The Boomtown That Expected to Be 'The Next San Francisco'
In 1888, the 'Key City' of Port Townsend was so convinced of its impending status as a transcontinental rail terminus that it began feverishly selling off the entire landscape.
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.
No effort has ever been made to boom Port Townsend. While Seattle, Tacoma and other cities have been handing out thousands of dollars worth of advertising matter broadcast over the country, the port-of-entry has never expended a dime in this direction. Yet, within two years, it has doubled in population, grown from a conservative little town of about 1,500 to a prosperous city of nearly 4,000 people. What lesson does this teach? It means that the natural and inherent advantages of our charming city have asserted themselves, broke through the crust of oblivion under the onerous load of lack of enterprise, and attracted to our midst a good share of the people and capital who are hieing them to the sun-kissed shores of Puget Sound.
Moreover, a change has come over the spirit of her dream. Her citizens are up in arms and resolved to make the Key City what nature so plainly decreed her to be—a great commercial and manufacturing city. A syndicate of gentlemen got together a few months ago, put up $1,000 each, and sent surveyors out to examine the feasibility of a railroad connecting Quimper Peninsula with the Columbia River. The Port Townsend Southern Railroad was then organized, and the work begun of getting a subsidy and right of way from the citizens. Today this subsidy is the largest ever offered a railroad, 640 acres, speaking volumes for the generous spirit of the people.
“The ring of the hammer and sounds of industry are heard on every side, the paean of peace and plenty that are sweeter than the songs of triumph in war.”
Port Townsend's late 19th-century speculative fervor—betting everything on a railroad connection that ultimately failed to deliver the expected 'metropolis' status—reflects a familiar cycle in Pacific Northwest growth. Today, the city is a cherished historic district rather than the industrial titan its founders envisioned, a reminder of how quickly speculative 'sure things' can be reshaped by the currents of history.
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