The Grand Arrival of Henry Villard

Among the various surprises experienced on our trip, here was one of them. The reception accorded to the guests of Villard and Henry at Seattle was indeed the most magnificent on our adventure on the American continent. Seattle, on Puget Sound, with a population of 7,000, is in a state of rapid prosperity. Half-an-hour before our arrival, a fleet of steamers met us, festively decorated and in full bunting. It was not simply a decoration of houses and streets with sprigs of evergreen and wreaths, as we witnessed in other places, but a whole forest seemed transplanted into the city. Fir and cedar trees were planted on both sides of the street, and through this improvised lane we passed while the steam whistles screamed and shrieked, five music bands played their different airs, and thousands of gayly arrayed people under a continuous hurrahing and wave of handkerchiefs, proceeded up the hill to the place of celebration. There we found a large platform where a domestic artist had constructed allegorical paintings; the most impressive of which was an allegorical figure meant to represent some good-looking woman; below was the word Alki, meaning in German 'In Zukunft' (the future).