The Battle Over Seattle’s History
Pioneer C. B. Bagley takes to the pages of the P-I to correct misstatements about the city's early development and street history.
C. B. Bagley writes to correct a piece of 'pioneer history' appearing in the paper, noting that the claim of driving a carriage to Lake Union over a 'corduroy road' built by garrison troops is false. Bagley clarifies that no such garrison existed in early Seattle, nor was there such a road. He also corrects misinformation regarding the residence of John Denny and the state of development near Front and Madison streets. Bagley, who collected newspapers for 22 years, argues that such oral histories from self-styled pioneers are often 'worse than valueless' for the historical record, preferring the evidence found in his own massive collection of archived newspapers.
“There is nothing more uncertain than human testimony.”
This is a quintessential Seattle argument: the tension between 'official' pioneer narratives and the material record. Bagley’s fastidious correction of Seattle’s origin story serves as a reminder that the city has been debating its own history and authenticity for over 130 years.
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