson, formerly assistant general superintendent of the Northern Pacific, into the secret, and a 20 acre tract on which the discovery was made was purchased at $4000 an acre. It is said the few tests that have been made of the oil are satisfactory, and that the product compares favorably with the oil of the Ohio and Pennsylvania fields.
“A 20 acre tract on which the discovery was made was purchased at $4000 an acre.”
This early excitement reflects the turn-of-the-century belief that Washington would become an industrial powerhouse through resource extraction. While Tacoma never became a major oil hub, the speculative fervor for 'black gold' defined the city's early economic identity.
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