Seattle's 1876 Centennial Oration and Pioneer Memory
On the nation's Centennial, Seattle pioneers recounted early conflicts with Native peoples and the settlement's growth into a commercial hub.
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.
Some of us in this assemblage may claim the honorable distinction of being pioneers of the Pacific Coast and of Washington Territory. We have united as friends and neighbors in the great work of laying a foundation of a State. We have experienced here much of the same kind of discouragements and dangers that were the lot of the first colonies upon the Atlantic Coast; we know from personal experience something of the horrors of aboriginal cruelty; we can look back to the time when the thick shades of the unbroken forest enclosing the little hamlet that nestled on the shore of our beautiful bay served as a cover to conceal the lurking savage foe, and when alarms, sounded at midnight, dispelled our slumbers; we have seen our dwelling houses devoured by flames, lit by the torches of prowling marauders. Some in this assemblage have spent months scouting through forest glades, trailing the savages to their hidden retreats, and challenging them to battle upon their own chosen ground. But these latter experiences are ended, the tomahawk is buried to be resurrected no more; in the edifice here on this hill, dedicated and devoted to the cause of education; in the gayly decked fleet of gallant ships to be seen in our harbor; in the rapid development of our internal resources; in the general growth of our city and Territory, we see already in part, at least, the fruition of our early hopes.
“The tomahawk is buried to be resurrected no more; in the edifice here on this hill, dedicated and devoted to the cause of education... we see already in part, at least, the fruition of our early hopes.”
This 1876 oration captures the 'pioneer' mythos that defined Seattle's founding era. While today's Seattle grapples with the legacy of displacement, this text serves as a stark artifact of how early settlers framed the violent erasure of Indigenous peoples as a 'necessary' precursor to the city's commercial success.
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