The Boomtown Boom: Life on Lake Union
A local reporter describes the rapid transformation of the Lake Union area into a bustling industrial suburb, predicting it will soon be closer to downtown Seattle than Santa Clara is to San Jose.
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.
Starting from Mill street and walking toward the north for thirty minutes over new sidewalks, you arrive at what at first sight seems a new village, but by looking back over the hill you see that it is but a suburb of our own city. During the boom caused by railroad and other substantial enterprises, no part of the city has grown more rapidly than that portion bordering on Lake Union. The mill and manufacturing establishment employs about thirty men, and it has become necessary to open several boarding houses and hotels. The saloon business is, of course, quite extensive. Grubs, burning and clearing are turning what was a year ago dense woods into smiling and profitable homes. With the completion of the street work and the line of horse cars, the Lake Union settlement will be more close to Seattle than Santa Clara ever was to San Jose.
“Grubbing, burning and clearing are turning what was a year ago dense woods into smiling and profitable homes.”
This reflects the late 19th-century 'boom' mentality that defined Seattle's geography. It captures a moment where the wild fringe of Lake Union was rapidly becoming the dense residential and industrial core we recognize today.
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