The Great 'Puget City' Real Estate Scam
Promoters are peddling worthless 'paper towns' to investors by falsely claiming the Northern Pacific Railroad will build its western terminus there.
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.
Our regular San Francisco correspondent calls our attention to a statement in regard to the location of the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad at 'Puget City' and the sale of lots therein by one Mr. Ballou as a pretended agent of the company. To all of which we can say positively: 1st, That the Northern Pacific Railroad Company has in no manner indicated any place upon Puget Sound for the final terminus of said road. 2d, That said company has not laid off or platted any town upon Puget Sound for the sale of lots. 3d, That said company has no authorized agent in San Francisco for the sale of town lots. It is manifest that all persons in San Francisco pretending to be agents for the sale of lands for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company are acting under false pretenses and are swindlers. The 'Puget City' of Bellingham Bay, and the 'Puget City' of Nisqually Bay, are mere paper towns, got up for private speculation by persons having no connection with the railroad. There are many of these projects afloat for selling lots at the 'terminal city,' some of which are barely within the possibilities, but the great majority are purely 'Peter Funk' schemes—swindles that discredit the country and dampen the influx of capital. We have abundant opportunities for the investment of capital in real estate and productive industry here. The coming of the railroad will not impair the advantages now enjoyed by any place, but enhance the business of every town upon the Sound.
“The 'Puget City' of Bellingham Bay, and the 'Puget City' of Nisqually Bay, are mere paper towns, got up for private speculation by persons having no connection with the railroad.”
This 1872 report on 'paper towns' echoes contemporary anxieties about speculative real estate markets and 'get-rich-quick' land schemes. Just as then, Seattle's growth remains tied to massive infrastructure promises, with investors still wary of fraudulent claims masking as civic development.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.