Rising from the Ashes
How Snohomish views the devastating Great Seattle Fire and its own precarious growth.
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 relations of this place are upon Seattle, for its intercourse with the outside world is felt strongly in this town and district. The loss which, last month, fell with such terrible effect upon Seattle, the pride of the Northwest and the queen city of Puget Sound, yet, the loss of Seattle is in a practical sense the loss of Snohomish also. No one here doubted the spirit of the queen city; her power and will to arise, renewed and resplendent from her ashes. With city front improved, streets straightened and widened, grade raised and buildings really fire-proof built in place of those destroyed, the present loss will be the gain of the future city. The similar calamity which so recently has overtaken our sister city of Ellensburg also calls to mind the fact that none of the young and pushing cities of the Northwest are safe from the wrathful visitation of the fire god. Snohomish has been particularly fortunate; few important fires have ever visited this place. None have been extensive enough to cripple its trade or in any sense interfere with its progress. This has arisen from the good fortune of the community, rather than from any efficient means having been devised or put in practice to prevent such a loss. The rapid growth of the town and the many large and solid blocks of wood, oftentimes three and four stories high, that have been built within the past few years seem to invite destruction. No adequate facilities for fighting the fire demon exist. A slight accident at Blackman's mill, or anywhere in the west end of town, would almost certainly, if fire should but once get under way, cause a loss equal to that at Ellensburg.
“None of the young and pushing cities of the Northwest are safe from the wrathful visitation of the fire god.”
This article highlights how interconnected Washington's small towns felt to the success of Seattle in the 1880s, framing fire safety as an existential threat during the timber boom era. Today, while fire building codes have evolved, the anxiety regarding rapid urban expansion and the ripple effect of one city's economic disaster remains a core theme in the Pacific Northwest's regional identity.
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