"T-'l. ■' Ll.i ■\ v.-«v«*' >lL.«^ FORO BEA-TON ^ Class _I_ Copyright N"__-::^__^.__ COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr \ This edition is limited to three hundred numbered copies, of which this volume is Number THE CITY THAT MADE ITSELF / The City That Made Itself A Literary and Pictorial Record of the Building of Seattle By Welford Beaton / TERMINAL PUBLISHING COMPANY SEATTLE COPYRIGHTED 1914 BY WELFORD BEATON "^ Press of Lowman & Hanford Co. Plates by Western Engraving & Colortype Co. )C!.A3b8688 V DEC -5 1914 '' Xo tke Memory of Jarnb iFitrtl? a kindly man wnose calm judgment and kelpmg hand were ever at the command or his friends, and -whose counsel helped the author ^vhen the -work was heing planned this hook ahout the city in -whose huild- ing he played such an important part CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE Why Seattle? A Question Answered — Page Mysterious Law of City Building 5 Civic Fundamentals 6 The Indian Troubles 6 Saving the Telegraph 7 Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad 7 Judge Burke's Stand for Law and Order 8 Anti-Chinese Riots 8 The Fire of 1889 9-10 Coming of the Great Northern 1 1 The Klondike Rush I I Navy Yard, Army Post, Government Canal 12 Building of the Nebraska 12-1 3 Some Self-Built Firms 1 4 John Leary's Enterprise 1 5 The Lumber Interest 1 5 The Fishermen and Alaska |6 As a Theatrical Center 16-1 7 The Seattle of Today 17-18 CHAPTER TWO When Seattle Wore Swaddling Clothes — John C. Holgate. First Settler 19 Arrival of Denny Party 19 A. A. Denny, a Natural Leader 19-20 Selection of the Name 2 1 -22 Yesler's Saw Mill. 22 Its Value to the Settlement 22-24 Lumbering the Chief Industry 24 Dexter Horlon's Bolt of Cotton 25-26 Henry L. Yesler 27 John Collins 27 James M. Colman 28 John Leary 28 John J. McGilvra 28-29 Arthur A. Denny 29 George Kinnear 29 Angus Mackintosh 29 CHAPTER THREE How Seattle Outgrew Her Boundaries — The First Incorporation 30 Some Early Ordinances 30-31 The Second Incorporation 31 IX The City That Made ItseH CHAPTER THREE— Continued How Seattle Outgrew Her Boundaries — Continued — Page H. A. Atkins, First Mayor 31 First Extension of Boundaries 32 Acquiring Additional Territory by Annexation 32 The Present Land and Water Area ...32-33 Seattle's Mayors 34 CHAPTER FOUR How Seattle Won Her Railroad Fight — Northern Pacific a Jupiter 35 The Spirit of the Early Settlers 36 A Wonderful Fighting Record 36 Hopes Center in Snoqualmie Pass 36 Seattle Loses the Terminus 37 Birth of Seattle Spirit 38 Seattle Starts to Build a Railroad 38-39 James M. Colman to the Rescue 39 Seattle Fights Northern Pacific 40 State Goes Into Gambling as a Business 41 "Orphan Road" 42 Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern 43 Burke and Gilman Raise Money 44 Circumventing a Writ 44-45 Daniel Hunt Oilman's Faith 46 Creation of Railroad Avenue 46 Buildmg East from Spokane 47 Northern Pacific Surrenders 47 Value of the Fight 47 Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul... 47-48 Oregon- Washington 48 J. D. Farrell 48 CHAPTER FIVE Coming of the Great Northern Railroad — Seattle Desperate for a Road 49 Judge Burke Startled 49-50 The Reason for Railroad Avenue 50 "Common User" Clause Applied for the First Time 51 Northern Pacific Fights 5 I -52 Judge Burke Buys Land 53-54 His Telegram to James J. Hill 54 Cutting the Lumber Rate 55 Seattle's Wretched Depot 56 Northern Pacific Makes an Offer 56 Hill Hurries to Seattle 57 The Tunnel Beneath the City .-. 59 L. C. Gilman Succeeds Burke 60 Judge Burke's Estimate of James J. Hill 60-63 Contents XI CHAPTER SIX When the Hills Were Brushed Aside — Page Hills Stand in the Way of Commerce 64 Reginald H. Thomson's Work 65 Planning the Regrades 67 Steam Shovels and Streams of Water 68 Thomson's Continuous Fight 69 Dates of Regrades 69 Who Cut the Stick? 70 The Great North Trunk Sewer 71 CHAPTER SEVEN How Seattle Secured Her Water Supply — Spirit of Combat Strong 74 F. H. Whitvvorth Suggests Cedar River 74 Financial Difficulties 75 "Big Interests" Versus "Common People" 76 Thomson Converts Judge McGilvra 77 Thomson's Great Work for Purity of Water 78 Seattle's First Water System 79 City Acquires the Plants 80 Cedar River Suggested 82 The Present System 83 CHAPTER EIGHT Sixty Years' Struggle for Lake Canal — Thomas Mercer's Prediction 84 Lake Washington Improvement Company 84 Various Routes Proposed 85 An Incident at a Banquet 86 Eugene Semple Appears on Scene 87 McGilvra and Burke Hold Aloof 91 King County Acquires Right of Way 92 Will H. Parry Takes a Hand 94 Peace Is Restored 95 James A. Moore Offers to Build 96 Lake Washington Canal Association 96 Actual Work Commenced 98 CHAPTER NINE From Horse Car to Electric System — When Oats Were Important 100 Frank H. Osgood Comes to Town 100 Terminus on a Wharf 101 John Leary Bumps His Guests 102 Osgood Begins to Dig a Canal 103 Enter F. T. Blunck and L. H. Griffith 104 XII The City That Made Itself CHAPTER NINE— Continued From Horse Car to Electric System — Continued — Page The Line Opened 1 06 J. C. Haines Has His Doubts 107 System Successful from the First 107 Griffith Assumes Command I 07 Some Amusing Incidents -... 1 08 Cable Compcmy Organized 1 10 Fights for Possession of Streets 110 Griffith Builds in a Hurry 1 1 1 D. T. Denny & Sons Acquire the System 1 1 1 CHAPTER TEN Stone and Webster Enter the Field — W. J. Grambs Suggests Jacob Furth 1 13 Union Electric Company Purchased 113 Financial Troubles Beset Roads -.. 1 1 6 Stone and Webster Take Command 1 1 7 The Present Admirable System 118 CHAPTER ELEVEN When Electric Lights Were Turned On — - The Worry of the Crooked Wire 120 Seattle Again a Pioneer 121 Success Compels Extensions 1 22 Stone and Webster Acquire a Foothold 124 Stone and Webster Increase Plant 125 Puget Sound Traction. Light & Power Company 125 Seatde's Municipal Railway and Lighting Plant 126 CHAPTER TWELVE From Village Weekly to the City Daily — Seattle's First Newspaper 1 28 How Editor Watson Operated 129 Puget Sound Semi- Weekly 1 29 Hanfords Enter the Field 129 The Times 1 30 The First Daily :.. 1 30 Post-Intelligencer 1 30 Leigh S. J. Hunt 131 James D. Hoge Becomes a Publisher 131 George Turner and the Pipers 131 Enter John L. Wilson - 132 Taylor and Bone Acquire the Post-Intelligencer 1 33 Seattle Press I 34 Press-Times 1 34 Alden J. Blethen Arrives 134 E. H. Wells Founds the Star and the Sun 135 Contents XIII CHAPTER THIRTEEN The Schools of Yesterday and Today — Page Intellectual Development Not Neglected 137 The First School Building 138 Organized on Permanent Basis 1 39 "The School Boom" i 39 Cutting Out the Marbles 140 Those Who Have Served as Directors 140 CHAPTER FOURTEEN How THE University Came to Seattle — The Spoils of War 142 Bagley Shows Energy 1 43 Denny Donates Land 1 43 New Site Acquired 1 44 The Present Staff 1 45 CHAPTER FIFTEEN Acquiring the Parks and Boulevards — Seattle's Wonderful Setting 1 47 The First Park 1 47 Olmstead Plan Adopted 1 48 People Supply the Money 148 Many Playgrounds and Field Houses 149 The Bathing Beach 1 50 E. F. Blaine, Father of System 151 J. M. Frink, a Valuable Citizen 152 W. E. Bailey's Early Work 152 CHAPTER SIXTEEN Chamber of Commerce, a Fighting Force — Unorganized Activities of the Early Days 154 John Leary Wants a Tug 155 Judge Burke's Wild Ride 156 Chamber of Commerce Organized 157 Work for Alaska Railroad 159 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition 160-162 Seattle Commercial Club 1 63 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN From the Log Cabin to the Skyscraper — The Nerve of the First Builder 164 The First Skyscraper 1 65 Metropolitan Building Company 1 65 G. Henry Whitcomb's Enterprise 166 How Seattle Secured the Smith Building 1 67 XIV The City That Made Itself CHAPTER EIGHTEEN The Mail, the Telegraph and Telephone — Page When Mail Came by Canoe | 70 The First Postmaster I 70 The Telegraph I 72 John M. Lyon Selects Seattle 173 The First Telephone j 74 Alaska Cable 1 75 CHAPTER NINETEEN The City's Strong Financial Position — Page Dexter Horton's First Bank 1 77 Arthur A. Denny Becomes a Partner.... 1 77 Jacob Furth a Factor ._ 1 77 Good Showing in 1893 Panic 178 Present Day Figures _ 1 79 Million Dollar Banks 1 80 Banks and Their Directors 180-183 CHAPTER TWENTY How Women Started Library — Women the Leaders 184 Public Library Launched | 84 Charles Wesley Smith j 85 Library Destroyed by Fire 186 Andrew Carnegie Appealed to 187 Dr. Llwyd Beards the Lion 189 Mrs. J. C. Haines the Real Founder 191 CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE When John Collins Got a Gas Franchise — John Collins Becomes Ambitious 192 He Provides a Second Tank 192 An Early Merger 193 Another Company Enters Field 193 Jacob Furth, Banker and Good Citizen 194-196 Index 261-275 ILLUSTRATIONS Jacob Furth Frontispiece Page Dexter Horton, opposite 8 Development of Seattle Harbor, opposite 16 Members of the Original Party That Landed at Alki Point, between 24 and 25 Seattle's Original Boundaries, opposite 32 Bird's-eye View of Seattle in 1878, opposite 36 The Center of Railway Activity in 1885 and Now, opposite 44 Seattle's First Depot and Railroad Avenue, opposite 48 John J. McGilvra, opposite 56 A Bit of Mountain Scenery, opposite 64 Two Regrade Views, opposite 68 How Streets in Wholesale District Were Built Up on the Tidelands, opposite 76 Progress That Three Decades Have Witnessed, opposite 80 John Leary, opposite 88 Old Denny Hotel and Buildings Which Have Been Reared Where the Hill It Occupied Stood, opposite 96 The First Street Car and a Modern Interurban Car, opposite 100 The Gray Skyline of a Seattle Night, opposite 108 Chart Showing the History of the Street Railway and Electric Light Development in Seattle, opposite I 12 John Collins, opposite I 20 Looking Up Cherry Street from First Avenue, opposite 128 Alaska Building and the Corner It Changed, opposite 1 32 Changes in Pioneer Place, opposite 140 Two Views of Third and Union, opposite 144 Henry L. Yesler, opp)Osite 152 Metropolitan Building Company's Group, opposite 160 Three Decades of Change in First Avenue, opposite 164 An Early-Day Picture and a Recent One Taken from the Same Sp)ot, opposite I 72 Seattle's First Bank, opposite I 76 J. M. Colman, opposite 184 Development of the Commercial District, opposite 192 Regrade Views 197-213 Views of Seattle's Yesterdays and Todays... 215-237 Some Typical Seattle Buildings 239-249 Playground Views 251 and 253 Alki Bathing Beach 255 Leschi Park 257 "Roosevelt," a Tree in Ravenna Park 259 XV PREFACE Whether this is a history of Seattle will really depend on the individual reader's conception of what constitutes history. I think it is, and 1 offer it as such, but 1 offer it with diffidence because it does not seem to be anything like the kind of history that used to worry me at school. My painful recollection is that it was more important to know the date of the Dred Scott decision than it was to be ac- quainted with what the decision was about. If that were history, then 1 am a poor historian. True, I have many dates in my book, and I flaunt them proudly as a concession to that other idea of his- tory, but 1 never went out of my way to get one of them! They merely happened to lie beside the paths 1 followed in my search for the REASON for things and I picked them up as 1 went along. Those that were beyond my ready reach I left alone and have slurred the omission over — as you w^ill see for yourself as you read — by the use of such expressions as "about that time " so-and-so happened. It seemed to me that the important feature was WHY it happened, not WHEN, and I also reasoned that the why vs^as much more easily remembered than the when, and my aim has been to tell a story of the making of Seattle that the reader will remember. Mr. William Pigott suggested to me nearly one year ago that I write the history of the Seattle regrades and publish pictures with it in order that the record of the various operations that civic sur- geons performed would be put in permanent form for the instruc- tion of future generations of Seattle's citizens. From that sugges- tion the present volume has grown. 1 found that to properly lead up to the regrades, 1 had to find out for myself why there was a city here at all; I had to go back to the beginning and to garner a crop of whys that span a period of sixty years. I found that the regrades w^ere one of the least interesting features of the city's development, and that the fights waged by the early pioneers for the very existence of Seattle vvrould make a fascinating story. Greatest of these, of course, was the fight for a railroad — so I tell it in detail. Then I thought it would be interesting to relate how Seattle obtained the Lake Washington Canal, her matchless water supply, her electric lights and street railways, her parks, her libraries, her schools and university, her gas, telegraph, and telephones. Her newspapers and her Chamber of Commerce 1 found have always fought for her, so I included them. 1 already knew — as you do — how she got her in- dustries, w^holesale houses, retail stores, theatres, and churches. They came because there was population here — a fact so self-evident that I have not bothered to put it in my book. It might interest you, I reasoned, to know who had nerve enough to give Seattle its first 1 The City That Made Itself street car, while you would never be consumed with curiosity as to the time Jones opened his grocery store; it is more important to know who made Seattle a city than it is to learn the name of the firm that came here to profit by it. Politics I have ignored entirely. Some other historian may come along and tell you of the political fights that Seattle has had — why this administration went in and why the other went out — as it may be his conception of history, and yours, but I cannot see how it has any bearing at all on the life of the city. Once upon a time Seattle was ruled by a Board of Aldermen and a House of Delegates — that much I discovered while studying the Cedar River fight — but when she started such a system or when she terminated it 1 have no idea. But I do know — you can find it in its proper place — how and why Seattle started to fill her tidelands. I know that in 1914 Seattle tried to change her charter — it is so recent I can remember it — but how many other attempts, successful or unsuccessful, she has made along the same line I have not taken the trouble to ascertain, but I spent weeks finding out just how the city secured her first transcon- tinental railroad. Somebody, I don't know who, was Mayor of the city when the Government finally yielded to Seattle's pressure and decided to dig the canal, but there is no evidence that indicates that his election in any way influenced the authorities at Washington. I am not saying that politics is not an essential part of history; I am merely emphasizing the fact that I do not think so. My task has been long and hard, but simple. It was to give Seattle a better understanding of herself. The difficulty I had in col- lecting all the facts, many of them not even printed in the papers at the time of their occurrence, has quite persuaded me that there 'was no one person living in Seattle w^ho was familiar with all the ro- mance that there was in her making. Existing records w^ere of little use to me, for it was my constant aim to dig deeper than they went, and it was only by dovetailing memory with memory that I pieced out the vv^hole. I hope that in this book Seattle can view herself. She should be proud of the reflection for she has a history replete with deeds of civic valor, self-sacrifice, struggle and pluck. The great bulk of her population came after she had made herself a city. If these com- paratively new arrivals read the story of her making they will be as proud of her past as they are of her present, and more than ever equipped to meet the emergencies that may arise in her future. My aim has been to put into the hands of those vs^ho live here now^ a record of the progress made to date, in order that they can turn to it in years to come and get some sense of the debt they owe to those who came before and did the hardest work. Preface 3 And to hold the story and the pictures that accompany it I have endeavored to design a book that is worthy of the subject. There is something in the feel of a good book that is as satisfying as the contemplation of a masterpiece in oils or marble. I aimed high, but I believe the printers and pressmen and binders caught my idea. I am indebted to many people for assistance and encourage- ment, to so many in fact that I will content myself with timidly ex- pressing the hope that the completed work vs^ill justify the help they gave it, and that if they are pleased with it they will accept the pleasure as my thanks. WELFORD BEATON. Seattle, November 1, 1914. CHAPTER ONE. WHY SEATTLE? A QUESTION ANSWERED IN studying the history of man's endeavor there is no more inter- esting subject for speculation than the mysterious law that makes a city here and leaves the plain over there to be turned for ages by the ploughshare of the farmer. London, the greatest city of any age, rose from a foggy sv^^amp; Paris began on an island in the Seine and overflowred to the mainland; Rome was erected on one of the most unhealthy spots in Europe; Venice was built in the sea and became the greatest commercial center of the world; Chicago was built in a swamp and for years w^as the American capital of fever and ague. Yet each of these places grew^ great by reason of natural conditions. London was inland for protection and on a river for commerce; Chicago had Lake Michigan for water commerce and the rich fields of Illinois behind her, so when the railways com- menced to crawl across the then western lands there they made a center. When once an embryonic city reaches a certain stage in its climb to population and affluence it takes the rest of the grade by virtue of the impetus given it in its early struggles. Nowhere does success beget success more strikingly than in city building. In the case of Seattle only the foot of the hill has been reached, but her shoulders have rid themselves of the load that early bore them down and she faces the incline with a confidence built on half a century of struggle, her back unbent by the burdens when the journey was rough, and comfortable in the knowledge that the way is clear. Yet to get thus far on the journey Seattle has had a strenuous struggle. Her history is romantic and is a story of successive vic- tories over apparently overwhelming odds. It is usual to refer to the first years of any community as its time of struggle and travail, and to the first people in any community as the brave pioneers w^ho provided the foundation upon which succeeding generations built, but of few^ communities can the terms be used as fittingly as they can of Seattle, for if any other city in America has had as formidable obstacles to overcome, my research in municipal history has failed to reveal its name. For nearly a score of years a great transcontinental railway com- pany used all the ingenuity and energy that had pushed its line from Lake Superior to Puget Sound to crush the life out of Seattle — yet Seattle is Seattle today. It was not merely the neglect of the The City That Made Itself road to serve it with which Seattle had to contend, but the active, powerful, aggressive enmity of the great organization. Why, then, did Seattle grow? Why not Tacoma, which se- cured the railway? Why not Olympia, which was a thriving town when Seattle was born? Why not Port Townsend, Steilacoom and other points on Puget Sound that can now take sad satisfaction from the fact that one day they were greater than Seattle? Seattle possessed the civic fundamentals — location and men of the right sort. The former she can never part with; the latter she still has. Her greatness is natural, her future assured. To Arthur A. Denny, William N. Bell and C. D. Boren belong the credit for selecting the site for Seattle, but had they passed it by and located elsewhere a city would still have risen some day on the ground that Seattle covers, for nature laid out the surrounding coun- try with a view to Seattle being its center, and Denny, Bell and Boren read the signs rightly. The wise men of Olympia laughed at them, but they carried their axes into the forests and began to carve out their homes. The Seattle Spirit, which became the city's greatest asset, was the result of prenatal influence; before the town was born Denny and Boren, by moving their lines and giving him some of the land they had laid out for themselves, induced Yesler to bring his saw- mill here. When the first plat was filed on May 23, 1853, it showed the provision the founders had made for Yesler's convenience, open- ing a wide strip through their claims by which his land beyond theirs could have access to tidewater. That was the first exhibition of civic enterprise given by the new community. In view of the long fight it was to begin a score of years later it perhaps did Seattle no harm to get its first experience in fighting early in its career. While it was still a hamlet the Indians gave trouble, culminating on January 26, 1 856, in a pitched battle, in which the United States sloop of war Decatur — the first naval vessel to lie in Seattle's harbor — saved the day for the town. The battle impressed upon the fewr settlers the gravity of the life of a pioneer who sought to make his home in the forests that had long been the undisputed domain of the first Americans. By standing shoulder to shoulder the settlers learned their first lesson in the value of united action for the defense of the community. In the years to come there were many calls for shoulder-to-shoulder fighting and right valiantly were the battles waged. In 1873 there was another evidence of civic spirit that is sig- nificant as pointing a reason why Seattle became great. At that time the whole country was suffering from financial depression and The Seattle & Walla Walla Seattle was not too far on the outskirts to feel the effects of it. The company owning the telegraph line which served the Coast from San Francisco decided to discontinue the service north of Portland. Headed by Arthur A. Denny eighteen men contributed one hundred dollars each and presented it to the telegraph company as advance payment on tolls. The telegraph w^as important to the mills in the vicinity and the town did not wish to be cut off from communication with the outside world. Some of the contributors used up their credit with the company, but Mr. Denny and others continued to pay cash for such messages as were sent to them collect. At this time Seattle's fight for its railroad was on. The Northern Pacific had been steadily advancing to the Sound and all the communi- ties on its shores had feverish hopes of being selected as the terminus. Seattle reasoned that it must be the chosen spot; it based all its future hopes upon its conviction, and, not for a moment conceding defeat, it w^as totally unprepared for the news it received on July 1 4, 1 873, that Tacoma had been selected. It was a blow that would have crushed a weaker community. The tov^^n reeled under the force of it and the people gathered in bevs^ildered groups to discuss it. Again the civic spirit rose triumphant. Eight days after the receipt of the news the Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad and Transportation Company was organized with capital stock of ten million dollars. The group of men which launched the enterprise must always be accorded a place high on Seattle's honor roll. The directors were A. A. Denny, John Collins, Franklyn Mathias, Angus Mackintosh, H. L. Yesler, James McNaught, J. J. McGilvra, Dexter Horton and J. M. Colman. It was this road, as is told in detail later in these pages, that the people of Seattle commenced to build with their own hands. American municipal history does not hold a parallel example of civic self-reliance and determination. TTie community was small, in the scheme of things it amounted to little, yet it faced the mighty task w^ith a grim smile that never left its face until, a score of years later, the fight w^as won. The struggle developed giants. No help came to the town from the outside except in the shape of new^ settlers whose decision to make Seattle their home was influenced by the fight she was making. Thus the city grew^ on her own strength and enrolled recruits with each succeding year. It was the crucial time of Seattle's history and during it was fostered a power of execution that is Seattle's richest heritage today. The reason for her growth lay in the stout hearts of her warriors. Most of the fighters of that day are gone. Of the great con- structive generals w^ho laid the foundation fevf remain. Of the sur- vivors the most prominent is Judge Thomas Burke. He has never 8 The City That Made Itself laid down his arms but is still in the front rank whenever there is anything to fight for. The research that the preparation of this glimpse of Seattle's upbuilding made necessary reveals the hand of Judge Burke in every movement undertaken after his arrival for the advancement of the city. Of fighting blood, superb mental powers, great breadth of vision, persuasive eloquence, broad education and indomitable courage, he was, and continues to be, one of the pow- erful factors in the development of Seattle. For two score years he has been the city's chief collector, as he has circulated subscription lists on behalf of every conceivable proposal that first met v^ith his strict but generous conception of civic w^elfare, and at the head of every list his ovs^n name stood. In the days vs^hen money was hard to get his contributions to funds for railway development totaled thirty thousand dollars. True, this expenditure was in the nature of an investment, but it was made at a time when nothing but con- sideration for the public welfare justified such a drain on his private resources. Incidentally, it was a poor investment as such for it even- tually returned only twenty-eight thousand dollars and no interest. At the time of the Anti-Chinese riots in 1 885 Judge Burke, then a successful and brilliant young attorney, took a stand for law and order v/hich not only proved him to be a man of invincible per- sonal courage, but breathing, as it did, his inborn sense of the im- partial administration of justice, had an important, even if