The Rush to the Beach: Seattle Promoters Look West
Speculators are looking beyond Seattle, aiming to build a new summer resort near Gray's Harbor as railroad expansion promises to connect the coast.
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.
Glenn Peterson, writing from Gray's Harbor, W. T., to a friend in Portland, under date of February 14th, says: 'Parties from Seattle have just been here and contracted for a large lot of land on the beach. They intend laying off an extensive summer resort at once. Portland people had better get lots while they are cheap; two years hence all the land from Ocean Park to Shoalwater Bay will be in demand. The Seattle company intend to commence building cottages within six weeks. Three more sawmills are to be put up on Gray's Harbor next summer, and now we need a lighthouse. The terminus of the Seattle railroad will be at South Bay, about a mile from my residence, where the water is deepest.'
“Portland people had better get lots while they are cheap; two years hence all the land from Ocean Park to Shoalwater Bay will be in demand.”
The drive to convert pristine coastal landscapes into resort towns and railroad termini mirrors the historic pattern of Washington's 'boom' economy. This piece serves as an early example of Seattle capital looking outward to monetize regional geography, a theme that has defined the state's economic expansion for over a century.
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