Seattle’s Golden Dreams: Contemporary Perceptions of the Northern Gold Rushes

• Main Author: Cronkite, David J
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Washington 2011
• Subjects: Pacific Northwest History; Yukon; Pacific; Alaska
• Online Access: https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/history/article/view/10667

The discovery of gold in Alaska in 1897 brought about major changes in Seattle as this sleepy logging town awoke from a period of depression and received a revitalizing jolt as it rapidly developed into an important port for trade with the Alaskan frontier. This sudden growth was celebrated throughout the gold rush years and even up until the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909, but by this time, Seattle's greatness was already fading. In spite of a hopeful and expectant population that foresaw Seattle as the new New York of the West, Seattle relapsed into its former struggles. Although numerous critics predicted that Seattle's ";boom"; was solely a consequence of the gold rush, and incapable of sustaining the city's growth and prosperity, Seattleites maintained not only a sense of hope, but of extreme optimism with respect to their city's future. This paper will examine the perceived benefits of the northern gold rushes as reflected in contemporary columns in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, arguing that, in the eyes of its inhabitants, Seattle was not only fast becoming a premier port city in the world, but her economic growth spurred on by the gold rushes was unmatched, so as to rival and outshine the competing ports of San Francisco and Portland. Additionally, the city's future bore every sign of an enduring continuation of these conditions. This paper will then proceed ten years into the future to consider the changes in these perceptions, showing that while much had changed, Seattle maintained the same expectant and hopeful view for the future.