subtle, influence on the life of the city. Quite as ridiculous, but far more harmful than the craze which has swept over the American nation in 1914 to acquire steps in new dances, did the feeling against the Chinese, beginning in Wyoming and spreading to the Pacific Coast, become an obsession in 1885. In practically all other prominent western cities the Chinese residents were badly treated, driven from their homes, their property destroyed and in some cases their lives forfeited to the storm of prejudice and passion aroused against them. In Seattle an effort was made to repeat the outrages of other cities, but at once the law^-abiding citizens, under the leadership of Judge Burke, John Leary, G. M. Haller, Judge Hanford, Sheriff John H. McGraw and others, took a stand against it that resulted in Seattle being the only city in the West in w^hich the Chinese residents were protected and the law upheld. In the only clash between the law- abiding element and the mob one man was killed and one w^ounded. Warrants for the arrest of Judge Burke, Rev. L. A. Banks, E. M. Carr, Frank Hanford and David H. Webster on a charge of shoot- ing with intent to kill were issued and served on the men while they w^ere in the court house attending a conference of the leaders of the Home Guards. It was merely a ruse of the mob to get the men in its hands and was known as such to both sides of the A Dramatic Moment controversy. For the prisoners to leave the court house for the justice court meant death, as the streets were filled with a wildly excited crowd that had been baffled in its assault upon the Chi- nese. The civil authorities were powerless to render assistance in face of such tremendous odds. Those in the court house coun- selled the prisoners against accompanying the constable to the justice court. "We w^ill go, " said Burke quietly. "I have been preaching submission to the law^. Just because submission to it imperils my personal safety is no reason why I should not submit." The other prisoners echoed his sentiments. Against Burke the feeling of the mob was particularly bitter, for it had been his impassioned eloquence that previously had stayed the hand of the mob and prevented an outbreak. The men lined up -with the constable and not one of them ever expected to reach the justice court alive. The constable, with Burke at his side, w^as just about to step out to the mob-infested street when there w^as a scurrying on the floor above, w^here Judge Roger S. Greene, W. H. White, then United States Attorney, Governor Watson C. Squire, Judge Hanford, G. M. Haller and other promi- nent citizens had been holding a conference. Martial law had been declared by Governor Squire at that dramatic moment and the men were saved. This is a book of things accomplished — not a narrative of eulogistic biography — but I dwell on the incident of Judge Burke's heroic stand for law^ and order because consideration of it helps us to answer the question to which this chapter is devoted — Why Seattle? A community that fostered such an inexorable demand for the impartial administration of law and order, that refused to be swayed by the hysteria that prevailed in its civic neighbors, must have had in it all the time the germ of greatness. Champions who could so calmly face the imminence of personal danger from the most unruly force on earth — a mob gone wild — were fit to lead any cause or any community. In Tacoma the mob held sway, and Tacoma, then almost as large as Seattle, is today scarcely one- third the size of the city that resisted the outbreak instead of yielding to it. The great fire of 1 889 was a factor in the building of the city in that it cemented the civic spirit still more firmly. Through periods of vicissitudes and struggle Seattle had gained a popula- tion of forty thousand people; it had built a modern city and had commenced to feel that the way was clear before it — and then at 2:45 in the afternoon of June 6, 1889, a glue pot was overturned 10 The City That Made Itself in a building at the southwest corner of First Avenue and Madison Street, and before the resuUant flames were stopped practically the whole business district of the city was destroyed. From University Street south to Charles Street on the tideflats, and from the water- front to Third Avenue the flames held sway. Some of the buildings on the eastern side of Second Avenue, notably the Boston Block, and several north from there on Third Avenue, w^ere saved, but a total damage of some fifteen million dollars was done, with but three millions in insurance to offset it. The frontiersmen had had another challenge; fate lit a torch which called to arms the enterprise and spirit of the people and while the ashes were still warm the task of building the city again began. The men upon whom the city relied, who had fought her battles in the past, again rose to the emergency and proved equal to the task. It was after the fire that Seattle had an opportunity of showing the stuff it was made of. While the ruins were yet smouldering the people of the stricken city met in the Armory to plan the rehabilita- tion of Seattle. The city of Tacoma had established relief headquar- ters on the present site of the Postoffice at Third and Union. In addition to this Tacoma in one hour raised $1 0,000 cash for relief and subsequently made its cash contribution double that amount. San Francisco sent $10,000 cash, Olympia $1,000 and Virginia City, Nevada, $4,000. It was before these cash contributions were received, however, that the people gathered at the Armory. Previous to the fire several thousand dollars had been raised for the sufferers from the Johnstown flood, but the money had not been sent when the fire broke out. A suggestion made at the meeting that the money raised for Johnstown should be diverted to the urgent need at home w^as promptly howled down, the whole meeting, with one great voice, shouting, "Send the money to Johnstow^n!" In a stirring speech. Judge Cornelius Hanford scorned the suggestion that Seattle should take the money that was already pledged to the Eastern sufferers, and he was cheered to the echo. Judge John P. Hoyt, then a power in the financial world, pledged the support of the banks to the efforts of the people to rebuild on the ruins. Angus Mackintosh and Jacob Furth promised that their respective banks would be of all the assistance possible and would not make any effort to profit by the fire. Watson C. Squire struck the chord that was dominant in the meeting when he stated that he was all ready to commence building and was merely waiting until the bricks of the old structure became cool enough to remove. Seattle received assistance from the outside gratefully, but it asked nothing. Tacoma's extraordinary relief work did a great deal to heal the breach that existed between the two cities, When the Portland Came 11 and no matter what the future may bring forth for these two leading cities on Puget Sound, Seattle should never forget that in the hour of her direst need, Tacoma stood nobly by her, fed her people, and gave as bountifully of her money as of her food. The greatest single factor in the upbuilding of Seattle was not the Klondike rush; it was the coming of the Great Northern Railway, for without the railway service which that company provided Seattle would not have been able to avail itself to the utmost of the pos- sibilities the gold discovery presented. It was a question for a time whether Fairhaven, on Bellingham Bay, or Seattle would be the terminus of the Great Northern. Unknown to the people of either city James J. Hill thoroughly investigated the claims of both. At that time there seemed to be little to choose between them from the transportation standpoint as both had excellent har- bors and neither presented any difficulties in the way of construc- tion. Satisfied in these respects Mr. Hill studied the people of the two communities. He became acquainted with the fight Seattle had made for its very existence, learned of the sacrifices of the people for the common good and appreciated the fine civic spirit they had always displayed. "A people that showed such spirit and energy and love for their town are a good people to live among and do business with, and it would be a pity to turn them down," said Mr. Hill to his officers, and he decided that Seattle should be the terminus of the line. Thus did the Seattle Spirit again demonstrate its value to the city. Following the definite connection of Seattle with the outside world by the advent of the Great Northern came one of the long periods of financial depression that try men's souls. In I 893 Seattle was like a man approaching a hill with a load on his shoulders that seemed easy to carry. As the grade increased the load became heavier. By 1 897 there seemed to be no turning in the path and the top of the hill was lost in a cloud of disturbing doubt. The city was almost ready to lay down the load when there burst upon the horizon a glittering rainbow. It reached from a creek in the Yukon Territory to the seven hills upon which Seattle sits and at each end there was a pot of gold. On the morning of July 17, 1897, the steamer Portland arrived from the North with the first news of the Klondike strike. Huge pokes with bulging sides bore mute testimony to the truth of the stories the miners told. In its unexpectedness the new^s w^as like a blow, but by this time Seattle had become so used to blows of another sort that nothing could surprise it beyond the point of instant action. Minds that had become alert in buffeting the rude 12 The City That Made Itself jolts of unkind fate sprung automatically into service when good fortune knocked. Over night Seattle vv^as advertised to the wide world. The burden that was heavy the day before was as a feather now and the hill lost all its terror. Alaska did not make Seattle: Seattle grew prosperous on Alaskan gold because she was equal to the emergency presented so unexpectedly. After long years of persistent struggle, Seattle prevailed upon the United States government to carry out a destiny proscribed by nature — the union of the waters of Lake Washington w^ith those of Puget Sound. Every step in the protracted agitation -was marked with self-sacrifice and public spirit on the part of Seattle citizens. When the Government announced that it was willing to place an army post near the city, Seattle citizens raised forty thousand dol- lars by public subscription at a time when financial conditions made the deed more notew^orthy than raising ten times the amount would have been in more recent years, purchased six hundred and forty acres and presented it to the Nation. The Navy Yard was secured for the country tributary to Seattle only after this city put up an earnest fight for it. In connection with these great public works the names of Watson C. Squire, Governor and Senator, and John B. Allen, Senator from the State, must figure prominently among those who did yeoman service for Seattle. A large share of the credit for the selection of the Navy Yard is due Lieutenant A. B. Wyckoff, its first commandant. He served on the commis- sion that selected it and w^as aWays a staunch friend of Seattle, as well as a thorough sailor and a man of sound scientific know^ledge. The Seattle Spirit, v^^hich was and is simply a willingness and abil- ity of the city to take care of itself, against asserted itself in 1901 vv^hen Moran Brothers entered the national shipbuilding field by putting in a bid for the construction of a first-class battleship for the American navy. Robert Moran and Will H. Parry, then of Moran Brothers Com- pany, were in Washington when the bids were opened. The Moran bid was the lowest but Secretary of the Navy Herbert held that all of them w^ere too high. After many conferences he told Moran and Parry that they could have the contract if they would reduce their bid one hundred thousand dollars. This the company v^^as unable to do as the lowest possible figure had been quoted and to reduce it the amount stipulated would not leave sufficient margin to jus- tify the acceptance of the contract. But Moran and Parry knew something of the Seattle Spirit and they announced that they would like to have time to talk it over with their neighbors. They left for Seattle, carrying with them the written promise of the Secretary of the Navy to give the contract to Moran Brothers if they would accept it for one hundred thousand dollars less than the figure of The Nebraska Subsidy 13 their bid; failing that, the bids were to be thrown out and new ones called for. It was apparent that if new bids w^ere asked Cramps, of Philadelphia, and the Union Iron Works, of San Fran- cisco, by greatly reducing their figures, would stamp out the new competitor that had arisen so unexpectedly to confront them. Moran and Parry arrived in Seattle on a Sunday night. They went directly to the office of The Times, then in the Boston Block, for they knew^ Colonel Blethen, although his paper was an evening publication, always worked at his office on Sunday nights. They laid the entire matter before the editor and asked him what they would do. "Do?" exclaimed Colonel Blethen. "Put the Times down for one thousand dollars of the hundred thousand and we will collect the rest of it so fast that it will make you dizzy. Seattle must get the contract and the only w^ay she can do it is by making up the difference between your bid and the figure at which the Government will let the contract. And before you go home," added the Colonel as the interview terminated, "go over to the P.-I. office and tell them what we are going to do. That will give them the first chance at the story, but this is too important a matter to w^orry about a scoop." Next morning the Post-Intelligencer announced that Seattle had been pledged to raise one hundred thousand dollars and Mon- day afternoon The Times appeared with its entire first page devoted to the same subject. Will H. Parry was made chairman of the citizens' committee and in a whirlwind campaign one hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars was subscribed. This was cut to one hundred thousand by the committee adjusting the list to place the burden on those most able to carry it. Again in 1909 Seattle showed itself to be capable of doing big things in a big way. From June 1 to October 1 6 of that year was held on the State University campus the Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Exposition. It was an ambitious undertaking for Seattle, but the enterprise that built a city did not balk at exploiting it. In an immediate material way the exposition did great service to the Uni- versity district by giving it better access to the center of the city. Tlie exposition did a great work in exploiting Alaska and in 1914 Seattle follow^ed its efforts in that direction by sending to Washington, D. C, a full Alaskan exhibit to assist the passage of the bill to provide a government railroad in the northern country. That the bill passed is due largely to the enterprise of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, which since its inception has been one of the big fighting forces in the city of fighters. 14 The City That Made Itself I have sketched here merely some of the high lights in the brilliant story of how Seattle made itself. These epochs are only the milestones that marked the progress of the onward journey. Throughout it all was developing a commercial greatness that owed nothing to any outside agencies. Take a list of the Seattle business houses of today and you will find that they grew up with the town and were not developed by any influx of outside capital. Frederick & Nelson commenced as a small store on Pike Street; the Bon Marche opened with a stock worth only a few hundred dollars; MacDougall & Southw^ick's v^ras once the typical country drygoods store; Augustine & Kyer's was its village companion, the corner grocery; Charles H. Frye, as nearly being a "Meat King" as the Northwest knows, came with his pockets empty and built up his enormous business; the Standard Furniture Company was a tiny affair in the early days; Lowman & Hanford united a small book store and a small printing plant and have the Northwest's greatest establishment of the kind today; Cheasty's Haberdashery is the monument to a man who as a boy sold milk at Seattle door- steps; Singerman & Sons began humbly in a tiny shop. Outside the retail field the same story is true. Stewart & Holmes once had their business interests enclosed within the walls of one small drug store, and other wholesale houses grew from such humble beginnings. Among the foremost industries are some which began in a small way when Seattle was a village and which proved equal to the prosperity of the advancing Seattle by always keeping their relative position in the importance of the city. The great plant of the Seattle Construction & Dry Dock Company grew from the machine shop of the Morans; the Washington Iron Works occu- pied one small building when J. M. Frink founded it; Chas H. Lilly & Co. built up its great business from a humble beginning — and the same is true of many others. There are hundreds of industries in the city that were financed with outside capital, and in the city are branches of many great firms whose head offices are elsewhere, but they came here when Seattle had gro-wn great enough to make it good business on their part to make the move. They helped to build Seattle only to the extent that they would have helped to build Tacoma had the latter city offered better inducements. Seattle's matchless harbor may be said to have produced its own business; its location made it impossible for any other city on the Sound in the days before the railway to wrest from it its supremacy in the local trade, and it was from this trade that Seattle derived its first nourishment. When one looks back with the wis- dom lent him by safe contemplation of an accomplished fact, it is John Leary's Enterprise 15 hard to realize why the obvious advantage of Seattle's location over other localities was not at once apparent to the men who chose Tacoma as the terminus for the Northern Pacific, and to those others who pinned their faith to the ultimate importance of other Puget Sound points. The only farms of the district in those days were along the banks of the rivers and on a few of the islands. On the Duwamish, the Snohomish, the Skagit, the La Conner flats, then and now the richest farming lands in all America, and on Whidby Island were farmers whose trade was a great asset to the settlement that re- ceived it. To reach these localities from any point on the Sound other than Seattle, Seattle had to be passed. Commerce will not deliberately flow past an open door and Seattle held her portals wide. The mosquito fleet in those early days spread over all the Sound and laid their cargoes on Seattle's v^^aterfront. In the 80s Tacoma made a bold attempt to wrest the prize from Seattle but she answered by a broadside in the shape of the Bailey Gatzert, a $125,000 steamer which John Leary built with his own money to retain Seattle's supremacy as mistress of the immediate seas. TTiere again have you got the civic fundamentals blended, with the harbor as the location and John Leary as the man of the right sort. Other men came after him and added to the fleets, ship- building becoming, as a result, an industry of the growing city. To- day flags of all the nations that send men down to the sea to take and fetch the products of the world fly from masts in Seattle's harbor. Seattle's progress was the scythe that mowed the crop of timber from her hills and opened her eyes to the untold w^ealth of the forest products. To nature, not to man, is due the basic reason for her tremendous importance as a lumber center, but in this field, too, do we find the man equal to the possibilities that confronted him. TTie w^hole country was a dense forest to which the hardy woodsmen from New England, Michigan and Minnesota flocked with their axes. They had the enterprise which coined the forests into money. Cut off through lack of railroads from the domestic market in the Eastern States they sought outlet for their product in foreign lands, and from Puget Sound sailed "wind-jammers" to all parts of the world where the straight spars and magnificent lumber that Seattle and the surrounding country had in abundance found a ready market. TTie industry has developed some of the most useful citizens Seattle has today, and no story of the city's growth would be complete without an acknovs^ledgment of the part they played in it. When nature put the forests on the hills she also placed be- neath the waters an inexhaustible wealth of fish. From its earliest 16 The City That Made Itseli days Seattle has sent out ships to garner this crop, until today the industry is numbered among the leading ones. To this industry is entitled the credit for the inception of the movement that resulted in the purchase of Alaska by the United States. Fishermen in the middle of the last century were already going to the northern coast and taking fish from the waters of "Russian America," but the restrictions placed upon them by the Russian authorities proved so irksome as to be a menace to the industry. TTie people of other Puget Sound ports backed up Seattle's efforts to have conditions im- proved and in January, 1 866, the Territorial Legislature memor- ialized Washington for relief. The memorial to Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, set forth the following: "That abundance of codfish, halibut and salmon of excellent quality have been found along the shores of the Russian possession. Your memorialists respectfully request Your Excellency to obtain such rights and privileges of the Government of Russia as will enable our fishing vessels to visit the ports and harbors of its pos- sessions, to the end that fuel, w^ater and provisions may be easily obtained; that our sick and disabled fishermen may obtain sanitary assistance, together v^ith the privilege of curing fish and repairing vessels in need of repairs. Your memorialists finally pray Your Excellency to employ such ships as may be spared from the Pacific naval fleet in exploring and surveying the fishing banks knov^m to navigators to exist along the Pacific Coast from the Cortez Bank to Behring Straits." Accompanying the memorial, but not part of it, w^ent a sug- gestion that the easiest way to solve the problem w^ould be the pur- chase of Alaska outright. The prompt action of Secretary Sew^ard and the purchase of the territory in 1 867 are part of other history. Seattle ow^es much to Alaska, and cheerfully acknovs^ledges the obligation, but perhaps she could look upon the stream of gold that came from the North as payment in part for the early efforts she put forth to send the Stars and Stripes north to supplant the Russian standard on this continent. Perhaps in no more striking way can the value to a city of men of the right sort be demonstrated than by reference to the importance that Seattle has held in the theatrical world. More theatres have been operated from Seattle than from any other city in the world. This fact becomes the more interesting when it is considered that w^hat is strategically important for a commercial center is not a factor in the theatrical business, for all the theatres in America could be conducted from any inland town v/ith postal and telegraphic facilities. It simply happened that three men had their homes in Seattle, John Cort, John W. Considine and Alex- '•"■■■inn ~i The Growth of Seattle's Shipping I» RpHertetl in These (Jliinpses of the llevehipnient of Her Waterfront. The Seattle of Today 1? ander Pantages. Each of them built up a great circuit which he conducted from this city and which has been of considerable com- mercial value to the city. John Cort and John W. Considine were among the pioneers who came here with nothing but a determination to do great things, and great things have they done in their line. Cort's efforts lay in the so-called "legitimate" field and Considine's in vaudeville. Cort has grow^n so great that he has almost ceased to be a citizen of Seattle, his national interests keeping him close to his New York office. Considine in 1 91 4 sold for $6,000,000 a chain of theatres he built up in one decade. He gave to Seattle, in the Orpheum, the most beautiful vaudeville theatre in the world, and the most beautiful theatre used for any purpose in America. Pantages came to Seattle with Klondike gold and now theatres in many cities bear his name. And today we have a city that is a glorious monument to those who made it. Walking on its modern pavements, through lanes of steel-ribbed structures that echo the hum of a great com- mercial center, are men whose axes first bit into the pillars that nature had erected on the site to hold the cathedral stillness that stretched back to the time when the mountains were molded and the forests planted. A brief lifetime spans the period from verdant solitude to throbbing, virile, modern life. When Seattle opened her eyes she stretched, and brushed aside the hills that would impede her movements. As easily as she combated the works of nature did she offset the puny difficulties that man created. We who live here are persuaded that nowhere else on earth is a city favored such as ours. With every facility for great com- merce by land and sea we combine an aesthetic perfection that no other commercial center on the globe can match. Over hills and across valleys the city stretches, and from every doorstep there is a view^ of mountain and water. Roses, which pay scant attention to the calendar, climb over the palace of the millionaire and the cottage of the artisan. From behind the Cascade Mountains the sun comes up each day and at night falls beyond the jagged peaks of the Olympics, his last rays lighting up a golden path across Puget Sound to the shores that Seattle rests upon. To the south the vista holds Rainier s hoary peak rising majestically above all other heights in any of our states. To the north is the peaceful pathw^ay of water that brings the fleets of all the world to lay commerce on Seattle docks. The climate is a peaceful one, given to no excesses and but scant indulgence in snow or frost. All the year around our lawns are green. ££ The City That Made Itself By and large we have everything there is to ask for. In the pages that you v^ill now turn over you will find my simple narra- tive of how we got that portion of it that nature did not lay beside us. It is a story of good cheer with much two-fisted fighting scat- tered through. Perhaps, when you have turned the final page you will find that the answer to the question — Why Seattle? — lies in the title of my little book, THE CITY THAT MADE ITSELF. CHAPTER TWO. WHEN SEATTLE WORE SWADDLING CLOTHES SEATTLE started deliberately. For the first year her population consisted of one white man, John C. Holgate, who, in 1850, took up a donation claim on the southeast shore of Elliott Bay. His claim was not in the limits of the town of Seattle when the limits were first set two years subsequently, but when the growing popu- lation pushed the boundaries out in all directions from the center the Holgate claim was one of the first pieces of territory which the settlement absorbed. In the summer of 1851 other white men arrived in the district and took up claims on the banks of the Du- wamish River. In the party were Luther M. Collins, Henry Van Asselt, Jacob Maple and Samuel Maple. Only by virtue of the fact that in recent years the modern city has spread to include their claims can they be considered pioneers of Seattle. The date from which the history of Seattle may be said to have begun is September 15, 1851, when the first of those who subsequently became Holgate's neighbors arrived at Alki Point. It was the vanguard of what will always be known as the "Denny Party." David T. Denny and John N. Low left the remainder of the party at Portland and set out for Puget Sound after leaving Low's cattle on the range on the banks of the Chehalis River. A. A. Denny, the elder brother of David, and the leading spirit of the expedition which had crossed the plains from Illinois, had heard so much of the Sound country that he desired to become better acquainted with it before deciding to settle elsewhere, but an attack of ague made it necessary for him to remain at Portland while his brother and Low went on ahead. At Olympia the two were joined by Lee Terry and Captain Robert C. Fay and the four arrived at Alki Point on September 1 5. It did not take them long to make up their minds that they had reached the end of their journey. They explored Elliott Bay and the Duwamish River, sleeping the first night under the trees in what was later called Freeport. and is today West Seattle. Terry and Low had visions, and in their enthusiasm they determined that some day a city would build itself back of the point on which they first landed. They located a townsite and called it New York, but the transplanted name did not thrive. Their predictions that it would be a city "by and by" earned for it the name of Alki, which is the Indian for "by and by." Fay had no fixed plans and left the others to continue his travels. 