The Black Gold Rush of 1888
As Seattle's industry boomed, the city's hunger for coal outpaced its supply, triggering a frantic expansion of mines across the territory.
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 year 1888 has been one of marked prosperity for the coal industry of Washington Territory. It has been simply a question of how much coal the mines could get out of the veins and load into ships. Prices were remunerative, and there were only a few weeks during midsummer when the supply equaled the demand. Railroads have become great consumers of coal, and there have been seasons when the local demand alone for railroads, domestic, and steaming purposes absorbed the entire output. Late last winter, the supply in Eastern Washington was inadequate to the call, and for several days, a scarcity bordering on a famine existed. The total output of the mines in King County, delivered at Seattle, from December 1887 to November 1888, was 457,145 tons. The output of the mines in Pierce County for the same period was 318,956 tons. The output of the Lincoln mine at Seattle, Thurston County, was 12,890 tons, and the output of the Roslyn mines in Kittitas County was 170,142 tons. The value of this output was $4,250,000. It remains to be said that the coal industry of Washington Territory is only in its infancy. No man living can estimate its future.
“Late last winter the supply in Eastern Washington was inadequate to the call, and for several days a scarcity bordering on a famine existed.”
In 1888, Seattle's growth was fueled by coal and timber, mirroring today’s tech-driven economic booms that similarly stretch the city’s resources and infrastructure. Just as the 'scarcity bordering on a famine' for fuel worried 19th-century residents, contemporary Seattle grapples with housing and energy affordability as the region rapidly fills up.
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