A Visitor’s View of Seattle in 1884
A traveling correspondent offers a candid take on Seattle’s mud, growth potential, and the recent victory for women’s suffrage.
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.
Of all the cities I have visited thus far, Seattle strikes me the most favorably. It contains about 19,000 population, and is located on the west bluffs of Puget Sound. It has commodious wharfage, immense coal bins for loading vessels, and is blessed with a number of newspapers. Like all other Northwestern towns I have seen, it is liberally supplied with mud. Seattleans are looking forward to the extension of the Northern Pacific next spring, when they hope to take the glory from Tacoma. It is destined to be the metropolis northwest of the Rockies. I also had the honor of meeting Governor William A. Newell, who recently signed the bill granting women equal suffrage. He was presented a gold pen with which he made his mark, making it lawful for women to cast the ballot in the territory.
“Like all other Northwestern towns I have seen, it is liberally supplied with mud.”
The correspondent captures Seattle during a pivot point—right before the massive growth triggered by the railroad arrival. The mention of the 1883 women’s suffrage act, which was later overturned by the courts, serves as a sharp reminder of the volatile state of early Washington civil rights.
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