19 20 The City That Made Itself Low left for Portland to bring the rest of the party and on September 28, 1851, Denny and Terry started the erection of the first log cabin which may properly be considered as Seattle's first building, as it was erected by those who were so soon to commence the building of the city. Early in November Terry returned to Olympia, leaving Denny alone on the claim. On November 1 3 the schooner Exact, Captain Folger, dropped anchor off the point and there disembarked from her the party that founded Seattle. David Denny was glad to see them. Just previous to their arrival some skunks had invaded his quarters and partaken so generously of his rations that there w^as little left for him to eat. In the party were twelve adults and twelve children, A. A. Denny and family, John N. Low and family, C. D. Boren and family, W. N. Bell and family, and Charles C. Terry, who with Lee Terry and David T. Denny brought the number of adults up to twelve. Pictures of the members of the party and their full names appear elsew^here in this volume. The first work done was the completion of the cabin com- menced by Denny and Terry and as rapidly as possible a habitation for each of the families was erected. Tlie winter quarters w^ere no sooner completed than commerce found the little colony and there commenced the trading that has since made Seattle one of the well known seaports of the w^orld. In December, 1851, the brig Leonesa, Captain Daniel S. How- ard, dropped anchor off the little settlement seeking a cargo of piles. The settlers took the contract to load his vessel and while the rest of the men and boys devoted themselves to taking out piles and hauling them out by hand, Lee Terry went to Puyallup and secured a yoke of oxen, which he drove to Alki Point along the beach. After the arrival of the cattle the contract w^as speedily completed. It was the personality of A. A. Denny that gave his name to the first party that arrived at Alki. That it does not go down in history as the "Low Party" or the "Boren Party" is due to the masterful mind of the elder Denny, to his qualifications as a leader, to his keen sense of justice, and to the thorough manner in which he performed the task before him. He was a man of commanding presence and had an aptitude for leadership, a broadness of vision and a wealth of energy and enthusiasm that made him the ideal pioneer. As much as the distinction can belong to any one man, A. A. Denny is entitled to go down in history as the "Father of Seattle," and if a city has a "mother" that title could be conferred with reverence and love on the gracious woman vk'^ho was at his side in the long journey from the other side of the Mississippi, who The Name Seattle A dopted 2£ shared all his hardships and happiness, and lived with him to see a great city rise on the land which he had selected as the fitting place for it. During their first winter on the Sound Denny, Boren and Bell explored the surrounding country and early in 1852 seriously took up the task of selecting claims for themselves, for their cabins had been erected on the land of Lee Terry and Low. Denny realized that the life of the settlement would depend upon its ability to sell piles and timber, for there were several other thriving settle- ments on Puget Sound and a market had already been established. A harbor, therefore, was essential; in fact it was the important con- sideration for the land was pretty much alike in all directions. With a flat-iron attached to a clothesline the men made soundings and decided that Elliott Bay offered the greatest promise. On February 15, 1852, they located and marked three claims together. D. T. Denny later located a claim to the north of them. On March 3 i Dr. D. S. Maynard arrived with Chief Seattle, the Indian after whom the settlement was subsequently named, and was prevailed upon to take a claim. The boundary of the Boren claim was moved a little north to accommodate him. When in October of that year, H. L. Yesler arrived and desired a claim upon which to build a sawmill a second realignment was gladly made, Boren and Maynard each giving him a strip of land where their loca- tions joined. Denny, Boren and Maynard filed the first plat of the town of Seattle on May 23, 1 853 — the date that is the official birthday of the present city. There seems to be no record of the exact time that the name Se- attle was decided upon for the name of the new town. The first few settlers realized the importance of selecting a name that would reflect credit on the metropolis they hoped some day to build and various suggestions were made. It was found that some of the land upon which the city now stands already was known by name, the Indian words, Mukinkum and Tsehalalitch, having been applied to some of it. The Thurston County officials, being under the necessity of giv- ing the precinct some name by which it could have a place in the official records, called it Dewamps. TTiere was at the head of a colony of Indians who lived in the neighborhood of the new settlement a dignified old chief by name Seattle. He was popular among all the whites and as his name was short and euphonious the movement to name the town after him gained some headway. The sentiment was crystallized May 23, 1853, when the plats were filed under the name "Town of Seattle." The chief was not moved to emotional depths that made any ripple on his usual dignified bearing when he became acquainted with the 22 The City That Made Itself fact that the honor had been conferred upon him, but throughout the remainder of his Hfe he continued to manifest his friendship for the whites upon every occasion and no one ever regretted that his name vs^as adopted as that of the great city that subsequently replaced the forests in which he and his braves pursued game. Prior to the filing of the plat of the town the settlement on Elliott Bay had become known by the name of Seattle. The first record of the name being recognized officially was on January 6, 1853, w^hen the Legislature of Oregon Territory passed a law enacting: "That the county seat of King County be and same is hereby located at Se- attle on the land claim of David S. Maynard." The story of Seattle's development is w^ritten in epochs. The first w^as the erection of the steam sawmill by Yesler. It gave the settlement a start and an excuse for continued existence. The stack that belched the Yesler smoke v^as the pioneer of a thousand others; the city grew up around it, and if I intended to continue the distribu- tion of titles I v/ould have to accord Henry L. Yesler that of father of the city's industries. The action of Boren and Maynard in moving their lines to accommodate Yesler is a significant episode in the life of Seattle as it marked the first concerted attempt of the town to attract indus- tries to itself. True, the motive was entirely selfish, for the presence of the sawmill could have but one effect on the adjacent land, w^hich prior to the establishment of the mill could not rightfully claim to be of any more value than any other shore lands for miles in either direction. But all civic loyalty may be said to spring, in part at least, from enlightened selfishness; a campaign for more railroads or more factories is carried on with money cheerfully subscribed by people w^hose sole idea is to benefit the city in which they live and thereby enhance the value of all the property within that city. The enterprise of Boren and Maynard was on a par, therefore, with the later efforts greater bodies of her citizens have put forth to bring new industries to Seattle. In the case of Yesler's mill the advantage to the small settle- ment became apparent as soon as work of construction w^as com- menced. Work v/as given every adult in the settlement and w^hen the operation of the mill began logging became practically the only source of revenue of the settlers. By sheer strength of their bodies the men laid low the stately trees that made the site of the future city a forest, rolled them to tidew^ater and conveyed them w^ith small boats to the mill. There was no other way to do the work and full advantage had to be taken of the accommodations which the gods had provided, as the steep hills back of the w^aterfront presented Yesler's Mill and Its Times 23 grades that eased somewhat the work of handling logs without the equipment that makes them the playthings of the machinery of today. An interesting sketch of the part Yesler's mill played in the early life of the settlement was given by Mr. Yesler himself in an interview which he gave to the Post-Intelligencer a few years before his death. I quote it in full: "After I got my mill started in 1853, the first lot of logs was furnished by Dr. Maynard. He came to me and said he wanted to clear up a piece on the spit, where he wanted to lay out and sell some town lots. It was somewhere about where the New England Hotel now stands (First Avenue South). The location of the old mill is now an indeterminate spot. The spot where the old cook house adoining the mill stood is at the intersection of Mill and Commercial Streets (Yesler Way and First Avenue South). Hillory Butler and Bill Gilliam had the contract from Maynard, and they brought the logs to the mill by hand — rolled and carried them in with handspikes. I warrant you it was harder work than Hillory or Bill has done for many a day since. Afterwards, Judge Phillips, who went into partnership with Dexter Horton in the store, cut out logs for me somewhere up the Bay. "During the first five years after my mill was started, cattle teams for logging were but few on the Sound and there were no steamboats for towing rafts until 1 858. Captain John S. Hill's Ranger No. 2, which he brought up from San Francisco, was the first of the kind, and George A. Meigs' little tug Resolute, which blew up with Captain John Guindon and his crew in 1 86 1 , came on about the same time. A great deal of the earliest logging on the Sound was done exclusively by hand, the logs being thrown into the water by handspikes and towed to the mill on the tide by skiffs. "In 1853 Hillory Butler took a contract to get me out logs at Smith's Cove. George F. Frye was his teamster. In the fall of 1854 and spring and summer of 1855, Edward Hanford and John C. Holgate logged for me on their claims, south of the townsite toward the head of the Bay. T. D. Hinckley was their teamster, also Jack Harvey. The Indian War breaking out in the fall of 1855 put a stop to their logging operations. The Indians killed or drove off all of the ox teams or cattle hereabouts and burned the dwellings of Hanford, Holgate and Bell on the borders of the town, besides destroying much other property throughout the country. "The logging outfits in those days were of the most primitive and meager description. Rafts were fastened together with ropes 24 The City That Made Itseli or light boom chains. Supplies of hardware or other necessaries were brought up from San Francisco by the lumber vessels on their return trip as ordered by the loggers. I remember on one occa- sion Edmund Carr, John A. Strickler, F. McNatt and John Ross lost the product of a season's labor by their raft getting aw^ay from them and going to pieces while in transit between the mill and the head of the Bay. My booming place was on the north side of the mill where now the foundations are going up for the Toklas & Singerman, Gasch Melhorn and Lewis brick block. There being no sufficient breakwater thereabouts in those times I lost a great many logs as well as boom chains by the rafts being broken up by storms. "My mill in pioneer times before the Indian War furnished the chief resource of the early citizens of the place for a subsis- tence. When there w^ere not enough white men to be had for operating the mill 1 employed Indians and trained them to do the work. George Frye was my sawyer up to the time he took charge of the John B. Libby on the Whatcom route. My engineers at different times w^ere T. D. Hinckley, L. V. Wyckoff, John T. Moss and Douglass. Arthur A. Denny was a screw-tender in the mill for quite a w^hile; D. T. Denny worked at draw^ing in the logs. Nearly all the prominent old settlers at some time or other w^ere employed in connection w^ith the mill in some capacity, either at logging or as mill hands. I loaded some lumber for China as well as for San Francisco." Such is a word picture of the humble beginning of Seattle's greatest industry. The community most readily developed along the line of its chief natural resource and after more than three score years steady progress that industry still remains the leading one. In the Seattle telephone directory published in May, 1914, there were twenty-four firms listed as lumber manufacturers, thirty-one as retail lumber firms, forty-nine as wrholesale lumber firms and forty-two as wholesale lumber and shingle dealers. Early in the community's history the shingle industry played its part. In vivid contrast v^^ith the modern shingle mills, which produce their wares in tremendous quantities, w^as the crude work of the city's first shingle makers v^ho had to do all their v^rork by hand. Seated in the midst of the clearings they had made them- selves the w^orkmen shaped those first shingles with draw knives, their workshops being w^alled with tov^ering trees and partially roofed with the projecting branches. In April, 1853, Dexter Horton and Thomas Mercer arrived in Seattle from Salem, Oregon. Even though they then gave no in- dication of the prominent part they were later to play in the develop- ment of the city, their arrival was one of the most exciting things I D.TDEKI^rr Pi";*- 1^ Ou-K/xrj o Or' MRS. BZTX LEE TE-RPY j'J^E NOT 3N rXISTENCE THE FOUyND © BEHJ.W.PETTIT WHO LANDED AT ALKl POINT NOV. 13,185). MINERVA. LOW KARf LOW iSIKCLAIR. ■1^^ LEVI N A BEU. mm. THE FOU/MDERS OF SEATTLE © 1 LAMDED WITH THEIR PARENTS AT ALM POINT f^OV 13,1851 .gy,j'®|*„,^ Indian Attack on Seattle 25 that had occurred in the settlement, for Mercer brought a team of horses and a wagon. Mercer speedily became Seattle's entire transfer system and by adding dairying to his teaming grew to be an im- portant factor in the life of the town. He took up a donation claim, the eastern end of which was the meander line of Lake Union, and what is now known as Mercer Street was the dividing line between his claim and that of D. T. Denny. In 1855 unfriendly Indians threw the settlers of the village and the surrounding district into a panic by their depredations. They were known to have committed several murders and were suspected of others, but the crowning act of their campaign against the whites was their attack on Seattle on January 21, 1856. Milton Holgate was killed at the door of one of the block houses almost as soon as hostilities commenced. Tlie presence of the sloop of war Decatur in the harbor — the first ship of the United States navy to visit Seattle waters — was a factor in the defeat of the Indians. These troubles with the Klickitats had a serious effect on the growth of the town and it was some years before Seattle recovered from the stagnation caused by the violent disruption of its infantile routine. But it was from such a beginning that the great city about which I am to tell you in succeeding chapters was built on the foun- dations laid by the brawn and bravery of its earliest settlers. It is a story of the successive lights and shadows that communities have seen, but even the shadows are relieved by the humor that was pos- sessed in abundance by these fighters against odds. Seattle worked hard for what she has accomplished but she has preserved through it all the ability to laugh while at work and to keep her temper even during the trying times. Shortly after the Civil War broke out Dexter Horton des- patched an order for merchandise to the wholesale house in San Francisco with which he dealt. He forwarded the money with the order, but when his invoice arrived he found that there had been an extraordinary rise in the price of cotton as compared with his previous shipment. He wrote to the wholesale house and asked for an explanation. After the long delay that marked an exchange of letters with distant points in those days he was informed that the Government had imposed a war tax on cotton. "I am as loyal as any of those who are doing the fighting," wrote Horton when he made his remittance, "and I do not want to shirk any taxes, but I do not think the Government is justified in placing the whole cost of the war on one bolt of cotton." When, a decade before that. Dr. Henry A. Smith started out to blaze a trail from the cove which still bears his name to the village of 26 The City That Made Itself Seattle, became lost without knowing it and described a huge circle which brought him to his own back fence where he sat for some time and reflected on the similarity between this strange clearing and his own, Seattle laughed at him and the joke went down in the annals, to be joined later by Horton's patriotic defense of the bolt of cotton. TTie success that finally marked Seattle's long and spectacular fight for rail connection with the outside, the continued expansion of the lumber industry, the development of the coal mines and the coming of the treasure ship Portland with the news that a Klondike existed — all of which are dealt with in detail in succeeding pages — combined to make Seattle's place in the new^ world one to be envied by the scores of other communities that were striving to gain the proud position she was assuming by the right of her location and the masterly fighting abilities of her citizens. In those earliest days, and before most of the things about which I am to write assumed a sufficiently concrete form to give their history a beginning, there were men who did such yeoman service that their names should go down in any historical review^ of the city, and in case they do not come into my stories prominently enough to do them the honor that belongs to them I put them down here. Dexter Horton was one of the most jealous fighters for the city that Seattle ever had. Coming to Seattle in 1853 he was in business for himself in less than a year, and from then until his death on July 28, 1 904, his name stood for all that was sound and enterpris- ing in the commercial life of the city. As a fighter he asked no quarter; he pinned his faith to the future of Seattle and fought with both fists to help his dreams come true. He was a good citizen in that he improved his holdings and did not wait until the incoming population settled beside him and made him wealthy. A man of strong convictions, he was quick to acknowledge the error of his views if proven wrong by argument or time. A striking exhibition of this generosity of spirit w^as given three weeks before his death. It so happened that Dexter Horton had never agreed w^ith any- thing that Reginald H. Thomson had inaugurated w^hile City Engi- neer. Horton fought every proposal Thomson made and when he fought he fought with vigor. One morning early in July, 1 904, he w^ent to Thomson's office. "Thomson," he said, "how long have we known one another?" "Twenty-five years, Mr. Horton," said the City Engineer. "And in all that time did I ever agree with you in anything?" "Not to my knowledge, Mr. Horton." Henry Yesler and John Collins 27 The banker hitched his chair a little closer. From a side pocket he extracted a small, red-covered note-book. Tapping the desk with it, he said: "This little book I purchased to take with me around the world. In it I was to write down everything I saw in all other cities that would show up some of Thomson's follies. I investi- gated every point upon which I had fought you — but the pages are still bare. I don't know how long 1 have to live, but I want you to know that hereafter I am for everything you propose, no matter how crazy it looks to me. You can count on me, and you can count on my heirs, for when I get home tonight I am going to tell them of this conversation and pledge them to your support." A few years later, when Third Avenue was widened by cutting off the front of some buildings and moving others back, the Dexter Horton estate accepted without a contest Thomson's estimate of the amount of damages to which it was entitled. Dexter Horton's name will go down into history as the pio- neer banker of the state and as such will never be lost sight of; but he was more than a banker and has a high place among the builders of Seattle. Henry L. Yesler was essentially a builder. In bringing the first industry to Seattle he started the settlement on its way to affluence. He was not content with merely running a sawmill but spread his energies over many enterprises. The Yesler-Leary Build- ing, the most imposing structure in the city at the time of its erec- tion, was an evidence of his confidence in the future of the city. For years Yesler 's pavilion was the center of the social activities of the little town. Throughout the story of the building of the city his name looms large as the following pages will attest. John Collins was the sort of man a growing city needed. The characteristic that amounted to a distinct civic asset was his un- bounded optimism. He believed in the future of Seattle, he preached it upon every possible occasion and was always prepared to back his judgment with his money. By some of his more timid con- temporaries he was looked upon as a plunger, and his readiness to take a chance at anything would indeed have marked him as a gambler if it had not been founded on his all-abiding confidence that Seattle would justify the wisdom of all he spent within and upon it. He erected the Collins Block and Occidental Hotel (now Seattle Hotel) immediately after the fire of 1889, thus doing his share towards rehabilitating the city. It was his optimism that retained for the city many people who were disposed to give up the fight in the early days when the prospects looked brighter elsewhere. Any task assigned to him when there was a call for the exercise of 28 The City That Made Itseli civic spirit was cheerfully assumed and his example spurred on many who, without his cheering activity, might have lagged by the wayside. James M. Colman is a big figure in Seattle's fight for railroad connection. It was said of him that when there was trouble on the narrow-gauge railroad which, by his mechanical skill, executive ability and boundless energy connected Seattle with the coal mines, he would put a monkey wrench in his pocket, walk out the tracks and bring in the train. He too, improved his holdings when buildings were needed, putting up the first two stories of the present mag- nificent Colman Building shortly after the fire. Mr. Colman was a man of unimpeachable personal integrity, a keen business man and a pioneer of the far-seeing, useful kind. John Leary was one of the great constructive generals of the sort who carry the outposts of empire to the far-flung borders of civilization. In his time he did more than any other one man to attract attention to Seattle, and in his long career he never passed up a single public enterprise that made an appeal to him for help. He was essentially a promoter, a broad-minded, far-seeing man, who was a leader upon whose judgment other men relied implicitly. His public activities were limited only by the opportunities presented to indulge in them, and Seattle's history was sufficiently turbulent to provide a field for the indulgence of much civic self-sacrifice. When Tacoma and Olympia were making an active bid to attract from Seattle the rich commerce the mosquito fleet was bringing to it from the farms on the