The Pioneer Developer’s Gamble
When Seattle was a young, growing town, Henry Yesler looked for an unconventional way to fund critical mountain infrastructure: raffling off his massive timber empire.
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.
A grand distribution is taking place, offering a chance to win $100,000 for the small outlay of $5. The Washington Territory Lottery, legalized by an act of the Legislature, aims to aid in the construction of a great road from the city of Seattle through the Cascade mountains via Snoqualmie Pass to Walla Walla. The first prize is Yesler’s Steam Saw Mill and mill property in the City of Seattle, valued at $100,000. Some of the most eligible and best business lots in the city will also be distributed, including Hovey Barker’s corner on Mill and Commercial streets, and the Pacific Brewery property. The drawing will take place at the Pavilion in Seattle, where blind-folded children will draw numbers from two glass wheels. No scheme of this kind ever offered to the public presented such great inducements to try for a fortune.
“No scheme of this kind ever offered to the public, presented such great inducements to try for a fortune.”
In 1876, Yesler used a high-stakes lottery to bypass traditional funding for the Snoqualmie Pass road, a precursor to our modern struggles to fund and maintain I-90. It is a striking reminder that the challenge of connecting Seattle to the east side has been a defining civic obsession for nearly 150 years.
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