The Rapid Growth and Growing Pains of Puget Sound
A local correspondent reports on the shipping boom, the rush of Indigenous harvest workers, and the unsettling pace of land speculation.
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.
Auréola and Oamyn, both barks, arrived here to-day to load with Seattle coal. The two will likely take 2,000 tons of coal. The Eldorado is now under the bunkers; will take 1,400 tons of coal, so Capt. Hayden thinks. The Indians are en route to Puyallup for the purpose of gathering hops. While on the way they are fishing in Elliot Bay and doing well. Over 40 canoes were in sight this day. Our city is fast improving and, I am afraid, going ahead a little too fast; there is a little too much humbug here for sound good health. Logging seems stale; all around the Sound the mill men say they are supplied. A few days ago 30 town lots in one of the many additions to Seattle sold for $250 each. That does not speak well, yet the Front street grade goes on. Lord Dufferin is to pay the Sound a visit next week, so I am informed.
“Our city is fast improving and, I am afraid, going ahead a little too fast; there is a little too much humbug here for sound good health.”
This 1870 correspondence captures the exact moment Puget Sound transformed into a hub of extractive industry. The author's skepticism regarding 'humbug' and the frantic pace of town lot speculation mirrors the cyclical housing and growth anxieties that define Snohomish and Seattle today.
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