neighboring rivers, John Leary jumped to the de- fense of his city by building from his own resources a handsome steamer, at that time by long odds the most ambitious craft of its kind on Puget Sound. He called it the Bailey Gatzert out of compli- ment to his friend who also played his part in the building of Se- attle. The Bailey Gatzert cost Leary one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars but it drove the competing craft from the seas and maintained the prestige of Seattle as the commercial center of Puget Sound. In connection with the gas, water, and street railway devel- opment in Seattle Mr. Leary was a moving spirit. John J. McGilvra, who came to Seattle as an appointee of his friend, Abraham Lincoln, remained here to become one of its most highly respected citizens. In connection with the story of the acquisition of Cedar River as a source of water supply for Seattle, I relate in detail the signal service Mr. McGilvra rendered Seattle. He, too, was always a powerful champion of the building of the Lake Washington Canal. He did some pioneering of his own after his arrival here, for he was attracted by the beauties of Lake Wash- ington, and built his home on its shore at what is now Madison Some of the Pioneers 29 Park. With his own money he constructed a road — now Madison Street — from the city to the lake and was instrumental in opening the intervening land to settlement. Mr. McGilvra was a man of wide reading, lofty character and great legal attainments. Arthur A. Denny comes so often into the history of Seattle that I will give him but brief mention here. A solid, substantial, sensible, kindly man, he was one of the great bulwarks of civic progress, and the prominence that his mere early arrival in Seattle would give his name in history sinks into insignificance when his great worth to the community he founded is taken into consideration. George Kinnear, who selected Seattle as a place of residence only after investigating and carefully weighing the attractions other Puget Sound points had to offer, smoothed the way of the Great Northern Railway into Seattle by selling to the company for a merely nominal price all its present holdings at Smith's Cove. Part of the right-of-way he contributed outright and he subscribed to a fund to purchase other land for gift to the road from a neighbor vv^ho showed less public spirit. Angus Mackintosh was another factor in all the battles of Se- attle's long war for the right to exist. His building, the Kenneth Block on First Avenue, was one of the first structures in Seattle to go the height. It was named for his son who is now Judge Kenneth Mackintosh, one of the youngest but irrespective of age one of the ablest Superior Court Judges of King County. If this were a volume of biography I could add to the list of those who are gone some names of men who fought well for Seattle, but it does not come within the scope of my present endeavor. Rather have I chosen but a few of the generals, leaving to the others the place they have in the stories as I tell them. Among the living I do not venture at all. The historian who comes after me in the day that places today among the early ones of the city can estimate the work of the present props of Seattle's greatness. It is merely my aim to more firmly fix the monuments to the great men of the past so that with the narrowing vision that accumulating decades lend to his- torical perspective their names will still stand out. CHAPTER THREE. HOW SEATTLE OUTGREW HER BOUNDARIES IN other parts of the Nation Seattle is referred to as one of the new^er cities, one that has sprung up with remarkable rapidity to take its place beside cities that seem to be many times as old. Yet Seattle is no municipal infant. As a legal entity she is well along in middle life and dates her incorporated beginning during the Civil War time, simultaneously with many of the large cities of the Middle West whom we have already come to regard as having reached the age of discretion. Late in the year 1 864 the Territorial Legislature passed an act incorporating the Town of Seattle and presented it with a charter. The first municipal government officials were inaugurated on Janu- ary 14, 1865. Charles C. Terry, Henry L. Yesler, Hiram Burnett, David T. Denny and Charles Plummer w^ere the Tow^n Trustees. Mr. Terry was elected president of the board. Charles Egan was clerk and Thomas S. Russell was the town marshal. In the first elec- tion one hundred and forty-nine votes were cast and the estimated population was about three hundred. The new town's administra- tion immediately settled down to work and passed a number of ordi- nances on behalf of the common welfare. Ordinance Number Four marked the beginning of the present vast system of public works and improvements. It provided for the building and regulation of side- walks on Commercial Street, from Mill to Jackson. Mill Street is now Yesler Way, while Commercial Street is the present First Ave- nue South. The town marshal w^as the only salaried official, receiv- ing three hundred dollars per year. Only fourteen ordinances were adopted by this government. These ■were published in The Gazette, Seattle's first newspaper. The first legislative act of Seattle's Tow^n Trustees consisted of an ordinance levying a municipal tax, passed on February 7, 1865. The second ordinance was "Concerning Swine." This marked the beginning of police regulation, but also indicated the fact that Seattle's citizens were thrifty. The third ordi- nance provided for the "Prevention of Drunkenness and Disorderly Conduct." The fourth ordinance provided for the building of side- walks. The fifth ordinance called for the removal of Indians to points outside of the town limits and provided for the punishment of those w^ho might harbor them. The sixth ordinance was a speed law to prevent "Reckless and Fast Driving TTirough the Streets." Later there were other ordinances relating to theatrical exhibitions, fees for 30 Seattle's First City Charter 31 the "Committing Magistrate," prohibiting the use or carr5nng of deadly weapons, nuisances and the like. The first fire ordinance that Seattle had was Ordinance Number Eleven for the regulation of stove pipes. The thirteenth provided for the regulation of dogs, and number fourteen sought to prevent the sale of "spirituous liquors," porter, beer, cider and ale, to Indians. The town limits then included the area bounded on the north by Howell Street, on the east by Twenty-fourth Avenue, on the south by Atlantic Street and on the west by the waters of Elliott Bay. But the people of Seattle were not long satisfied with their form of municipal government and voluntarily sought disincorporation. In accordance with their request the Legislature repealed, on January 18, 1867, the act granting them a town charter and Seattle again be- came a mere precinct of King County, after having been a munic- ipality a few days more than two years. In the latter part of 1 869 the citizens of this precinct asked the Legislative Assembly for another municipal government, this time a more pretentious one. The request was granted and under the act of the Assembly, approved December 2, 1869, Seattle was incorpor- ated as a city, though the whole of King County, including the new city, had a population not to exceed two thousand. The newly formed City of Seattle was technically bounded on the north by Galer Street, on the east by Lake Washington, on the south by Han- ford Street, and to the middle of Elliott Bay on the west. It in- cluded about sixteen sections of land, partly fractional, on Elliott Bay, all of which was confined to one ward. The corporate power ^vas vested in a Common Council of seven members and a Mayor, all to be elected annually. Other officers were Recorder, Treasurer, Mar- shal and Assessor and Collector. The charter of the city was to go into effect immediately upon its approval by the Governor, and until the first annual election to be held in July, I 870, the Legislative As- sembly appointed the following as the officials of the first administra- tion of the City of Seattle: Mayor, H. A. Atkins; Recorder, Ike M. Hall; Marshal John T. Jordan; Clerk, G. N. McConaha; Treasurer, C. H. Burnett; and members of the Council, S. G. Calhoun, C. P. Stone, John Collins, L. V. Wyckoff, Amos Brown, Frank Mathias and A. S. Pinkham. The first election took place in 1870 and when it was over the city government was in the hands of H. A. Atkins, Mayor; Amos Brown, C. P. Stone, Frank Mathias, J. T. Jordan, D. N. Hyde. O. C. Shorey, Josiah Settle, Councilmen; L. B. Andrews, Recorder; G. N. McConaha, Clerk; C. H. Burnett, Treasurer; L. V. Wyckoff, Marshal. 32 The City That Made Itself Some readjustment of boundaries became necessary. There- fore in November, 1872, the Territorial Legislature modified the boundary lines to place the north limit at Howell Street and the south line at Atlantic Street. Then in 1 883 the north limit was ex- tended to what is now known as McGraw Street. Another amend- ment to the city charter adopted in 1 886 extended the area to in- clude a part of Lake Union and to the middle of Lake Washington. Seattle remained within these limits until the admission of the Terri- tory to statehood in 1 889. The actual area of the city, then includ- ing Seattle harbor, tidelands and Lake Union shore lands as platted, consisted of approximately twenty-seven square miles of land. During these changes the city had grown very rapidly and be- gan to spread out beyond the lines set for it. During the same period other smaller communities had arisen without its legal boundaries. The conflict of interests of these communities so close to the larger place, together with the desire of these suburban towns to enjoy the greater advantages of the city, such as a dependable water supply, lighting and street-car service, and other features that Seattle proper possessed, started a sentiment in favor of a Greater Seattle. The annexation movement, fought out in many bitter local battles among the residents of the territories seeking admission, be- gan with the taking in by Seattle of the town of South Seattle on October 20, 1905. From then on there were annexed in rapid suc- cession, in the order named, Southeast Seattle, Ravenna, South Park, Columbia City, Ballard, West Seattle, Rainier Beach and Dunlap, Lake Washington shore lands not before included, Laurelhursl and Yesler, giving the City of Seattle in 1910a total land area of 37,481 acres, or about 58 square miles. Added to this is a fresh-water area, including a part of Lake Washington, Lake Union, Green Lake, Duwamish River, Govern- ment Canal from Salmon Bay to Lake Washington, amounting to 7,240 acres, or 1 1 square miles of fresh water; and a salt-water area, including Salmon Bay Waterway, Elliott Bay, East Waterway, West Waterway and Smith's Cove, from Alki Point to West Point, Outer Harbor, Duwamish Point to Five Mile Point and a portion of Puget Sound, amounting to 15,745 acres, about 25 square miles of salt wa- ter; a total water area of 22,985 acres, or about 36 square miles, and a grand total area of 60,466 acres, or approximately 1 00 square miles of land and water. The following table will give at a glance the present area of the city and the story of its growth: ZOTH Ave. •>-«>-«3«>-g Seattle's Land and Water Area 33 LAND AREA OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE. Square Date Annexation Ordi- Original city, including Seattle Acres. Miles. nance Was Passed. Harbor, tidelands and Lake Union shore lands as platted I 7,461 27.28 South Seattle 570 0.89 October 20. 1905 Southeast Seattle 3,365 5.26 January 7. 1907 Ravenna 480 0.75 January 15. 1907 South Park 529 0.83 May 3. 1907 Columbia 605 0.94 May 3, 1907 Ballard 2,300 3.60 July 24. 1907 West Seattle 6,710 10.49 July 24, 1907 Rainier Beach and Dunlap.... 2,560 4.00 September 12. 1907 Lake Washington Shore Lands 412 0.64 Filed March 2 1 , 1908 Georgetown 1.170 1.82 April 11. 1910 Laurelhurst and Yesler 1,319 2.06 December 1. 1910 Total 37.481 58.56 WATER AREA. Fresh Water — Acres. Sq. Mi. Acres. Sq. Mi. Lake Washington 5,800 9.06 Lake Union 688 1.08 Green Lake 314 0.49 Duwamish River 370 0.58 Government Canal, from Salmon Bay to Lake Washington 68 0.11 7,240 11.32 Salt Water- Salmon Bay Waterway 269 0.42 Elliott Bay, including East Waterway, West Waterway and Smith's Cove, from Alki Point to West Point 3,754 5.87 Outer Harbor, Duwamish Point to Five Mile Point 4,134 6.46 Puget Sound 7,588 11.84 15,745 24.59 Total water area 22,985 35.91 Total land and water area 60,466 acres, 94.47 square miles. 34 The City That Made Itself Only twenty-nine different people have held the office of Mayor of Seattle. Up to the time the territory became a state in 1 889, and the charter of the city was amended, the Mayor's term was for one year. Since that time it has been for two years. The Mayors since incorporation in 1 869 and the years in which they were elected follow: H. A. Atkins (appointed) 1869 H. A. Atkins (elected) 1870 J. T. Jordan 1871 C. P. Stone 1872 John Collins 1873 H. L. Yesler 1874 Bailey Gatzert 1875 G. A. Weed 1876-1877 Beriah Brown 1878 Orange Jacobs 1879 L. P. Smith 1880-1881 H. G. Struve 1882-1883 John Leary 1884 Henry L. Yesler 1885 W. H. Shoudy 1886 T. T. Minor 1887 Robert Moran 1888-1889 Harry White (resigned) 1890 Geo. W. Hall (elected by Council) 1891 J. T. Ronald 1892 Byron Phelps 1894 Frank D. Black (resigned) 1896 W. D. Wood (resigned) 1897 T. J. Humes 1897-1898-1900-1902 Richard A. Ballinger 1904 Wm. Hickman Moore 1906 John F. Miller 1908 H. C. Gill 1910 Geo. W. Dilling 1911 Geo. F. Cotterill 1912 H. C. Gill 1914 CHAPTER FOUR. HOW SEATTLE WON HER RAILROAD FIGHT TERMINUS was the god of the ancient Romans who presided over boundaries and limits. Capitals were located on spots favored by him, and he alone of all the inferior gods would not yield his place to Jupiter himself. If the god Terminus had aught to do with the selection of the site for Seattle, the Northern Pacific Railroad was the Jupiter that fought in vain for nearly a score of years to make him yield his place. But the legendary stubborness of the god had not wreakened with the centuries, and that Seattle is today a city of such commanding strength is due fundamentally to the importance of her location, but largely to the boundless courage and indomitable self-reliance of the little group of men whom she developed as her champions when the fight was on. To thoroughly understand the spirit that actuated the settle- ment in its long and bitter fight we must go back to the first great struggle when the few settlers in old Oregon met, thvs^arted, fought and conquered the greatest corporation then known, with the possible exception of the East Indian Company — the Company of Gentle- men and Adventurers Trading into Hudson's Bay. TTiese settlers forced the retreat of the company to the forty-ninth parallel and carried the Stars and Stripes northw^ard across the hills upon v^hich Seattle now sits. Men of this stamp, worthy descendants of pioneer- ing sires, and imbued w^ith the same determination, took up Seattle's fight and carried it to successful conclusion. In the days of Ancient Rome the fires of patriotism burned warmest at the seat of government; the distant Gauls did not have for Imperial Caesar the intense regard the Romans felt. In our new world the condition was reversed; as American pioneers crossed the plains to the unknown West they were conscious that they were carrying the boundary of an empire w^ith them, and as each day's journey was concluded their love for their country v/as increased. Certainly it w^as a patriotic fervor of an intensity greater than that brewed in the East that brought victory in the fight against the Hudson's Bay Company; and the hills they crossed in getting here, the rude jolts of the ox-wagons, and the dangers that lurked along the trails bred in the bones of Seattle's first settlers a courage that fitted them for the struggle that was before them to build up a city against the odds they faced. 35 36 The City That Made Itself Only the pioneers who took part in it know of the fight for existence that Seattle had to wage. "If I had it in my power a locomotive w^ould never turn a vs^heel into Seattle, " said one of the presidents of the Northern Pacific after the road was built. For sixteen years after Seattle had railroad connection with the outside v^^orld it v^as impossible to purchase a ticket in the East for Seattle. The Northern Pacific did not recognize the existence of this city, and did everything in its power to force Seattle citizens to abandon their homes here and move to Tacoma, v^here the railroad ow^ned the land and hoped to build the one great city on Puget Sound. Three thousand miles from the source of capital, relentlessly pursued by the big transcontinental railroad that w^as backed by the Government of the United States, harassed when possible by neighboring cities that had the prestige of rail connections, Seattle fought her battle single-handed, through stress and storm, until she emerged the victor. There is absolutely no other city in America with such a record. Seattle was very young when the possibility of a railroad coming across the continent and seeking a terminus on Puget Sound vs^as first talked about. The idea appealed, however, and the settlers felt that Seattle must be the location of such terminus as it was the logical point for it. When, in 1864, the Northern Pacific received a charter to build a line from some point on Lake Superior to a point on Puget Sound, the whole Northwest was thrown into a state of excitement. In 1 867 the people of the Territory of Washington presented a memorial to Congress pray- ing for Government aid for the Northern Pacific and the Govern- ment treated the company generously in the way of a grant of land. In 1 870 Congress amended the act and by the provision of the new^ charter permission was given to run the main line down the Columbia River and build a branch to Puget Sound, just revers- ing the conditions of the original charter. In 1 870 work started at both ends, on February 1 5, near Duluth, and in May at Kalama, on the Columbia. Seattle's first disappointment lay in the refusal of the company to build through the Snoqualmie Pass, for, had that natural pass for a raiWay been follovs^ed, Seattle v\^ould have become the West- ern terminus without a struggle. The beginning of physical work on the line brought the interest in the selection of a terminus up to fever heat and every settlement on the Sound had hopes of being the favored spot. Olympia, Steilacoom, Seattle, Tacoma and Mukil- teo were the principal contestants, and Whatcom, Fairhaven, Port Townsend, Anacortes, Homes Harbor on Fidalgo Island, and Penn's m H 8 be J < E >4 h; teiMtl. fn.m ii riuil4»(;r;(|ili Tiik«-ii DnriiiK .Jai-kmm Strt'fl Hill lnli» KllioU Itay. Eight Years of Regrade Work 69 "Who do you want for City Engineer, Judge?" concluded the politician. "Why, Thomson, of course," declared Judge Burke. "He is necessary to the city, and at this stage the city cannot get along with- out him." "But he is fighting you tooth and nail!" exclaimed the politically prominent person. "Yes, he is," agreed the Judge, "but perhaps he is right; he cer- tainly has a right to his views, and, remember, it is the city he is fighting for, not himself, and the city can always use a man who fights for it." The regrades of the down-town streets began in 1 903 and con- tinued until 1911. The great Jackson Street regrade was begun on April 23, 1907, and completed on February 28, 1910. The Dearborn regrade, the third largest undertaken by the city, was begun Septem- ber 24, 1 909, and completed September 30, 1912. The Jackson Street work consisted of an excavation of 1 ,810,656 cubic yards and an em- bankment of 1 ,356,038 cubic yards. The Dearborn improvement v^as an excavation of 1 ,259,836 cubic yards. The greatest cut on Jackson Street w^as eighty-five feet, at the corner of Ninth Avenue South. At King Street and Ninth Avenue South there w^as a cut of eighty-two feet. Local improvement assessment districts were organized to finance the regrades. For those who may want, in permanent form, a statement of the work that was done in the re-making of Seattle I present below^, in tabular form, the record of all the regrade projects planned and car- ried through by City Engineer Thomson, v^ith the assistance of A. H. Dimmock, who succeeded him as City Engineer when Thomson re- signed the position in 1911. Pike St. and E. Pike St Exc. Pine St Exc. Second Ave Exc. Third Ave. et al Exc. Westlake Ave Emb. Fairview Ave. et al Exc. Pine St. et al Emb. Fourth Ave. et al Exc. Fifth Ave. N Emb. Jackson St. et al Exc. Emb. Western Ave. and Pike PI... Emb. Third Ave., Third Ave. Prod.Exc. Olive St. et al Emb. Ninth Ave. & Ninth Ave. N.Exc. Harrison St. et al Exc. Twelfth Ave. & 12th Ave. S. Emb. Fifth Ave. & Fifth Ave. S..Exc. Dexter Ave. et al Exc. Dearborn St Exc. Jackson St. & 22nd Ave. S...Emb. Leary Ave. et al Exc. Sixth Ave. et al Exc. Began. Completed. Cont. Names 36,479 cu. yds. 6-27-03 2- 4-04 C. J. Erickson 39.808 cu. yds. 8-26-03 4-11-05 C. J. Erickson 603.862 cu. yds. 7-29-03 5- 4-06 C. J. Erickson 92,441 cu. yds. 8- 4-05 6-28-07 C. J. Erickson 32,397 cu. yds. 7-10-07 2- 2-08 Hans Pedcrson 85,294 cu. yds. 7-10-07 9- 1-08 Ottesen & Jensen 392,121 cu. yds. 7-25-07 7- 2-09 Hawley & Lane 387,168 cu. yds. 6-21-07 7-31-09 C. J. Erickson 24,374 cu. yds. 10- 3-08 10-24-09 Grant Smith 1,810,656 cu. yds. 4-23-07 2-28-10 Lewis & Wiley 1,356,038 cu. yds. 62,992 cu. yds. 12-21-09 4-20-11 Paul Steenstrup 3,104,604 cu. yds. 6-23-08 6- 9-11 Rainier Dev. Co. 173,670 cu. yds. 7-16-08 7-18-11 Hawley & Lane 196,748 cu. yds. 8-22-10 9-28-11 P. J. McHugh 91,708 cu. yds. 12-27-10 10-31-11 P. J. McHugh 306,635 cu. yds. 10- 8-10 3-10-12 Erick.'^on Const. Co. 173,057 cu. yds. 8-12-10 4- 9-12 Erickson Const. Co. 72,441 cu. yds. 6-20-10 9-30-12 Olson & Mellen 1,259,836 cu. yds. 9-24-09 9-30-12 Lewis & Wiley 16,646 cu. yds. 4-19-13 10-16-13 Andrew Peterson 50,417 cu. yds. 6- 3-13 1-29-14 W. F. Manney & Co. 91,255 cu. yds. 5-21-13 6-15-14 Ind. Asp. Pav. Co. 10 The City That Made Itself In most instances the earth from the cuts in the regrade dis- tricts was used to good advantage in making the necessary fills in ad- jacent territory. For instance, the earth from the Jackson and Dearborn Street regrade was used to fill in the tide lands. The bulk of the earth from the Denny Hill regrade was wasted in the deep waters of Elliott Bay. Some of this earth, however, was used to raise the levels of the streets in the vicinity of the Westlake mar- ket. No extraordinary conditions were encountered in handling any of these large undertakings and the work resolved itself into a job of perseverance w^ith both steam shovels and hydraulic ap- paratus. Any of the large regrades which involved deep cuts would not have been practicable if the material encountered had been rock. Deep deposits of a sedimentary character are not very common and it has been fortunate that the needs of a larger business district w^ere not blocked by rock formations such as are usually en- countered when the surface is penetrated to a depth of 1 00 feet, as was done in several instances in connection with the Seattle re- grades. From the time the first ordinance providing for public v^ork in Seattle w^as passed by Councilmen Thomas Clancy, John Leary, W. W. Barker, George W. Hall, Samuel Kenney, W. N. Bell and C. W. Moore and approved by Mayor G. A. Weed, on June 8, 1 876, Seattle has carried forward an extensive system of improvement that makes it one of the best equipped cities in the world today. The excellence of its sewerage system is reflected in the health fig- ures which places Seattle at the head of all the cities in the w^orld. Previous to 1 890 the system was rather crude. The first sewer was laid in the early days on Yesler Way from Maynard Street to the Bay. It was a wooden box affair, and this method of construction was followed up to 1 890 when the city voted bonds to provide for money for a comprehensive system. It was w^hile the city was en- gaged on the first sewer under the new plan that an expression was coined which will live as long as any of the men of that day are still on earth. The plans called for the digging of the trenches a certain depth and the city engineer's office checked up on the con- tractor by using a measuring stick of the prescribed length. If the stick reached from the bottom of the trench to the street level the contractor w^as carrying out his contract faithfully. After some months of v^^ork the stick was temporarily used for making other measurements and it w^as discovered that something v^^as vs^rong. The stick was measured and found to be a foot short. "Who cut the stick?" was at once asked. The people took it up and the papers took it up and "Who cut the stick?" was asked with a reiteration that made it famous. It was never answered, but Seattle's Extensive Sewage System 71 among the old timers the expression is still current as an interroga- tive simile for the positive statement that "there is a nigger in the woodpile." The largest sewer system built as a unit, is known as the North Trunk Sewer system. This work was divided into five dis- tricts, the Green Lake, Lake Union, Lake Washington, Fort Law- ton and Central Districts. The first work was begun on the system April 22, 1908 and the contract was completed February 21, 1914. The main features of the trunk sewer system as far as the con- struction was concerned, are the siphons made necessary by the Lake Washington Canal, one of which is constructed under the canal at Montlake Avenue and the other at Third Avenue West. They consist of a shaft on either side of the canal w^ith a connecting tunnel of ample size to provide space for two sewer mains, two w^ater mains, and two gas mains. Conduits for wires were built into the walls of this structure. Owing to the treacherous nature of the material encountered, the w^ork progressed very slowly and at a great cost. The use of compressed air was not resorted to and no lives were lost during the progress of the work. A tunnel was constructed under the Fort Lawton reserve over a mile in length. This work w^as carried on from both ends and the ac- curacy of the surveys was such that upon joining the two bores, only a slight but negligible error was