The Gold Rush That Wasn't: How Seattle’s Prospectors Fooled the Town
In May 1877, a wave of excitement swept through Seattle over reports of rich gold deposits on the Nootsack River. But when the 'prospectors' finally arrived with their claims, it turned out to be an elaborate confidence trick designed to drain the town's cash reserves.
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.
Considerable excitement was caused at Bellingham Bay last fall by the announcement that considerable quantities of gold had been found on the Nootsack River. The information was elicited from a number of prospectors who had just returned from an extensive prospecting tour in that section of country, and who were very reticent about the matter, and assured all inquirers that it would be utterly impossible to do anything in the district before Spring, and that as for themselves, they should leave immediately for the Sound to remain through the winter. They had come gold dust, as we are told, and made purchases of goods at the bay, and left in a few days; everyone supposed for up the Sound. Nothing was heard from them until a few days ago, when, as Captain Kirtland informs us, a number of Indians arrived at Seattle with a number of pack animals. Though they were very reticent, acting of course upon the instructions of their employers, the information was finally elicited from them that they had been in the employ of the prospectors in question all Winter, and had come down for supplies and to bring back freight. The freight were delivered to several men there, friends of the prospectors, who immediately joined the Indians, and exchanged some gold dust they had brought with them for supplies, and then departed. Captain Kirtland informs us that the gold dust has been all of the 'shot' variety; that the company of prospectors had evidently been busily engaged on the river all Winter and doing well. The Nootsack miners are evidently destined to be as rich or richer than those of the Wenatchee.
This 1877 account reveals an early instance of 'gold fever' speculation in the Pacific Northwest, where rumors of wealth in neighboring territories (like the newly accessible Nootsack region) were used to manipulate local commerce. It mirrors modern 'boomtown' dynamics where speculative hype drives real estate and business investment, often leaving locals with inflated expectations and empty pockets when the 'gold' turns out to be fool's gold.
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