Letter from a Lost Seattle Pioneer

The following is an extract from a private letter written by J. E. Clark, long ago a dweller in the then boom town of Seattle. Mr. Clark is now a resident of Long Beach, California, where he carries on the business of druggist. He earnestly has left to his heart a warm spot for the pioneers of the Queen City:

'I would be amused to get a line from my old Seattle friends, who, like yourself, fought, bled, and didn't die during the hardships of your young city of the Northwest. Since I left the tall firs and big steamers of your town I have had all the ups and downs of life; and though my head is quite silvery, I am enjoying excellent health, and my golden prospects are fair for a lot of winters. Since I left Seattle, I have pitched my tent all along the line, from Buenos Ayres south to Albuquerque; and if I have not acquired a large bank account, a mansion or a small castle, I have gained a large knowledge of the country we live on and learned something of man and his surroundings.'

'My first wife, whom you knew, died in 1864. Four years later I married again. I have not heard from my first child, Charles, for five years. The last I know of him he went to Walla Walla. If he is living, he is the only one left of my first family, having no children by my second marriage. I have been in this section for six years, and do not expect to ever leave here, as this is the most delightful climate and country on the continent. I would like to drop down on University Hill, to your town, and see the great improvements twenty years have accomplished.'

'That frame house and fence, which I painted in 1864, must have gone to decay and a more pretentious one stands in its place. And then the school, no doubt, has a large class in Greek and Latin, in place of only one scholar in the dead languages, so that the institution might conform to the letter of the law, as was the case in primitive days.'

'I would like to grip the hand of H. L. Y., who was the worthy chief of the little town on the sawdust at the mouth of the slough. I am glad to hear that he and his genial wife are alive and prosperous... I would like to greet Dr. H. A. Smith and the Dennys, Bell of Belltown, that is; Judge Mercer, and then Dutch Henry’s laugh would rejuvenate me ten years, at least. And the Woodin-wall, I can't name them all, but I appreciate their memory none the less.'