discovered. Most of the trunk sewers are built of concrete with a brick lining on the low^er inside portion to resist the scour. The largest diameter reached is on the Fort Lawton branch, w^hich is the outlet for the entire system, and here the sewer is 1 2 feet in diameter. In order to carry the sewer across Washington Park, it w^as necessary to build an aqueduct. This structure was built along graceful lines and or- namented, to be in keeping with its park surroundings. The Lake Washington Boulevard passes beneath it and very few people sus- pect, as they pass beneath this structure, that a trunk sew^er is flow^- ing overhead. In August, 1914, Seattle had 427.91 miles of sewers. A public work of great importance to the city is that being done by the Port Commission which was created under an enabling act passed by the State Legislature in 1911, to provide Seattle's harbor w^ith various facilities which the majority of the people seem- ed to think were necessary to the continued development of the city's maritime interests. On September 5, 191 1, the port of Seattle district was created, three commissioners were elected and the gen- eral plans of harbor development approved. The law under which the commissioners were elected provided that at the time of the first election the candidate receiving the largest number of votes would be elected for three years, the man w^ith the next vote for 72 The City That Made Itselt two years and the successful candidate with the smallest vote one year. C. E. Remsberg was elected for the one year term, Robert Bridges for the two year term and Gen. H. M. Chittenden (U. S. Army Engineers, retired) the three year term. In 1912 Mr. Rems- berg was elected to succeed himself and in 1913 Robert Bridges was returned to office. Spirited fights were made against both these candidates. When the board was organized Reginald H. Thomson resigned his position as city engineer and became port engineer. It was under his directions that the elaborate port plans were developed. One of his assistants, Paul Whitman, succeeded Mr. Thomson as chief engineer. Capt. O. A. Pow^ell has been con- sulting engineer. As the law provides that the secretary of the board should be one of its unsalaried members the chief executive w^ork falls on the assistant secretary. C. C. Clausen became as- sistant secretary when the board was organized and was succeeded in 1912 by W. S. Lincoln, who became auditor in January, 1913, and was succeeded as assistant secretary by Hamilton Higday. On March 5, 1912, the electors of the district at a special election authorized the Port Commission to issue and sell $8, 1 00,000 in general port bonds for immediate progress on six projects, viz.: Project Site Improvement Bond Issue 1 . Smith's Cove — Lumber and Machinery Terminal $1 ,000,000 2. East Waterway — Deep-sea Mdse. Terminal 850,000 3. Salmon Bay — Fishing Terminal 350,000 4. Central Waterfront — Fruit and Produce Storage and Mosquito Fleet Terminal 750,000 5. Lake Washington — Additional Ferry System 1 50,000 6. Harbor Island — Parallel Deep-sea Piers 3,000,000 7. Harbor Island — Supplemental Piers 2,000,000 TOTAL $8,100,000 By the fall of 1914 $4,490,000 of bonds had been sold. It was originally planned to develop Harbor Island along the lines of the Bush Terminals and an energetic fight w^as waged be- fore the people, the Chamber of Commerce being the chief advocate of the adoption of such a plan. It was defeated, however, and the building activities of the commission have been spread from Sal- mon Bay on the north to the East Waterway on the south. By vote of the people sums of money originally provided for one improvement has been transferred to another and an addition of $200,000 was voted for the purchase of the ferry between the waterfront and West Seattle. A Problem for Time to Solve 73 It is too early yet to form an estimate of the value to the city of the Port Commission work. Time may prove the step has been a wise one, although it is not quite apparent yet how the people are going to realize on the extensive investments they have made in waterfront property for w^hich there was no evidence of there being a particularly urgent demand. The appointment of F. R. Hanlon as traffic manager in the summer of 1914 was made in an effort to secure business for the facilities already pro- vided and the energetic manner in which Mr. Hanlon has assumed his duties may have a beneficial effect on the financial showing of the commission. Time will likely show that a mistake vs^as made in defeating the Bush Terminal plan, for extensive development along intelligent lines in one portion of the harbor would un- doubtedly have been of more benefit to the city than disconnected activities stretching over many miles of waterfront. However that may be, there is no doubt that with the abandonment of these plans the bonds originally passed to meet the expense of developing them should have been canceled entirely rather than to have been transferred to other projects. But it is rather bold of a historian to try to judge of the worth of a project that is not yet five years old. I offer these few^ reflections in the hope that they may be of some slight interest to readers in future years who will be in a position to judge of the part that time has played in determining what claim I may have to being a prophet. CHAPTER SEVEN. HOW SEATTLE SECURED HER WATER SUPPLY THE spirit of combat has always been strong in the hearts of Seattle people. When danger from the outside menaced them they fought shoulder to shoulder in defense of their views; when something of a purely domestic nature came up they fought with one another before finally deciding how to dispose of the subject. One of the most dramatic local fights was that vs^hich was practically settled on December 10th, 1895, when the people ap- proved by their votes the plan to secure the city's water from Cedar River. Even after the vote v^as canvassed the fight was carried on in the courts and it was not until January 10, 1 90 1 , that the Cedar River water was first distributed in Seattle. Today the water system is one of the city's greatest assets and it must always be so for there is no other city in the world that can boast a more magnificent sup- ply of pure water. Yet, when it was proposed to secure this source of supply, a most determined fight against it was waged by thought- ful, loyal citizens who were persuaded that Seattle w^as committing a grave blunder in adopting the ordinance presented to the voters. It was due to the masterly fighting qualities of Reginald H. Thom- son that the fight was won. The honor of being the Seattle citizen to first suggest that Cedar River should be the ultimate source of supply for Seattle's water system belongs to F. H. Whitworth, still a very useful citi- zen of Seattle and a man, who in his quiet way, has done much to advance the interests of the city. In 1 88 1 , while serving as city surveyor, Mr. Whitworth went on record as favoring Cedar River. In 1 889, Mayor Robert Moran persuaded the city council to employ Benezette Williams, a prominent engineer of Chicago, to investigate and report on Cedar River as a source of supply. Mr. Williams made his surveys and prepared a report indicating Rock Creek, a smaller tributary of Cedar River, as the more ad- vantageous source. Mr. Whitworth urged Williams to continue his survey up the Cedar River and Williams did this, with the result that he withdrew his first report and went on record as favor- ing Cedar River. He recommended that the city convey the water to Swan Lake in an open flume, running pipes underground only where the topo- graphy made it necessary. 74 Private Company Enters Field 75 In 1888 the city had decided by vote of the taxpayers to build a system but the plans were checked in 1 889 when the Territory became a State and the borrow^ing power of the cities of the first class was limited to an extent that Seattle had already exceeded, as following the fire of 1 889 a tremendous amount of money was spent in rebuilding the city. Things were pretty much at a stand- still when Mr. Thomson became city engineer in 1 892. One of the first tasks he undertook was the development of the Cedar River water supply. In this he had the enthusiastic support of H. R. Clise, chairman of the Fire and Water Committee of the Board of Aldermen. The outlook was not reassuring as there seemed to be no w^ay of raising the necessary money. One day, in course of the routine of his law practice, Mr. Clise was reading the reports of the State Supreme Court decisions, and ran across one that prompted him to speedily summon Thomson and Will H. Parry, then city comptroller, into conference v^^ith him. This decision upheld the legality of an ordinance passed by the voters of Spokane who sought to build a water system w^ith money obtained through the sale of warrants, redeemable from the receipts of the w^ater it- self. The court held that this was a charge against the system and did not increase the bonded indebtedness of the city. Clise, Thom- son and Parry agreed that Seattle's opportunity had come, and a plan of campaign was at once decided upon. Mr. TTiomson appointed George F. Cotterill to make a com- plete report on the engineering problems involved in the construc- tion of the Cedar River system, and work was begun on the prepara- tion of an ordinance for submission to the people. No public an- nouncement of any kind was made and not a dozen people in Seattle knew that any steps were being taken by the city to secure Cedar River water for Seattle. The reason for this secrecy v^as the activity of a private company which hoped to develop the same source of supply for itself, and sell both water and power to the people of the city. This company was organized by Edward H. Ammidon, who had lately arrived in Seattle from New York. He enlisted the support of almost all the financially strong men of the city, applied to the City Council for an ordinance granting his com- pany a franchise to lay its mains and authorizing the sale to the company of all the city's then existing waterworks property. James A. James, chairman of the Fire and Water Committee of the House of Delegates, had joined the TTiomson-Clise-Parry alliance and the Ammidon application did not make particularly rapid progress be- fore the council, although great pressure was brought to bear in an effort to have the city pass the necessary legislation. 76 The City That Made Itself Finally Cotterill's report was ready. Chairman Clise called his committee together and read the report which he proposed to present to the Council that night. The committee approved the re- port, and that evening a joint session of the Board of Aldermen and the House of Delegates w^as held and Mr. Clise read his report recommending the construction of the Cedar River water system by the city. TTie fight vs^as then on. The Ammidon forces w^ere taken com- pletely by surprise by this movement. They abandoned that part of their proposal relating to the distribution of water by them to the consumers in the city and substituted for it an offer to sell the city water in bulk at its limits, leaving to the city the task of dis- tribution. It so happened that most of the substantial and prom- inent citizens either became members of this company or shared its views, for the fight developed into one between the "big in- terests" of the city and the so-called "common people." Mr. Thom- son entered the struggle v^^ith the indomitable v/ill that made him master of the situation as long as he remained city engineer. With the two proposals presented to the city government pressure was brought to bear by the champions of each. It was a bitter struggle but finally in the summer of 1 895 the ordinance was passed, only to be vetoed by Mayor Byron Phelps, who objected to the word- ing of one clause. As soon as his veto was handed down Thomson, James and Clise started work on a new ordinance which conformed to the mayor's views and it was passed and signed, and provided for an election on December 1 0, 1 895. The fight was then carried to the people and it was waged with a fury scarcely equalled in any other campaign that the city has experienced. All the prominent moneyed men were arrayed against the ordinance and every newspaper in the city sided with them. The Post-Intelligencer dubbed the supporters of the ordi- nance "crass-headed idiots" and the name stuck to them through- out the campaign. There were many good men on both sides of the fight but all the money seemed to be on one side. The sup- porters of the private company hired halls and held nightly meet- ings and their opponents had no comprehensive methods of reach- ing the people with their arguments. Mr. Clise, Mr. James, Dr. Young and others did their best on behalf of the ordinance, w^hile Mr. Thomson sat back and provided them with ammunition. Among the broadsides fired at the ordinance through the pa- pers was one from Judge John J. McGilvra. It discouraged Thomson more than any other argument had done. Judge Mc- Gilvra stood high in the community and was know^n as a man of I'tiolnKniphs. Tiiken trniii rrarliiiilli tin- >aiiif .>i>iil ii( iiu iiill ot Ten Veam. Show Illy Miinnrr in Which the Slr«-lB in the Wholesule I»l8trlct Were Built up on the Tideflnts. Judge McGilvra Cha nges His Mind 77 impeachable integrity and sound opinion. His argument was the most masterly one thus far advanced and if his premises were cor- rect it was unanswerable. It appeared about sixty days before the election was to take place. Mr. Thomson went to the telephone and called up Judge Mc- Gilvra. "Mr. McGilvra," he said, "this is Thomson. I have just read your article in the Post-Intelligencer. It is the most logical arraign- ment of our ordinance yet advanced. I want to talk it over with you. We are both working for the same end, the good of the city, and if after we consult you can show where I am wrong I will write a letter to the newspapers advising the people to vote against the ordinance and will withdraw from the fight. May 1 see you today?" "Come up at eleven o'clock this morning," said McGilvra. For five days the two men discussed the question from every standpoint and at the expiration of that time Mr. Thomson, at Judge McGilvra's suggestion, prepared a brief. "1 will also prepare a brief," said McGilvra, "and submit it with yours to myself as judge and then will let you know my posi- tion." "I will do nothing more in the fight then until I hear from you," said Thomson. Every morning thereafter for five long and restless weeks Thomson eagerly scanned the paper but no word came from Mc- Gilvra. True to his promise Thomson had withdrawn from the fight and provided no more ammunition for the champions of the ordinance. Finally, about three weeks before the election, the morn- ing paper bore a message in large type to the effect that McGilvra had changed his opinion and that he was now unequivocally for the ordinance. Thomson went to him. "What is the next step?" asked McGilvra. "1 don't know," replied Thomson. "I have done nothing since I saw you last and am ready to take your orders. We have no money to carry on a fight such as the other people are making. " "Don't let money stand in your way," said McGilvra, "do every- thing that is necessary and send the bills to me." McGilvra then organized a number of speakers in favor of the ordinance, hired halls and bands and paid for everything out of his own pocket. A spirited campaign in favor of the ordinance was waged with the result that it carried by a vote of 2,656 in its favor to 1 ,665 against it. 18 The City That Made Itself So bitter had been the fight that the morning after the election McGilvra met Arthur A. Denny on the street and in spite of the fact that for nearly thirty years McGilvra had been the personal at- torney for the elder Denny the latter refused to speak to him. McGilvra, Thomson and others were assailed by many prominent citizens as wreckers of the city. Into the courts the champions of the private company carried the matter and it pursued its way to the Supreme Court before the action of the people v^^as finally legal- ly ratified and the $1,250,000 which the ordinance provided for be- came available for construction. I dwell at length upon this fight as it is interesting not only as a record of the acquisition by the city of its matchless water supply, but is significant as a sidelight on the honest errors men can make, for there is not one man today who opposed the ordinance who w^ill not acknow^ledge that it would have been the grossest folly to have defeated it. The growth of the city would have made intolerable the contract w^ith the private company had it been accepted and it would have forever prevented the city from enjoying the full bene- fit which its abundance of w^ater and cheap power give it today. TTie greatest service which Reginald H. Thomson performed in relation to the v^^ater supply of the City of Seattle was his re- lentless, unceasing struggle for the maintenance of its purity. That Seattle is today the healthiest city in the world is due primarily to the excellence of her water. Long before he became city engineer Mr. Thomson realized that of equal importance to securing Cedar River and Lake as a source of supply was the acquiring of suffi- cient land in the watershed to provide for all time against any con- tamination of the water itself. At times when it was charged that his activities were the outgrow^th of an unpractical dream, he urged the purchase of lands in the watershed. In season and out of sea- son, the relentless pursuit of the idea went on and that today Se- attle owns eighty thousand acres of land, w^hich gives it control of the basin in which its water supply lies, is due solely to the fore- sight, determination and perseverance of Mr. Thomson. He has saved the city the many millions of dollars it would ultimately have had to spend, an expense all other great cities of the world have had to meet to keep their v^rater pure. As other cities have grown they have been compelled to spend immense sums to ac- quire lands tributary to the water supply, a contingent overlook- ed at the time the source of supply was obtained. When Seattle was little more than a village Thomson saw that the time would come when it would number millions and all the v^ork he did for its water supply was predicated on that belief. He built the founda- Some Early Water Systems 79 tion so well that never in the history of Seattle can its water supply give any concern. But for a surviving relic here and there, the present w^ater system of Seattle gives the new^er citizen little understanding of the primitive facilities that obtained in the early days of the city's de- velopment. Yet, in those times it w^as no question of scarcity of water. The site of the city fairly teemed with springs of pure, sparkling water. But they w^ere spread over an extended area and the question of conveying the visible supply, as the settlement grew^, created a problem the citizens with limited means and no over- land transportation facilities could with difficulty overcome. The battle for the conquest of nature's gifts, which has today reached such perfect consumation, was begun with the installation of the first water system by Henry L. Yesler. It consisted in the building of a very small tank just north of Yesler Way, betw^een Third and Fourth Avenues. TTie water was conducted to Yesler's mill at the foot of the street in an open trough, which w^as later replaced by a wooden pipe made from boring 1 2-inch logs in six-foot lengths and connecting them with w^ooden spigots to hold them to- gether. This system was also used to furnish vs^ater power for Woodin's tannery, w^hich then stood on the site of the present Pre- fontaine Building. It was with this supply that the first sluicing of earth by water was done. The water w^as obtained from a stream of some size that originated in a depression at a point near Eighth Avenue and Madison Street, extending south down Fourth Avenue and Yesler Way and thence continuing dow^n to the tide flats. Later Yesler built a small box in the creek at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Cherry Street and conveyed w^ater to two tanks, about 20 by 40 feet in size, on the south side of James Street, betw^een Fifth and Sixth Avenues. He also had another source of supply at Seventh Avenue and Columbia Street. This was called the Lowman Spring. The spring at the corner of Seventh and Cher- ry is still flowing through a three-fourths inch pipe and in emer- gencies during the past iev/ years the residents in that vicinity have secured their supply of water from it. In 1911, w^hen Cedar River supply was temporarily cut off, this water was analyzed and found pure. There is now a drinking fountain at this point. Gradually the available sources of water supply came to be utilized. James McNaught constructed a system covering the ter- ritory between Sixth and Eighth Avenues South and Lane and Dear- born Streets. This system supplied about 1 00 homes but was taken over some years later by the Spring Hill Water Co. and discon- nected from its source. W. I. Wadleigh also had a small system 80 The City That Made Itself at Fifth Avenue and Columbia Street. The water system provided for the University and the old Denny home was supplied by a spring at about Sixth Avenue and University Street. The first supply pipes used were constructed by the Rev. Daniel Bagley, who took logs and bored them with hand augers from 1 '/2 to 2 inches in diameter. In the University district about 2,000 feet of this sort of pipe was installed. The Denny-McCombs water system was built by James Mc- Combs, who drove a pipe horizontally into the hill for a distance of 1 50 feet at Ninth Avenue and Union Street and secured an ample supply of water for the people in that vicinity. Here bored wooden pipes w^ere also used at first. The Coppin system, which secured its supply from a deep well on the block just south of the present Catholic cathedral, took care of 300 houses. This system was purchased in 1 899 from Dex- ter Horton & Co. by the city for a consideration of $200. One of the largest of the old plants was that of the Union Water System, which was incorporated in February, 1882, by D. T. Denny, Edgar Bryan, Walter Graham, Samuel T. Milham, James McCombs and William T. Graham. This concern secured its sup- ply from springs near Fourth Avenue North and Ward Street, the present location of the Queen Anne pumping station. The spring supplied only 80,000 gallons per day and since this was not enough a well was sunk to a distance of 348 feet at the top of Queen Anne Hill. It supplied the territory to the south of the hill as far as Bat- tery Street. This system was purchased by the city in 1 89 1 . The Griffith system, built by L. H. Griffith in 1888, had its source on the north side of Queen Anne Hill and furnished water for the largest part of Fremont. Its right of way was condemned for the Lake Washington Canal in 1897 and city water took its place. The Kinnear system was installed in I 888 and supplied all of G. Kinnear's Supplemental Addition. It is still in operation and provides the stream for an ornamental fountain on the lawn of the Kinnear residence on Queen Anne Avenue. The water has been analyzed many times and has always shown the highest percentage of purity. Tw^o other extensive systems were the Nils B. Peterson system built in 1 890, covering the territory on the southwest slope of Queen Anne Hill known as the Crown Addition, and adjacent territory. Another Peterson system was installed on the north slope of this hill by another person of the same name. In the suburban territory of Seattle were systems which began operations subsequent to the year 1 890. All of them were either Pro^rettH Tliut Tliree Ut'ciitlfH llii\c \\ itii«*MHe(l. Spring Hill Water Company 81 purchased by the city within the past decade or were donated or abandoned. In 1907 the city acquired the Ballard system, in 1 908, the Homeseekers' system ; in 1 908, the Rainier Valley sys- tem and the Columbia system, in 1910 a part of the Georgetown system and the Fairmount system in West Seattle, as well as the Euclid Heights system in the latter district in 1912. During the years 1900 to 1913 the South Seattle, Kenyon Street, Union Trust Company, Lake Washington Mill, Nils Peterson, Northern Pacific and Great Northern, the York and Montana Additions were either acquired by the city free of charge or abandoned by the owners. Another suburban system, the last of those displaced, was that of the West Seattle Land & Improvement Co., which owned a spring in a gulch on the north end slope of the West Side peninsula. This system supplied the entire north end of that district from about 1883 until 1911. But the largest of all the early systems w^as that of the Spring Hill Water Co. This concern was incorporated on August 20, 1881, Wiih a capital of $25,000, the trustees being Louis Sohns, T. H. Cann, Amasa S. Miller, T. Hanford, Louis R. Sohns and J. R. Lewis. It secured its first supply from the west slope of First Hill, erecting various tanks tov^ard the south end of the city. These tanks were square wooden ones. A few of the smaller systems were purchased, among them the McNaught and Yesler systems. The company built the Lake Washington pumping station and the Beacon Hill reservoir in 1 886. The reservoir occupied a w^hole block between 1 3th and 1 4th Avenues South and Holgate and Plum Streets, at an elevation of 31 2 feet. Its capacity was 4,280,000 gallons. The water vs^as pumped into it from Lake Washington through a 1 2-inch kalemein force pipe. The pumping station was at the foot of Holgate Street on the lake. It was in connection with the operations of this company that the city passed its first ordinance specifying v^rater rates and defining obligations and duties of the w^ater company and granting privilege to lay w^ater mains along certain streets. This ordinance. No. 253, was signed in No- vember, 1881 bv John Collins, acting mayor. The Spring Hill system in the follow^ing year passed into the hands of John Leary and associates. The comoany, by another ordinance, w^as given the right to lay mains over all streets and alleys in the city. The same privileges were extended to the other companies. The Soring Hill Water system was purchased by the city in January, 1890 for a