The Gold Rush That Never Was: Walla Walla’s Delusion of Wealth
In January 1889, a local paper in Walla Walla, Washington, published an ecstatic report claiming the city was awash in gold dust and twenty-dollar pieces, comparing its prosperity to the heyday of the Salmon River mines. It was a stark contrast to the reality of a region still recovering from economic busts.
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.
WALLA WALLA, Wash., Jan. 1.
The holidays have passed most pleasantly. There has been nothing in general to mar the goodwill to man and everybody else that seems to be all-pervading here. Nor has there appeared too much, if any, of private or particular grief or misfortune to disturb the air of content and happiness that one and all seem to happily possess.
Our crops have been good, the prices paid for all commodities excellent, the general health better, money abundant and weather fine. Why should we of this magnificent valley, of this pretty city of homes, be otherwise than content and happy in these enviable concomitants? Our merchants say that their business was better by 75 per cent during the holidays than ever before during the same period, and they say, too, that there was more cash handled—more twenty-dollar gold-pieces in sight than has ever been seen here before, except in the good old mining days before the railroads, when this was Walla Walla, the starting point, the outfitting place as well as the wintering place for those who came and went in the Oro Fino days.
Everything prosperous, everything lovely; everything that savors of true enjoyment, of genuine felicity and supreme happiness dated back to these wild and wonderful times, or compared to that seemingly prehistoric time when a start was made for the Salmon river placer mines.
RECENTS OF THE COUNTY
Recent dispatches informed you of our good financial condition. Competent authority places the real estate value of the property in the county at $20,000,000. The city's wealth is figured at about $2,500,000. On this total there is yielded slightly less than $300,000 in taxes which is not only abundant for all needs, but leaves annually a handsome surplus.
This, too, in spite of general county expenditure that is so very liberal. Were the same liberality displayed in some of the other counties in the state 'Back East' it would drive the methuselah people there frantic. Placing our county's population at 10,000, which is a generous allowance, the property value, if divided, would give $2,000 to every man, woman and child in the county. This is a good showing, truly; so good indeed that it is doubtful if there is an area and population in the Union that can excel this showing.
This, too, in a section that but three years ago was entirely given over to stock-raising or meadow-farming along the streams that meander through this valley. With no misfortune to discourage us in our prosperous onward march, it is not only interesting but pleasing to contemplate the plenteous days to come.
This article captures a moment of intense local boosterism common in the Pacific Northwest during the late 19th century, where newspapers often exaggerated economic data to attract settlers and investors. While Walla Walla did experience agricultural growth, the claim of 'twenty-dollar gold-pieces' being more common than in the mining days was likely hyperbole for a region that had long passed its placer gold peak. It mirrors modern real estate marketing, where local papers and developers often paint an overly rosy picture of housing markets to drive up demand.
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