The Excursion Party's Cold Shoulder
A visiting elite excursion party bypassed Seattle after hearing the city lacked a 'commensurate' hotel.
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.
When the Raymond excursion party landed at Tacoma, they stayed at the new hotel there. A Post-Intelligencer reporter mingled with the party, which was composed of the elite of New England and New York. Some expressed deep regret that such a charming place as Seattle should have no hotel accommodations. The reporter learned from the conductor that the group spent 39 hours in Tacoma but only 15 minutes in Seattle, specifically because the party of 58 could not be sheltered in our city. The reporter jokingly wondered if some enterprising Tacoman should come down to open a hotel.
“Some of the party who on entering Elliott Bay had been favorably impressed with the appearance of Seattle, expressed deep regret that such a charming place should have no hotel accommodations!”
This anecdote perfectly captures Seattle’s 19th-century 'inferiority complex' regarding Tacoma, which had secured the Northern Pacific terminus. The scramble for infrastructure and hospitality to prove a city's 'worth' is a precursor to Seattle's modern obsession with tourism and prestige development.
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