consideration of $352,265.67. To bind the bar- gain a cash payment of $2,265.67 was made and the balance was paid after the sale of the $845,000.00 bond issue, authorized by the electors on June 4, 1 890, had been effected. TTie vote stood 82 The City That Made Itself 705 for and 1 6 against these bonds, which, while small, indicated a practically unanimous desire for a unified and city-owned system that should afford better fire protection and a continuous supply of water. The final payment for this system was made on October 31, 1890. On August 15, 1891, the Union Water Company sys- tem was also purchased from the proceeds of these bonds. When this plant had been paid for it cost the city $28,300. The balance of the money available was used for betterments and extensions in (he pumping and distribution systems. Pumps were immediately purchased and added to the station on Lake Washington vs^hich brought the daily capacity up to 4,500,000 gallons. In a letter to the Council on August 11,1 890, Chief Engineer Benzette Williams, describing what had thus far been done, called attention to the fact that the pumping system thus contemplated would be but a makeshift, barely sufficient to supply the low^ serv- ice district for about two years. He declared there was no alterna- tive consistent with the safetv of the city but to enter at an early date uDon the building of the Cedar River w^orks as proposed, or to definitely abandon this plan and begin the construction of entirely new works, force mains and reservoirs to supply fully both the high and low service districts from Lake Washington. He made it clear that the city had to decide upon one or the other and the subsequent years have proved that the decision in favor of the gravitv system was the wise one. In the meantime, how^ever, the installation of additional pumps at the lake had in- creased the daily capacity to 10,000,000 gallons. This important development in the citv w^ater system took place durine the ad- ministration of Mavor Robert Moran. who was elected in 1 888. As a member of the Citv Council in 1887 he became thoroughly famil- iar with water supply and fire protection needs of the city and w^hen he took the mayor's chair he immediately urged public ov^^n- ership of the v^^ater supply and the construction of the gravity system from Cedar River. However, in 1892, a second bond issue v^^as authorized by a three-fifths vote to the amount of $205,000 to cover additions to the pumping system then in existence. On December 27, 1895, the Mayor signed the ordinance which authorized the condemnation of the right-of-way for the Cedar River water supply system and marked the beginning of the pres- ent system. The final plans and specifications for the construction of the Cedar River supply system were prepared and the work carried out under the supervision of City Engineer R. H. Thomson. Henry Building Cedar River System 83 W. Scott, his first assistant, had general charge of the field work, especially supervising the construction of bridges and the wooden barrel-stove pipe. E. W. Cummings was intrusted with the super- vision of the construction of the diverting weir and setting basin at Landsburg. Steel-pipe construction was handled by Col. M. W. Glenn, and the Volunteer Park and Lincoln Park reservoirs by Andrew Jackson and Geo. N. Alexander respectively. L. B. Youngs who was then Water Superintendent, and who has held that position continuously ever since in a most remark- ably efficient manner, and F. N. Little, Superintendent of Streets, were always on hand when tests were being made, to see that nothing was overlooked. The contract was let on April 19, 1899, in two parts, one for headworks, dam and pipe line, the other for Lincoln Park and Volunteer Park reservoirs, with a standpipe on Queen Anne Hill. The former work was done by the Pacific Bridge Co., the latter by Smith, Wakefield & David. The entire fund available, $1,250,000, was consumed in the contract and the purchase of lands. The pipe line was finished and went into commission on January, 1901. Soon after its completion it was apparent that it could not be suffi- cient for a very long period owing to the rapid growth of the city. In 1907, the pipe line No. 1 , as it is called, although supplying more than twenty-two million gallons per day, barely delivered enough water to meet the summer needs of the city and the popu- lation was growing in literal leaps and bounds. In March, 1908, bonds to the amount of $2,250,000 were voted for the building of pipe line No. 2. Such rapid progress was rnade after the letting of the contract for the construction of this line that on June 21,1 909, water was delivered into the Volunteer Park reservoir by the new pipe line. At the present these two pipe lines have a combined deliver- ing capacity of 66,000,000 gallons per day. Already the need is felt for a third aqueduct and expansion of the system; to keep pace with the growth of the city is one of the necessities of the near future. But there is the comfortable assurance back of it all that no matter how many millions of people ultimately come to Seattle to live there will always be more water in Cedar Lake than they can ever use. CHAPTER EIGHT. SIXTY YEARS' STRUGGLE FOR LAKE CANAL ON the Fourth of July, 1855, a goodly portion of Seattle's population tramped out to Lake Union — then without a name — and held a patriotic picnic. Oratory was inevitable and among those who indulged in it was Thomas Mercer. In the course of his speech he suggested that the little lake, lying as it did between the salt water on the west and the fresh water of the greater lake on the east, should be called Lake Union; and what, he asked, could be a more fitting name for the larger lake than that of the father of the country, the man whose name w^ould go thundering dow^n the ages as one of the greatest patriots of all time — Washington? With thunderous applause both names were approved. But Mercer vs^as not yet through. He painted a picture of a great city that would rise on the site of the then small village; he predicted a canal that w^ould enable the fleets of the w^orld to ride at anchor in Lake Washington. That dream is coming true. In July, 1 9 1 5 — sixty years per- haps to a day after Mercer made his prediction — the canal will be opened to traffic. It will work the final accomplishment of v^rhat Seattle has always fought for, for not for one instant since Mercer made his speech has Seattle relinquished the idea that the canal must come. It, too, will be the concluding chapter of Seattle's early fight- ing history, for it will be the last of the great things for which she has fought for the decades that to her are as the centuries in the lives of old-world cities. Seattle has not only always wanted the canal, but several times she commenced to build it herself. In 1 860 Harvey Pike (after w^hom Pike Street vs^as named) w^ent at it personally with a pick and shovel but did not get very far as he found it rather a large job to tackle alone. In 1871 the Lake Washington Canal Associa- tion was organized but it made no progress in a physical way. In 1 880 the Lake Washington Improvement Company did the first ac- tual work of any magnitude. David T. Denny, George Kinnear, Dr. H. B. Bagley, TTiomas Burke and E. M. Smithers were leaders in this movement. They raised money among themselves and started to open a channel from Lake Union to Salmon Bay. They removed many yards of earth and opened quite a ditch, raising high Seattle's hopes of the speedy completion of the vv^ork. It was not 84 Several Routes Suggested 85 until 1 885 that a beginning was made on the canal between Lake Union and Lake Washington. At that time Frank H. Osgood join- ed the board of directors and took a contract to establish a navig- able channel. The purpose of the company at this time was to bring the produce of the farms on the east side of Lake Washington to the center of the city by connecting with the street cars which then ran to the foot of Lake Union. Mr. Osgood had practically completed the contract when work was begun on the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad which would serve the same territory, so v/ork on the canal ceased. The organization of the company re- mained intact until the county, in order to satisfy the demands of the Federal Government, set about acquiring the right of way for the canal. All the stock in the company w^as made over to the county, thus assisting in clearing up the title to the right of way. Although all the early surveys by United States Army and other engineers declared the route that is now being followed by the canal the most feasible and the natural one there were many cham- pions of other routes. One proposal was to dig the canal through from the foot of Pike Street to Lake Union; another to run it through from about the foot of Battery Street to Lake Union and a third, to connect the waters of Smith's Cove with those of Salmon Bay by following the low land lying between these points. The proposal that made the greatest headway was that to construct the canal straight through Beacon Hill from the tide flats, using the earth to fill in the great stretch in the south end of the city that was then under water when the tide was full. Their proposal stirred up a controversy that was waged for some years with great vigor. Even as far back as 1853 the feasibility of a canal from salt water to Lake Washington was discussed. General George B. Mc- Clellan, U. S. A., having examined into and endorsed the project. Mercer infused some life into it but it was not until 1867 that any official attention was again paid to it, Major George H. Elliot and Capt. C. W. Raymond going on record as favoring it in that year. In 1884, Capt. Chas. F. Powell, U. S. Engineers; in 1895, General Nelson A. Miles and General John Pope, and in 1892, General John Gibbons all reported that they thought the Government would be justified in undertaking the vs^ork. In 1891 the Government again investigated the project. Colonel G. H. Mendell, Major Thomas H. Handbury and Capt. Thos. W. Symons being appointed by the President to go thoroughly into the matter. They suggested a feasible route via Shilshole Bay at an estimated cost of $2,900,000 or via Smith's Cove at an estimated cost of $3,500,000. They apparently made no investigation of 86 The City That Made Itself any southern route for it was not mentioned in their report of the work. The Ballard, or Shilshole route was recommended. The report cheered Seattle. Every pressure w^as brought to bear on Congress to appropriate sufficient money to commence the w^ork. The proposition became a political issue and John H. Mc- Graw w^as elected Governor in 1892 on the "Build the Canal" plat- form. So intense w^as the feeling at that time that it led to an out- burst at a banquet so startling in its unexpectedness and volume as to astonish the Vice-President of the United States and provide him with a good story to relate for the rest of his days. Adali Stevenson, then vice-president, came with a party to Seattle shortly after the McGraw election and when the canal project was still the main topic of conversation. The usual ban- quet was tendered to the distinguished guests, one of whom, Judge S. P. Shope, of the Illinois Supreme Court, spent the afternoon preceding it at Lake Washington. In the course of his speech at the banquet the Judge turned to the Vice-President and said: "Had you come w^ith me today you would have been enchanted with a wonderful lake with crystal waters as pure as they flowed from the hand of God; you would have seen a great, deep, inland sea, vast enough to float a fleet of ships, and when this lake shall be united with the ocean — " That was as far as the orator got. Up to that time the ban- quet had been of the usual quiet, dignified kind that befitted the prominence of the guests, and the applause had been confined to discrete handclapping. The mention of the union of Lake Wash- ington and the ocean, however, was as a match touched to a maga- zine ; the banquet fairly exploded. With a suddenness that quite terrified the orator every man jumped to his feet and commenced to cheer wildly. Judge Shope had no idea what he had said to cause such an uproar and looked appealingly at Mr. Stevenson, but the guest of honor was equally bew^ildered, and it was not until quiet had been restored that the truth was discovered. The other speak- ers carefuly avoided reference to the canal for the rest of the even- ing. But the enthusiasm did not reach the national capital with suf- ficient force to move it to undertake construction. As an alterna- tive proposition the plan of running the canal straight through the hills in the southern part of the city was suggested. To follow this movement we have to go back to 1 867 when Cornelius H. Han- ford w^as a youth "riding the mail" from Seattle to Puyallup. On every trip young Hanford skirted the shores of Elliott Bay; on one side was Beacon Hill, on the other the extensive tide- Eugene Semple Comes to Seattle 87 flats. Into the young man's head came the idea that it would be a good thing to sluice the earth from the hill into the bay to build up a great basin of level land that could be the future home of fac- tories. Why not push the sluicing right through to Lake Wash- ington, get enough earth to redeem thousands of acres of sub- merged land and open to commerce the great timber resources of the lake? was the next stage of the youth's dream. The idea took possession of him and he urged it upon everyone who would give him a hearing. In 1 868 Hanford lost his mail contract and the next step in his efforts to support himself, took him to Portland, where he went to sell Seattle town lots. In order to induce purchasers to invest with him it was necessary to impress them with the coming great- ness of Seattle and as part of the picture he painted was the filled- in tide lands and the canal through Beacon Hill. One of those to whom he talked was Eugene Semple, who was at that time running a paper in Portland. Hanford's eloquence was persuasive and Semple was interested. Eugene Semple moved to Vancouver, Washington, early in the eighties and w^as engaged in the lumbering business there in 1 886 w^hen President Grover Cleveland appointed him Governor of the Territory of Washington, and his administration of two years' duration w^as marked w^ith great success. In the first election for governor of the state Semple was the Democratic candidate against Elisha P. Ferry, Republican, who had previously served two terms as Territorial Governor and shown himself to be an executive of integrity and of unusual ability. At that time the state w^as strong- ly Republican and Ferry was elected. In 1 890 Governor Semple came to Seattle and entered the real estate business. In 1891 he was appointed by Governor Ferry as a member of the Harbor Line Commission. The other members of the Commission were W. F. Prosser, then of North Yakima, but later a prominent Seattle citi- zen; H. G. Garrettson, Tacoma; G. C. Guernsey, Dayton, and Frank H. Richards, Seattle. The work of this body was prescribed in a law approved March 28, 1890; it was to determine the meander line and harbor line in the navigable waters of the state that lay before incorporated cities or within one mile of them. Every har- bor in the state w^as surveyed and the inner and outer harbor lines determined. The board, in making its report, held that all the land that was uncovered when the tide went out belonged to the state, a contention that was strongly combated by private inter- ests which already occupied some of the land affected. The supreme court decided all such litigation in favor of the state. 88 The City That Made Itself It was while engaged in this work that Semple became per- suaded that Seattle's future lay in her tideflats; he saw some fifteen hundred acres of what could not be termed either land or water — which was covered when the tide was in and was a stretch of mud when the tide was out. If that space could be filled so as to provide level land, he thought, Seattle would have a matchless location for industries and wholesale houses. At that time the tide came to what would be "uptown" today. Whenever he looked at the tide lands he saw^ Beacon Hill stretching upward from their eastern shore. The conversation with Hanford years before in Portland occurred to him. Why not the cherished canal and filled-in lands at one and the same operation? Governor Semple went to work. Legislation was necessary, and in 1 893 the Legislature passed an act which was especially de- signed to meet the case of Seattle, although it was general in its provisions. This \avf authorized any person or company to exca- vate waterv^ays through the tide and shore lands belonging to the state, and with the material to fill in above high tide any tide and shore lines in front of incorporated cities, or within one mile of them. To reimburse the person or company performing the vy^ork a first lien upon all such lands as they filled in for the cost of the work and fifteen per cent additional, was provided for. All water- ways so excavated w^ere to be free except w^here locks or tide gates were necessary, v^^hen a reasonable toll might be charged. This bill was not hastily considered or passed. It was in 1 890 that Governor Semple first formulated his plans. They were sub- mitted to prominent engineers for opinions regarding their phys- ical features and to prominent business firms and individuals for review as to their financial practicability, and ever5rwhere received the vs^armest endorsement. At the time the law was passed John H. McGraw was governor. He realized the importance of the act and went to extraordinary care in instituting an investigation inde- pendent of that made by Semple, but was satisfied upon all points and signed the act. Under the lav^ Eugene Semple applied for a contract to fill the Seattle lands. Again were his plans submitted to the most careful scrutiny. For just one year Governor McGraw continued his ex- haustive inquiries and on October 27, 1894, approved the contract. Earlier in the same year Andrew Hemrich, W. J. Grambs, E. F. Sweeney, F. Kirschner, George F. Gund, R. R. Spencer and D. N. Baxter had addressed a letter to the Chamber of Commerce, stating that in their opinion there was no immediate prospect of the Gov- ernment building the canal and suggesting the organization of a Waterways Company Organized 89 local company to do the work. TTiey suggested that such a work would tend to relieve the industrial depression existing at the time. As soon as Semple read the letter in the papers he went to Andrew Hemrich and laid his plans before him, agreeing to turn over the contract, when he secured it, to a company if one were organized. As a result of this conference the Seattle & Lake Washington Waterway Company was organized on June 22, 1 894, with the fol- lowing directors: Elisha P. Ferry, Eugene Semple, David E. Durie, Andrew Hemrich, Julius F. Hale, Edward F. Sweeney, Albro Gardner, James B. Metcalfe, George Fowler, John G. Scurry, Albert D. Eshelman, George W. Young, Griffith Davies, D. A. McKenzie, Edward F. Wittier, Charles Armstrong, Myer Gottstein, U. R. Niesz, Charles H. Frye and Thomas E. Jones. Mr. Ferry was elected president and Mr. Semple vice-president. Even with this strong company back of Governor Semple's plans Governor McGraw was not satisfied until he was assured that it could finance the undertaking. This was done and the contract was signed. The next step vs^as the sending of a committee com- posed of Messrs. Semple, Durie and Hale to St. Louis to interview the capitalists whom Semple had previously interested in the pro- ject. Edgar Ames, Henry Semple Ames, nephews of Eugene Semple, and George M. Paschall assisted this committee in making a contract with the Mississippi Valley Trust Company, a strong St. Louis corporation, to become trustee of a mortgage to secure the issue of bonds provided a committee from the trust company ap- proved the plans after going into them on the ground. On February 14, 1895, this committee, composed, among others, of Julius S. Walsh, president of the trust company; Judge Boyle, its attorney; Colonel Henry Flad, one of the foremost engi- neers in America, and Edgar Ames, arrived in Seattle. They were not here long before they were impressed with the enthusiasm of the local people. The city w^as decorated in their honor and w^hen- ever one of them appeared on the street he was foUow^ed by a crowd of people who wanted to know if the money would be forthcoming. A thorough investigation was made and after the return of its rep- resentatives to St. Louis the company announced that it was ready to back the project if Seattle would raise a subsidy of $500,000, to be paid when the canal was opened to traffic. In a wonderfully enthusiastic manner Seattle took hold of the subsidy matter. Four thousand people attended a meeting in the Armory, which was addressed by E. O. Graves, president of the Chamber of Commerce; E. C. Hughes, Judge C. H. Hanford, Judge 90 The City That Made Itself Wm. H. White, Judge Orange Jacobs, Mayor Byron Phelps and others. A committee, composed of Jacob Furth, E. O. Graves, W. D. Wood, I. A. Nadeau, C. J. Smith, F. D. Black and S. L. Craw- ford was appointed to raise the money, and $100,000 was sub- scribed forthwith. Extraordinary enthusiasm was displayed throughout the city, the papers were full of it, and in less than a week 2,488 people had pledged themselves to pay $549,923. A committee appraised the list and later reported $511,542.50 as safely collectable. It is interesting to glance over the list of subscribers, contributing $1,000 or more were the following: R. Abrams $2,000 A. C. Anderson 1.000 J. A. Baillargeon & Co 1 .000 Frank D. Black 2,000 F. T. Blunck 1.000 H. G. Bond 1.000 W. P. Boyd & Co 1.000 Henry Boyle 1.000 D. C. Brawley 5.000 A. M. Brookes 1.000 Amos Brown 3.000 John Burns 1,000 John Campbell 1.000 William Campbell.. 1.000 John C and Mary S. Card 1.000 M. L. Cavanaugh 1,000 Herman Chapin 1,000 Clinto Stone & Coal Co., Ltd 1 .000 John Collins 5.000 Geo. F. and Cora R. CotterilL... 1,000 Crawford & Conover 1 ,000 B. F. Day 2.000 Dexter Horton & Co 2.500 Dexter Horton & Co.. Trustee... 20,000 Geo. A. and F. T. Ducharne... 2.000 David E. Durie 2.500 W. F. Epler 1,000 Elisha P. Ferry 1.000 First National Bank 2.500 Fischer Bros 1.000 Frauenthal Bros 1.000 J. M. Frink 1,000 Frye-Bruhn Co 1,650 Henry Furhman 2,500 Jacob Furth 2,200 Gatzert-Schwabacher Land Co.... 1,500 Guarantee Loan & Trust Co 1,500 Mary V. Hall 1,000 Hall & Paulson Furniture Co 1 ,000 Estate of G. Morris Haller Granville O. Haller H. H. Hamlin C. H. Hanford Frank Hanford John W. Hanna Albert Hansen Andrew Hemrich John Hemrich. Jr John Hemrich. Sr H. C. Henry Alice S. Hill Julius and Annie E. Horton D. K. Howard D. B. Jackson David and Anna L. Kellogg Jessie Kenney George and Angie C. Kinnear.... J. R. and Rebecca Kinnear Kirkland Land & Improvement Co F. Kirschner John Leary Lewis Bros Howard H. Lewis Louch Augustine & Co Lowman & Hanford Stationery & Printing Company J. D. Lowman Macdougall & Southwick Co M. R. Maddocks D. A. McKenzie McNaught Land & Inv. Co J. F. McNaught Merchants' National Bank National Bank of Commerce Newell Milling & Mfg. Co Pacific Meat Co Isaac Parker People's Savings Bank Those $2,000 1,000 3.000 1 000 1.000 1,000 1.000 5,000 2.000 2,000 1.250 1,000 1,000 1.000 1.000 2,000 1,250 6,300 1,500 6.400 2.000 5.000 1.000 1,000 1.000 1.000 2,200 1,000 1,000 1.000 2,500 2.500 2,500 2.500 1,000 1,000 2.000 1,500 McGilvra and Burke Aloof gi Nellie Phinney $2,500 S. G. Simpson $1,000 Police Relief Association 1,000 Samuel Sloan l!250 Margaret J. Pontius 1,250 South Park Land & Imp. Co...!.. 1,000 Portland Cracker Co 1,000 South Seattle Land Co LOGO Puget Sound National Bank 3,000 Watson C. Squire ' 2^000 Reliance Loan & Trust Co 1,800 Stetson & Post Mill Co LOOO William B. Robertson 1,000 Stewart & Holmes Drug Co 1,000 Sackman-Phillips Investment Co.. 5,000 John Sullivan LOOO Fred E. Sander 5,000 E. F. Sweeney 1000 R- Sartori 1,000 J. L. Taylor 1 [oOO Scandmavian American Bank 1 .000 Charles T. Terry LOOO Schwabacher Bros. & Co.. Inc... 1,000 Ed. L. Terry .'I"'~. 