Gold Fever Hits the Sound
As residents of Tacoma and Port Townsend scramble to stake claims in city streets, the sudden discovery of gold in urban gravel pits sparks a brief, chaotic rush.
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.
Tacoma, Sept. 24—There was great excitement on the streets this afternoon over the discovery of gold on section 16, within yards of the south end of Pacific Avenue and within plain sight of the main business part of the city. For several days parties have been prospecting in a gulch. Saturday, a gold miner discovered in gravel which had been thrown out in repairing a sewer which runs in the gully, particles of gold. A pan was procured, and on Sunday prospecting was continued at various places along the gulch, with the result of finding at each place named remarkably rich gold quartz. Monday, those interested in the scheme posted notices in secluded spots upon their proposed claims, and late in the afternoon filed several claims in the auditor’s office. This morning the notices were discovered, and the fact that mining claims had been filed in the auditor’s office. When the auditor’s office closed at 5 o'clock, a large number of claims were still unfiled, and at least a dozen anxious parties of good miners were hurrying around to get claims on the land. Gold was also found this afternoon in Port Townsend by Terry & McDougall, the contractors excavating the bluff at the head of Water Street. They washed a panful of black sand and gravel in which they were working, and found a fair color. It was taken to John B. Seaman, the assayer, who went out and washed a panful he got himself, and he also found a color.
“When the auditor’s office closed at 5 o'clock, a large number of claims were still unfiled, and at least a dozen anxious parties of good miners were hurrying around to get claims on the land.”
In 1889, the promise of gold could make a city's main street feel like a frontier boomtown overnight. Today, while the gold is long gone, the frantic 'staking' of urban territory persists in the form of fierce battles over downtown zoning, development rights, and the ever-shifting value of Seattle-area real estate.
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