The Dream of Mukilteo: A Frontier Real Estate Pitch
A classic 19th-century land developer attempts to turn the 'natural advantages' of the Mukilteo waterfront into a booming commercial hub.
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.
The best opportunity ever offered: Homes on easy terms that will soon be very valuable. The valuable Mukilteo townsite property is divided into twenty-two strips of about nine acres each, extending back from the water so as to include meadow and garden land already cleared, besides timber land on the height. Five of these fine homesteads already sold. Credit will be given at low rates of interest to those unable to pay cash down. Also desirable property on the front for sale or lease on reasonable terms for business purposes. Bargains offered in tracts of 40 and 80 acres of land adjoining the Mukilteo townsite. The natural advantages of Mukilteo are not excelled by any other place on the Sound for fishing, milling, ship-building or manufacturing purposes. All the steamers down the Sound to Snohomish, Whatcom and Island Counties stop there going and returning. It is also on the direct route of ocean steamers up the Sound. There is also an excellent location for establishing warehouses from which to ship the products of Snohomish, Whatcom and Island Counties in deep water vessels.
“The natural advantages of Mukilteo are not excelled by any other place on the Sound, for fishing, milling, ship-building or manufacturing purposes.”
This advertisement showcases the era's relentless drive to package and sell Washington’s natural landscape as industrial commodity. Much like modern real estate marketing in Snohomish County, the language leans heavily on 'future value' and 'natural advantages' to lure investors to a frontier that was still being actively carved out of the forest.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.