1,000 John G. Scurry 1.000 Union Electric Co 2 000 Seattle Brick & Tile Co 1,000 J. W. Van Brocklin '" I'oOO Seattle Gas & Electric Light Co.. 1 ,000 A. T. Van de Vanter I 000 Seattle Brewing & Malting Co.... 10,000 Wa Chong Co ""' L200 Seattle Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Cyrus Walker 1 ioOO Company 3,000 M. E. Webster 1*500 Seattle Hardware Co 3,500 Charles A. White r200 Seattle National Bank 1,650 E. F. Wittier I'oOO Eugene Semple 5.000 Wm. D.Wood '' L500 Sidney Sewer Pipe & Terra J. H. Woollery 1 000 Cotta Works 2,500 George W. Young "'" LOOO In view of what happened later it is interesting to note that the name of neither Judge John J. McGilvra nor Judge Thomas Burke appears among the list of subscribers, and there were no more public- spirited citizens in Seattle at the time than they. McGilvra had been invited to subscribe and, in declining, wrote the committee a letter that left no question regarding his views. In course of the letter he said : "But the worst and most damaging feature of the South Seattle tideflats and canal scheme is its purpose to defeat the construction of the Government canal. "It is now within our easy reach to secure the construction of the Government canal, and in my opinion it is an act of insane folly to abandon that certainty for the elusive phantom which your South Seattle scheme presents. "I may add that the form and substance of your subscription pledges and the characters of most of the subscriptions thus far ob- tained clearly indicate an effort to identify the people of this vicinity v^ith the scheme, rather than to raise a bona-fide and valuable sub- sidy." In July, 1895, work was begun by the company, the occasion being made notable by an impressive ceremony in which thousands of citizens joined. It was a great day for the city, for it felt that at last it was to have its canal. The Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging 92 The City That Made Itself Company was given the contract for digging the waterways and fill- ing in the adjacent land in accordance w^ith the agreement with the state. Had the canal finally been cut through it would have been necessary to move 35,000,000 cubic yards of earth, but the officers of the w^aterway company w^ere satisfied that there was room for all of it on the tideflats and that the improvement of these flats would war- rant the great expense of building the canal. By the end of I 896 the company had excavated the east w^aterway for a distance of 2,000 feet from deep water in Elliott Bay, had built several thousand feet of bulkheads and restraining work, and, w^ith the material excavated, filled in about fifty acres of land adjoining the city, lying between Railroad Avenue and Third Avenue South. Over $200,000 in certifi- cates of liens had been paid by the state. McGilvra and Burke had never relinquished the idea of the north canal, but when the south project was launched there vs^as nothing for them to do but to continue to bring what pressure they could on Washington and v\rait for the local enthusiasm to cool somewhat. The fact that the w^aterways company was to construct a canal free of all cost to the government was a serious handicap for the cham- pions of the north project and they realized that to have the Govern- ment do the work it v^^ould be necessary to prevent the construction in the other end of the city. Perhaps of all the fights w^aged in Seattle this was the most carefully planned and executed. First, the Cham- ber of Commerce was won aw^ay from the south project, and soon all the papers in the city joined forces against it. Meanw^hile some prog- ress was being made at Washington. Congress, in 1894, had appropriated $25,000 for dredging in Salmon Bay and improving the waterway "Connecting the waters of Puget Sound, at Salmon Bay, w^ith Lakes Union and Washington by enlarging the said waterway into a ship canal, with the necessary locks and appliances in connection therewith, $25,000: Provided, That no part of said amount shall be expended on the improvement of the waterway connecting the waters of Puget Sound and Lakes Union and Washington until the entire right-of-w^ay and a release from all liability to adjacent property ow^ners have been secured to the United States free of cost and to the satisfaction of the Secretary of War." King County spent in all nearly $250,000 in fulfilling the Gov- ernment's requirement in regard to the right-of-way, and the proceed- ings were completed and the deeds filed for record June 22, 1900, being approved by the Secretary of War July I 7, of the same year. Meantime, in 1895, Congress had ordered another survey, and in 1 896 authorized the selection of either the Smith's Cove or Shil- Fight Opens in Earnest 93 shole Bay route. It looked as if the Government meant business, but by an act of June 13, 1902, the project was given a distinct setback. The act provided for the expenditure of $160,000 for dredging from Shilshole Bay to the wharves at Ballard, but provided that this work should not be construed as the adoption of any project for the con- struction of the canal. It further provided for another of those inves- tigations of which Seattle was growing tired, but when a board of engineers, consisting of Lieut. -Col. William H. Hewer, Capt. William C. Langfitt and First Lieut. Robert P. Johnston, assembled at Seattle in August, 1 902, to go thoroughly into the matter, Seattle was ready for it. It is necessary here to go back and bring up the history of the waterways company to the time of this investigation. By 1897 the company had spent all the money raised in St. Louis to start the work and now wished fresh capital. Operations thus far had been confined to the waterways, and no start had yet been made to tear down Beacon Hill, or, in other words, to push through the 10,500 feet of canal that would unite the waters of Elliott Bay with those of Lake Washington. New capital would be necessary to permit the work on the canal to be commenced. TTie fight on the waterways company had been confined to desul- tory skirmishes up to the time of cessation of work in 1 897 for lack of funds. When it was known that Edgar Ames, who had come to Seattle from St. Louis in 1895 and was manager for the company, was going East to raise more money, the batteries of the enemy opened fire all along the line. The company was attacked from every angle, the papers pouring in broadsides every day, with "robbers," "thieves," "idiots" and similar epithets as bullets; the city threatened to enjoin the company if it tried to cut through the streets, private owners refused to pay for work already done, and the great railroad corporations fought bitterly against the project. When Mr. Ames reached the East he found that the noise of battle had preceded him, and it was impossible for him to raise any money. Returning to Seattle, he and Mr. Semple, who had succeeded Governor Ferry as president, decided to fight back, and the war opened in earnest. Cut off from the columns of newspapers, they were forced to resort to pamphlets and letters. Into the courts they took those who refused to pay for the work done on their lands, and out of the legal affrays the company emerged the victor. The legality of the law under which the company operated was attacked, but again the company won in the Supreme Court. Against the great odds lined up by the advocates of the north canal Semple and Ames fought as well as they could, but the progress was slow. 94 The City That Made Itself In one instance they were assisted in a practical way by two of Mr. Semple's daughters, Mrs. F. E. Swanstrom and Miss Semple. The young women called on E. H. Wells, editor of the Star, which was bitter in its denunciation of the waterways company, and persuaded him to accompany them on a tour of the tidelands, in order that he could see just what the company was doing. Mr. Wells made a thor- ough inspection, his fair guides showing him everything that had been done, and thereafter the Star had no unfavorable comments on that portion of the company's work that had to do vs^ith filling in the tidelands. Will H. Parry, then manager of Moran Bros.' extensive plant, began to study the south canal project when he was assured by the Supreme Court decisions that its legal status w^as invulnerable. In 1 900 he left Morans and joined Governor Semple, and it w^as only a short time until he built around the company's hopes a fortress of gold against vs^hich the shots of the enemy were ineffective. By his standing in the community, by his resourcefulness, energy, and an appetite for fighting that has always been keen, he carried the com- pany through all the remaining skirmishes until it had arranged for a fund of $4,000,000 with which to prosecute the work. Three mil- lions of this amount was to be raised by Morris & Whitehead, fiscal agents of the company for the sale of its bonds, and the Great North- ern and Northern Pacific both ordered fills on their tideland holdings that wrould cost in the aggregate approximately one million dollars. The raiWay companies had been engaged in litigation with the waterways company, but the litigation was compromised and all ob- jection to the vs^ork on the part of the railroads was withdrav^m. Mr. Parry brought about this change in the warfare in a very expeditious manner and the promoters of the north canal project were not long in discovering that there was another Richmond in the field. The work w^as soon under way again with much vigor, and Beacon Hill was tackled, water supplied by the pumping station on Lake Wash- ington being sluiced onto the tidelands. Even with the actual work on the south canal under way the Chamber of Commerce did not relinquish its fight, and one result of its activity was the assembling of the Government board in Seattle in August, 1 902, as already stated. Public sessions were held and citi- zens generally were invited to appear and state their views. The Chamber of Commerce presented its case in favor of a Government canal, and Governor Semple had his day in court. Several private citizens gave their view^s. Perhaps the feeling that was stirred up over the controversy cannot be indicated in any better way than by quoting two paragraphs from the statement submitted to the board by Mr. McGilvra. In referring to the waterw^ays company he said : Factions Brought Together 95 "It seems to be a sort of Credit Mobilier proposition. It is the old, old game that was practiced nineteen hundred years ago, when the prince of darkness took the Saviour up into a mountain and offered him the whole earth on certain conditions, when the poor devil did not even own an acre outside of the infernal regions. "This Seattle & Lake Washington Waterway Company has been a vicious dog in the manger from the beginning, and there is not even one redeeming feature connected with it. It has prevented others from filling in the tide flats through its contract with the state, and by all and every means in its power retarded the construction of the Government canal. "The canal project by the Government and for the Government may be retarded, but defeated — never!" The board submitted its report to the Secretary of War on Jan- uary 27, 1903, in which it favored the adoption of the Shilshole Bay route, declared the cost of the south project to be prohibitive — but stated that there was no immediate necessity for a canal at all! When this report was filed the waterways company had again ceased w^ork, the attacks on it having been continued with such severity that it once more found it hard to finance. The report of the Government board having damned both projects, the leaders of the fight on both sides began to consider that if there were to be a canal at all they had better discontinue wasting ammunition on one another and center all the fire in one direction. Mr. Parry set about bringing the two factions together and finally, in 1905, peace was declared. By its terms the Chamber of Commerce agreed to drop its fight on the w^aterw^ays company's v/ork of filling in the tidelands and the waterways company agreed to abandon its project of building the canal. As a feature of the end of hostilties the w^aterways com- pany was reorganized, with the following directors: Will H. Parry, president: John H. McGraw and E. W. Andrews, vice-presidents; George M. Paschall, secretary; Eugene Semple, consulting engineer; Robert Moran, Jacob Furth and Andrevs^ Hemrich. Edgar Ames dropped from the board and became president of the Seattle General Contract Companv, vv^hich is still doing the actual work of filling in the tidelands. J. D. Blackw^ell became chief engineer for the water- ways company. While Eugene Semple failed in his project to give Seattle its long-cherished canal, he did a great work for the city in filling in the tidelands. He created out of a valueless w^aste of vs^ater and mud property worth today at least one hundred million dollars, and did it without placing a tax of a single dollar on any existing property. He came to Seattle at a time w^hen it needed the tideflats for sites for ££ The City That Made Itself industries, and not only pointed the way, but undertook himself to do the work. The united Seattle continued the fight for recognition from Washington, but it was discouraging work, so the city turned rather eagerly to James A. Moore, when, in 1906, he offered to build the north canal. TTiis sporadic action had little more permanent result than to further complicate the situation, but Mr. Moore's intentions were honest and he received the enthusiastic support of the city and county. At that time Mr. Moore was one of the biggest figures in Seattle and was doing a great deal of work for its permanent ben- efit. He had purchased the Denny Hotel, which had stood for years untenanted on the top of Denny Hill, opened it as the Washington and provided Seattle with what it badly needed at the time, another large and first-class hotel; he gave his support to the Denny Hill re- grade and was erecting new buildings on the new level before those on the old had been razed. Seattle had good reason for believing he could do anything, so looked to him confidently for its long-cherished canal. Mr. Moore's purpose was two-fold. He desired to assist Seattle to procure the canal, but he also desired deep water connection with the townsite of Kirkland, on Lake Washington, where he contem- plated establishing a great steel plant. Mr. Moore offered to build a canal 60 feet wide at the bottom and 25 feet deep, with a single tim- ber lock 600 feet long and 72 feet wide, if King County would sub- scribe $500,000 toward the undertaking. On September 12, 1906, King County's voters gave their almost unanimous approval to the bonus. After all this was carried through on the crest of the wave of enthusiasm, Seattle commenced to think, and decided that it wanted a permanent masonry lock instead of a wooden one. This led up to the organization of a number of leading citizens who decided that the time had come to take the canal out of politics and make it a busines proposition. It vs^as necessary also to provide some method of raising the money necessary to do the excavating between the locks and Lake Washington, as demanded by the Gov- ernment. The Lake Washington Canal Association v\ras incorporated on March 27, 1907, with the following trustees: J. S. Brace, Frank T. Hunter, John H. McGraw, J. W. Clise, Geo. J. Danz, O. C. McGilvra, C. E. Remsberg, TTiomas Sanders, Fred Smithers, R. H. Collins, O. D. Colvin, H. W. Treat, S. L. Crawford, W. J. Shinn, John P. Hartman, James A. Moore, Capt. O. A. Powell, Watson Allen and S. L. Cradens. The trustees elected the following officers: President, J. S. Brace, who had called the first meeting which resulted in the organization; vice-president, S. L. Crawford; treasurer, C. E. The Hotel Washin^on on Denny Hill Before the Regrade Was ConinieDced. The Buildings Thai Arose in the Siinie VIrinlty After Denny Hill Wiis Washed Away. Issue of Bonds Authorized 97 Remsberg; secretary, Capt. O. A. Powell. Capt. Powell was also ap- pointed engineer. These officers served throughout the life of the association. On June 10, 1907, Mr. Moore assigned to the associa- tion his agreement with the government. It was first proposed to raise $1,000,000 by the creation of an assessment district, and the association worked hard for a long time along this line. On the ground that the government had not shown any disposition to really construct the canal the assessment district plan was declared illegal by the State Supreme Court. By this time there v^^as a movement on foot to improve the Duwamish waterway, in the southern part of the city, and affairs were so involved generally that a spirit of antagonism was created between the two projects. Final- ly all parties were drawn together by the association and a general bond election was held on October 10, 1910, the voters of the county ap- proving the issue of $750,000 in bonds for the canal, and $600,000 for the Duwamish Waterway. Robert Bridges, Miller Freeman, Detrich Hamm and Frank Paul, of the Duwamish Waterway advo- cates, joined with the officers of the association in conducting the campaign which terminated so favorably to their plans. When the state was asked to contribute funds towards the expo- sition held in Seattle in I 909 a plan was evolved by which the shore lands of Lakes Washington and Union should be platted and sold, the money thus derived to be spent on permanent improvements of the University Campus, upon which the exposition was held, the im- provements to be first used as a part of the exposition equipment. When the money was raised it was found that there was $250,000 more on hand than the exposition required, so this amount was trans- ferred to the canal fund, making it necessary for the county to vote only $750,000 to complete the $1,000,000 required for the excava- tion. The energetic and systematic work of the canal association bore fruit. Washington seemed to have grasped the idea at last that this end of the canal agitation v^^as earnestly organized, and, largely owing to the splendid work done at the national capital by John H. McGraw and John L. Wilson, one more survey was authorized, in the follow- ing terms : "And the Secretary of War make a survey and estimate of cost of said waterway or canal with one lock, with a view to the construc- tion of the same, in conjunction with the county authorities of King County, or other agency, of sufficient size to accommodate the largest commercial or naval vessel afloat ; or, if deemed more advisable, with a view to the construction of a canal of less dimensions, and to submit 98 The City That Made Itself dimensions and estimates of cost of same, together with a report upon what portion of said work will be done or contribution to be made by said county or other agency." Previous to this survey two locks had been specified in all the plans, one near the entrance to Salmon Bay and one between Lakes Union and Washington. The one-lock canal was advocated in this survey, which w^as made under the direction of General H. M. Chit- tenden, who had taken charge of the Seattle office of the United States engineers and whose investigations led him to become a staunch champion of the immediate construction of the canal. Largely owing to his w^ork the Rivers and Harbors Act of June 25, 1910, made provision for the construction of the canal, provided — "That before beginning said v^^ork or making such contract or contracts the Secretary of War shall be satisfied that King County or some local agency will do the excavation in the waterw^ay above the lock to the dimensions recommended in said project and will also secure the United States from liability for any claims or damages on account of the grant made to James A. Moore or his assigns by the Act of Congress approved June eleventh, nineteen hundred and six, or on account of the lowering of the level of Lake Washington, rais- ing the level of Salmon Bay, or any other alteration of the level of any part of said w^aterway." All the conditions of the government were complied with, and on June 30, 1911, Seattle was delighted to hear that the Secretary of War expressed himself satisfied and ordered the work to proceed. In September of that year actual construction commenced, bringing to an end Seattle's sixty-year struggle to unite the waters of Lake Wash- ington w^ith those of Puget Sound. Towards its cost the United States has appropriated $2,275,000, but the cost to Seattle and King County will be twice that amount v^^hen the expenses of procuring the right-of-vs^ay, direct canal taxation and the bridges over the canal and the water and sew^er conduits belov^^ it are considered. To dredge the channel between the locks and Lake Washington, King County is spending $750,000 and the State of Washington $200,000. When the canal opens in the Summer of 1915 Lakes Union and Washington will have a common level, the larger lake being lowered six feet to make this possible, and Seattle w^ill have a fresh water harbor of about 24,000 acres, w^ith a shore line of approximately one hundred miles. There w^ill be two locks, lying side by side, one to accommodate large vessels and the other the smaller craft. The large lock is 80 feet v^ide, 825 feet long between upper and lower gates, and has an intermediate gate dividing it into two cham- bers, 450 feet and 375 feet long respectively. The depth of water on Dimensions of Canal Locks 99 the upper miter sill is 36 feet at low water, and on the intermediate and lower miter sills 25 feet at extreme low tide in Puget Sound, which will afford 36 feet or more at mid-tide stages and above. The small lock, w^hich lies south and alongside of the large lock, is 30 feet wide and 1 50 feet betw^een gates. The depth of water on the upper sill is 1 6 feet at low^ water and on the lower miter sill 1 2 feet at extreme low w^ater, which gives 1 6 feet or more at all stages of tide above mean low w^ater. The large and small locks combined, therefore, will form vir- tually four locks, 150, 375, 450 and 800 feet long respectively. CHAPTER NINE FROM HORSE CARS TO THE ELECTRIC SYSTEM HAD two horses been able to live on the supply of oats that was purchased for one, Seattle's first venture w^ith a street car sys- tem would not have been attended v^ith such financial misgiv- ings. When the ways and means were summed up prior to construc- tion, provision was made for one horse to a car; when the line was opened it was found that one horse could not pull a load up the grades. It was necessary to double the supply of horses, w^hich, in turn, necessitated a double supply of oats — and that played such havoc with the receipts that the directors of the company decided that they had better investigate the question of electricity as a motive power. They did not know much about electricity. About the only thing in regard to the new and mysterious power of which they were sure was that it did not eat oats, and that was almost all they needed to know^ about it at the time. The directors of the company, Frank H. Osgood, Judge Thomas Burke and David T. Denny, realized that they must electrify the road — but I am a few^ years ahead of my story. In 1 883 Frank H. Osgood came to Seattle from Boston. He was ambitious to grow up with the West, but had no very clear idea of the line along which he w^ould direct his energies. He brought a letter of introduction to Thomas Burke. "Why not build a street car system?" suggested Burke. "George Kinnear and Dave Denny have a franchise for a road along Front Street and I think they would be glad to hand it over to someone who would put in the line." Young Osgood looked into the matter, took over the franchise, organized the Seattle Street Railway Company, with Burke and Denny as fellow directors, induced some of his Boston friends to invest money in the line, ordered the equipment and waited for it to arrive. Kinnear and Denny were glad enough to surrender the fran- chise as the only purpose they wrished to serve by the construction of a line was the opening of some large tracts of land vs^hich they owned in the north end of the city. Mr. Osgood was interested only in profits that might accrue from the operation of a street railway sys- tem and was one of the few among the many who subsequently put money into such enterprises who did not have the development of real estate as the motive for their investment. The first change that Osgood had to make was altering the route of his road from First 100 / Seattle's First Stre«*t <';ir TurninK from Occidental Avenue to Vesler Way. The Orti<'ial Opening Parly. Standing; behind the horses, Frank H. Osgood, who installed the syBlem; on the rear platform. E. B. Downing and VV. T. Shnrpe; inside the car were, among othent, Mrs. H. G. SIruve, Mrs. W. H. Harrington, Mrs. Osgood, Mrs. .1. C. Haines. C. II. Kittlnger and Josiah Collins. The driver was George W. Williams, a large colored man. who achieved great popularity. A Modem Photograph, Taken fntm the Same Spot of the IMiget Sound Traction, iH the I'pper One. Showing an IJght & Power Company. Intenirlian Tmiu Value of the Horse Cars 101 Avenue to Second Avenue, as the merchants on First Avenue (then Front Street) did not desire to have traffic seriously impeded by the rails. Osgood was satisfied, for even at that early date he was con- vinced that Second Avenue would grow to be the more important avenue. His franchise gave him the right to build on Second Avenue from Occidental to Pike, from which point tw^o branches would be run, one to First Avenue and along it to Belltown, which was the name for the district tributary to the corner of Battery Street and First Avenue; and another branch from Pike, and by various streets to Lake Union. When the rails arrived they were unloaded on a wharf at the foot of Main Street and the difficulty of transporting them was over- come by making the wharf one of the termini of the system. The work of laying the rails began on the wharf and as it proceeded up to Occidental and thence up Second the unlaid rails were taken to their destination over that part of the line already constructed. When the line was built as far as Pike Street its operation began. This was in the Fall of 1 884. It was a great day for Seattle and Mr. Osgood was looked upon as a public benefactor. It was the first street car system in Washington Territory and was given to Seattle at a time when it was of greater value as an advertisement than it was as a means of transporting the citizens along its route, although, of course, it was a great convenience from the traffic standpoint. At that time the fight betw^een Seattle and Tacoma was bitter and anything that gave either city the least advan- tage w^as an important acquisition to the city that secured it. For years before that, and for years after, it w^as problematical which of the two cities would become the important point on the Sound. Neither had a great deal to sustain it and capital from the out- side for investment was eagerly sought. People were coming from the East and looking over the two cities with a view to choosing one as a home, and as Seattle could point to its street railway at a time when Tacoma had none, the enterprise of Frank H. Osgood was of great benefit to the little city. Only the people who lived here at the time can appreciate the seriousness of the fight that Tacoma made to stem the rising tide of Seattle's importance. Misrepresentation was one of the mildest w^eapons resorted to. A wealthy resident of Boston, who w^as persuaded by Mr. Osgood to invest in the street railway, visited the Sound during construction to satisfy himself as to the prospects of his investment. In those days anyone coming from the East had to pass through Tacoma and spend a night there, as the Northern Pacific controlled the steamboats and maintained a schedule that made reaching Seattle as hard a task as possible. The 102 The City That Made Itself Boston man had a letter to a Tacoma banker and spent the evening with him. "Rather a waste of time going on to Seattle," remarked the banker, w^hen he was informed of his guest's proposed destination. "It's only a small saw-mill town of no consequence whatever and never can amount to anything. It hasn't even got a hotel, so I don't see where you could stop even if you w^ent there." This rather disturbed the Boston man, and if he had not already had money invested in Seattle he would probably have returned East without coming here. He came on, however, and Mr. Osgood soon dissipated his doubts. Thousands of such cases played their part in Tacoma's persistent campaign, and there is no record of the number of people who were lost to Seattle on acount of it. When the rails of the street car system had been laid as far as Madison Street on their journey north to Pike a number of Northern Pacific people came to Seattle and were driven about the city by John Leary. "Every time I came near your tracks," said Leary to Osgood, that evening, "I whipped up the horses and gave those fellows an awful bump, always remarking as I did so, 'By the way, you will notice that we are putting in a street-car system.' I don't know what else they learned today, but they certainly learned that, for I just kept driving back and forth across the rails." It will be seen, therefore, that Seattle had good reason to be grate- ful to Mr. Osgood. But the street car magnate realized that the grat- itude of the people would not buy oats for his horses, so he proceeded to develop his first comprehensive plan for increasing the traffic of the line and at the same time bring some valuable trade to the city. There were numerous farms along the eastern shore of Lake Washington, and there was no direct and easy route for the farmers to take in bringing their trade to Seattle. The city was making its sensational fight for rail connection with the outside world, but the progress was slow and the future held little hope, so Mr. Osgood set about making the cars that followed the plodding horses along the streets a means of bringing commerce to Seattle. He extended the line to the corner of Eighth Avenue and Virginia Street, and thence through the woods to the southern end of Lake Union. There he built a w^harf. The Washington Improvement Company, as related in the chapter dealing with the Lake Washington Canal, had been organized to construct the canal before Mr. Osgood came to Seattle. Even at that early day the canal had ben dreamed of and agitated for for thirty years. They had made a connection between Lake Union and Salmon Bay, and in 1 885 Mr. Osgood joined their board of directors and took a contract Electricity Is Talked About 103 for the construction of a canal between Lakes Union and Washington. He commenced work and had in view the completion of a passage from the upper lake to the lower one to enable boats to bring the produce of the farms on Lake Washington to his wharf on Lake Union. He dug the ditch and put in ninety-foot locks, and had the work almost completed vs^hen, in 1 886, the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad Company was organized to build a railroad through the territory w^hich he had proposed to serve with the canal. Mr. Osgood was one of the incorporators of the railroad company and he and his fellow directors of the Washington Improvement Company decided to abandon the canal project and put all their energy into the railroad enterprise. Thus the locks were never opened to traffic, but as an evidence of the honesty of the work put into them they still stand at a point a few hundred feet south of the route the Government Canal is taking. It w^ill be seen, therefore, that Mr. Osgood is not only entitled to the credit of giving Seattle its first street car system, but he also played a most active part in endeavoring to realize the long cherished dream of a canal that would open the fresh water basins to boats from Puget Sound. Being cut off from the revenue w^hich he expected his street car line would earn from the lake commerce, Mr. Osgood directed his attention to the development of the system into a money-maker. He was too enterprising to be content with the horse equipment if there were anything better procurable. From the first time Osgood heard about electricity he took a keen interest in it. He read everything he could find about the new force and in 1 886 decided that it was time to investigate. He went to Judge Burke and asked his opinion. "I am going to live to see the day," he told the Judge, "when transcontinental railroads will be pulling trains over the mountains and into Seattle by electricity." Burke was quite sure that Osgood had gone mad. At that time there was not a car being run successfully by electricity in the world, emd there was no transcontinental railroad showing any disposition to enter Seattle. The Judge, however, was always ready to listen to anything that might benefit the city, so he called in D. T. Denny and the three directors discussed the matter. As a result they voted five hundred dollars, which would have provided a tremendous supply of oats in those days, and Osgood went East to study electricity as a motive power. He met the street car people in Boston, some of whom were interested with him in Seattle, and they laughed at him when he suggested the possibility of horses ever being supplanted by electricity. They thought it absurd that a man should come all the 104 The City That Made Itself way from Seattle to teach them anything about the future of urban transportation. However, when Osgood returned home he reported to his fellow directors that the time would soon come when the new power would be available, but that as yet it was in the experimental stage, and his small company could not afford to experiment. So the horses continued to jog along and consume oats. No one in town except the three directors knew that electricity had been considered for the system. The story now takes another angle. As F. T. Blunck, of Davenport, Iowa, came to Seattle in the spring of 1 888 with the idea of investing in real estate he was not here long before Luther Henry Griffith knew of it. Luther was only 26 years old at the time, but his real estate activities were great. He took Blunck out to the north end of the city and as they were traversing the unsettled valley betvs^een Denny Way and Queen Anne Hill they stopped for a chat. "If you will give me four bits I'll tell you of something worth more than real estate," said Griffith. "How much is four bits?" asked Blunck. "Fifty cents," replied Griffith. Blunck gravely produced fifty cents and handed it to Griffith. "Let's build a street car line from the city, along the shore of Lake Union, to open all the land that lies at the head of the lake." "That sounds all right, " agreed Blunck. "And let us make it an electric line," continued Griffith. "Electric? " asked Blunck. "Sure! " said Griffith. "Electric cars are coming in and we might as well be among the pioneers. In five years more horse cars will be a thing of the past." The older man and the young one sat on a log and discussed it. In the East Griffith had an uncle who was devoting his time to elec- trical development and through family letters Griffith was kept posted on vs^hat -was going on. It appealed to his imagination, for he was j'oung and already worth a fortune. When ambition and capital are linked great things can be accomplished. He talked earnestly to Blunck. The men walked back to the city by the route that they thought a line should take, went to Blunck's room in the Seattle Hotel, called Victor Hugo Smith and Dr. E. C. Kilbourne into conference, and that evening the West Street, Lake Union & Park Transit Company was organized. The capital decided upon was $200,000 and Blunck and Amalgamation Is Ef fected 105^ Griffith agreed to put up all the money necessary, each of them imme- diately posting $10,000 towards a working capital. When the papers were subsequently filed L. H. Griffith, F. T. Blunck, Victor Hugo Smith, Dr. E. C. Kilbourne and George Hyde Preston were named as directors. The original plan was to buy real estate in the districts the line was to serve and make enough profit from it to build the system. News of the undertaking became known after all the land the incorporators of the company desired had been purchased and an application had been made for a franchise, allowing the company to build along Western Avenue from the foot of Pike Street to Cedar Street, thence to Denny Way and by connecting streets to Lake Union. When Seattle heard it was to have an electric street railway it laughed. An announcement by a milkman in 1914 that hereafter he would make deliveries by aeroplane would not be received with half the derision that followed the announcement of Griffith and his associates. That electric railways could be successfully operated had not as yet been fully demonstrated. Besides, Seattle already had street cars, pulled by sober, sedate and unemotional horses, who could make all the speed necessary, and the city could not see why it wanted to monkey with any such new-fangled, mysterious toy as electricity. Osgood and his associates did not laugh. He had kept fully abreast of electrical development, believed by this time that it was practical, and had already decided that the time had come to replace the horses with electricity. The cable company had also been incor- porated and the street railway situation would be considerably muddled if the small city had horse, cable and electric cars running in opposition to one another. He suggested that the Griffith-Blunck interests join with his, electrify the system already in operation on Second Avenue and put up a solid front against the cable crowd. The electric people saw the force of this and the consolidation was effected. As the possibility of selling power was also a consideration the name of the organization became the Seattle Electric Railway & Power Company. Its directors were Thomas Burke, G. Morris Haller, Frank H. Osgood, Morgan J. Carkeek, Victor Hugo Smith, Dr. E. C. Kilbourne and L. H. Griffith. Mr. Osgood became presi- dent and manager. TTie capital of this company was $100,000 in stock and $1 75,000 in bonds. Each of the interests accepted $60,000 in stock and $60,000 in bonds for their holdings in their respective companies, the $55,000 in bonds remaining being held for sale as new money was needed for extension of track and equipment. 106 The City That Made Itself In order to learn something more about the business for which it was organized the company sent Osgood and Kilbourne East to visit the plant of the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, which was one of the two companies manufacturing the equipment which the company must have. Their investigation made them enthu- siastic. The company entered into a contract with the Thomson- Houston people for the exclusive right to use their equipment in Seattle and a distance of six miles on all sides of the city. When the powder plant was completed at the foot of Pike Street it included a 1 6-foot boiler, 1 00-horse pow^er Armington & Simms engine and an 80-horse pov^rer Thomson-Houston generator. The rolling stock consisted of five double-reduction Thomson-Houston 1 5-horse power motor equipments, four Jones car bodies with Brill trucks. The w^ork of constructing and equipping the Seattle system pro- ceeded rapidly. F. W. Watkins was sent out by the Thomson- Houston Company as electrical engineer to superintend the installa- tion of the plant. The equiprnent was of the crudest kind, when measured by modern standards, and the patents of the Eastern com- pany so closely protected it that every time anything broke it had to be replaced from the factory, necessitating a delay of at least two weeks. The absolute lack of experience in construction — an igno- rance explained by the fact that there was no place where they could go to profit by the mistakes that others had made, as the few com- panies in the East knew^ no more about w^hat they were trying to do than did the Seattle people — caused frequent delays and ate up the capital of the company faster than had been expected. But the company weathered all the storms, and late at night on March 30, 1 889, the first ceir was run over the system, the only passenger, in addition to officers and employees of the company, being Mrs. (Capt.) F. J. Burns, ^vho had been an enthusiastic sup- porter of the idea from the first and had been given a promise by Mr. Griffith that she would have a ride in the first car run over Seattle streets. Thus Mrs. Burns vv^as the first woman to ride on an f lectrically-driven car in Seattle. The experiment v^as a success and during the night the horse cars, which had continued in service during the construction of the electric line, were teetered off the track at the car barn and never ran again on a Seattle street. On the morning of March 31, 1 889, Seattle's electric railway commenced regular service. There was no ceremony, but the excite- ment was tremendous. The day for which the w^hole city had v^^aited for months was at hand and all Seattle lined Second Avenue to watch the cars go by. Every time a car stopped the curiosity of the Unparalleled Operating Record 107 people nearly disrupted the service, as it was with difficulty that the more venturesome v^ere restrained from crawling under the car to see what made it go. The most interested crowd gathered at fche foot of James Street to see if the car could take a load up the eleven per cent grade to Second Avenue. The cable people had reluctantly admitted that the new cars would probably run all right on the level streets, but they were confident they would never make the grade. In fact, the men who were building the cable road were quite sure the electric line was ordained to failure. "Osgood," said J. C. Haines one day during construction, "don't you see that you can never operate in winter? The rains will wash the current off the wires and you will not be able to turn a wheel." However, Osgood was not disturbed by such predictions, but he was anxious to make good on the grade. At the bottom of the hill he loaded the car full and when it went up hill without a pause the victory for the new power was complete. At the corner of Second Avenue and Yesler Way, Gee Lee, a Chinaman, stood for a long time and watched the cars go by. Finally he summed up his bewilderment by exclaiming, "No pushee, no pullee, all samee go like hellee!" The papers published his remark and it has since become a classic. All day long the four cars in operation were jammed with pas- sengers, the receipts being over $200. For seven months the service continued without interruption, a feat unparalleled at that time by any other operating company. The Seattle system was the seventh in the world to purchase equipment and the fourth to commence operation, so it was most decidedly a pioneer in a new field. It was Griffith's ambition to keep the line running no matter what hap- pened. To do this it was often necessary to work all night at the cars, repairing some defect that had been discovered during the day. Osgood had ordered an extra truck, and many times it was necessary to jack up the body of the car, slip an injured truck out from under it and run the extra one in its place. Even during the Seattle fire, in June, 1 889, the cars never stopped running, although their sides were blistered by the heat they encountered at places along their route. Mr. Griffith had been busy during construction. His ideas were not always the same as those of the horse-car directors, so he made a proposition to them to sell out to him. As soon as the line was operating, Burke, Denny, Haller and Osgood sold their interests to Griffith and he took entire charge of the system. He made a record in operating that at that time had never been equalled. The wisdom of Osgood and Kilbourne in making the selection of the equipment 108 The City That Made Itself was demonstrated by the fact that the Seattle road was the first in the world to operate from that day until the present time without changing its equipment; that is, the additions and improvements to the first installations were made by the same company from which the first purchase was made, and the present magnificent plant that operates Seattle's great system w^as supplied by the successor to that company, the General Electric Company. Early operation in Seattle w^as attended by many amusing inci- dents. One woman brought suit against the company for damages on the ground that while lying in bed in a rooming-house that stood on the corner now occupied by the Butler Hotel she had received a severe electrical shock that had made her a nervous v^^reck. She tes- tified at the trial that she saw^ the electricity attack her from the ceil- ing of her room. The company shovs^ed that what she saw^ was the reflection of the sparks made by the cars when rounding the corner over which her room was located, and she recovered nothing. Whenever a trolley line broke — an accident that frequently hap- pened — there was a fearful commotion. People for blocks on either side of it were vs^arned to keep clear, as to touch it meant instant death. The company's employees had also been notified never to touch a live wire, and before linemen w^ould repair the damage the current had to be shut off. On one occasion an employee thought the pow^er was off and climbed to the top of a car to repair a break. While he was at work, with the wire in his hands, he was mystified at seeing another car approaching. Griffith had come upon the scene by that time and was equally bewildered. That the pov^er was really on admitted of no doubt, but why the workman was not dead was what no one could understand. Finally Griffith discovered that w^ood was a non-conductor and that the man on top of the car w^as insulated. Once on Pike Street a telephone wire fell across the trolley wire and dangled about seven feet from the ground. A lineman known as Barney hurried to the spot. He knev^^ the wire would be alive, but he did not think that electricity could act particularly rapidly, so he jumped into the air and grabbed the wire, intending to release his hold before the juice became aware of what he was doing. As soon as he hit the ground with the wire in his hand he got a terrific shock which made him jump again and emit a yell that was heard all over that part of the city. As soon as he jumped the second time he broke the circuit, but he did not release his hold, so he hit the ground again and received another shock and let go another yell. Again he made a leap, mightier than either of the other two, lost his balance The (iriij- Ski I ine of n Seattle Night. The Lownmn Building in the Center anil the Smith Building in the liiiclcgrnund. An Electrical Tug-of-War 109 and fell. This pulled the wire down, and thereafter Barney never tried to fool an electric current. Some time after the line was operating another incident oc- curred that is more amusing to an electrical expert than to a layman, but is sufficiently funny to warrant relating. The Westinghouse people had commenced to manufacture motors, and Griffith, in an effort to decide which equipment was better for his line, placed an order with the new factory. When a car was equipped with the Westinghouse product the question arose as to the method to be adopted to prove whether it was more powerful than the Thomson- Houston equipment. "Let's have a tug-of-war," suggested Griffith. Accordingly two cars, one with the old equipment and one with the new, were hitched together facing in opposite directions and the power turned on both at the same time. It was evident that the car which pulled the other back was the more powerful. Unfortunately for the value of the experiment, the only result was the blowing out of a fuse on one of the overloaded motors. These incidents emphasize the pioneering aspect of the work that Griffith was doing. Every step taken was in the nature of an experiment. The line was a great advertisement for the city. Dele- gations came to Seattle from all parts of America to study the system and it was after seeing the Seattle cars in successful operation that many other cities decided to supplant their horse cars with the more modern equipment. To give a detailed history of the development of the street car business in Seattle would consume more space than a reader's inter- est would encompass. At one time there were thirteen different companies operating systems of various magnitude in the city, and to try to condense their separate stories into a readable whole would lead into a tangle of organizations, re-organizations, consolidations and receiverships that would be bewildering. A glance at the histo- rical chart published herewith will assist the reader to trace the various consolidations, and I will content myself with recounting some of the more prominent episodes that led up to the organization that occupies the field today. The object of Mr. Griffith's street railway activity was to in- crease the value of the land he owned on what was then the outskirts of the city. The increase in the population of the city necessitated extensions and additions that the ordinary receipts of the company could not provide, so the money that supplied them was the profit on the real estate transactions. The promoters of other lines had no The City That Made Itself similar reasons for building lines, and it was due solely to the brisk- ness of the real estate market that Seattle finally got itself into a street railway muddle that wiped away several fortunes. While the first electric line was being constructed, J. M. Thompson, v^ho had successfully built cable lines in San Francisco, came to Seattle and interested several prominent citizens in an enter- prise to construct numerous cable lines here. Among those whose financial support he gained were Maurice McMicken, A. B. Stewart, H. G. Struve, W. G. Bov^Tnan, Jacob Furth, Bailey Gatzert, John P. Hoyt, Sigmund Schv^^abacher, J. C. Haines, and Dr. A. P. Mitton. They organized the Front Street Cable Line and it was their activity that Osgood had feared, as I have already related. It is interesting now to note that these men, among the leaders in the city, planned a complete system of cable roads w^hile preparations vs^ere under way right at hand to thoroughly test the feasibility of the new power which was creating such a furore in the mechanical and scientific world. It reflects the strength of their conviction at the time that Osgood and Griffith w^ere making a monumental blunder. They never took them seriously and proceeded w^ith their plans v^^ithout any consideration of the possibility of their success, making the boast that they would put the electric crowd out of business. The new company obtained a franchise to construct a line from a turntable at the intersection of First Avenue and Yesler Way, north to Pike Street, then to Second, and north on Second to Denny Way. The electric company was building on Pike from First to Second, so for one block the rival routes were over the same street. Various fights for streets w^ere waged by both companies before the City Council and, as each w^as quite frank in predicting failure for the other, the feeling between the tw^o companies was none too cor- dial. When the cable company commenced to lay its tracks on the block on Pike Street w^hich the electric line already occupied, the respective working gangs came to blows and out of the fracas came many bleeding noses and much bitter feeling. There was nearly another outbreak when the cable company laid tracks on First Ave- nue South, where the electric company already had a franchise. Griffith went to the City Council and informed it that if the city would not protect his rights he would take the law into his own hands. The city ordered the tracks removed. Shortly after this Mr. Furth became the leading spirit in the cable company and he and Griffith worked harmoniously, and the rivalry between the two com- panies was friendly, although none the less positive. Early in 1 890 Griffith considered that the time was ripe to push his line through to Fremont from Pike Street. He conceived the Some Rapid Constru ction Work 1JJ_ plan of cutting a thoroughfare straight from Pike Street to Lake Union, and to make it easier to obtain the consent of property own- ers he became one himself by purchasing fifty-three lots along the route of the proposed street, which, years afterwards, was cut through and is now Westlake Avenue. The cable people also wanted to reach Lake Union and made application for a franchise at the same time as Griffith launched his proposal. The Council con- cluded that there was no use cutting a street through private prop- erty to accommodate the electric line if the cable company was pre- pared to build to the lake over a zigzag route, so favored the latter's application. "Very well," said Griffith, at a meeting of the Council, "give us both a franchise over the streets we want and the company that pets its line through first can have possession of the route. I am willing to match my speed with theirs." The Council thought the proposition was fair enough and granted both companies a franchise — and in five days Griffith had electric cars running to the lake! Some weeks before, three miles of rails had been brought to Tacoma by Balfour, Guthrie & Co., as ballast, and Griffith had pur- chased it cheap, leaving it at the Tacoma dock until he needed it. He had anticipated the necessity for quick construction and had every- thing lined up so that the morning after the franchise was granted he descended on the streets with hundreds of men and numerous gang-plows and completed the grading in one day. In the other four days the tracks were laid and the electrical installation completed. The cable company made no attempt at competition and never built a line to the lake. Griffith wanted to carry his line around Lake Union so as to reach Fremont, which he had named after his home place in Nebraska, but he did not see where he was going to get sufficient money to complete it, so he commenced to work both ways from the center. It was necessary to carry the line out into the lake on piles and when his money ran out each end of the trestle was several hun- dred feet from land. The demand on the part of the people that the roadway be completed was a potent force behind Mr. Griffith's formal request to the same end. He figured that if either end were connected with the land there would be just half as much public opinion back of him, hence his action in working both ways from the middle. Following the history of the first electric road takes it into the hands of D. T. Denny & Sons, who purchased all Mr. Griffith's hold- 112 The City That Made Itself ings on August 3, 1893, giving notes for the full purchase price, $212,000. The Dennys had profited by Griffith's pioneering work and had built an electric line on Third Avenue. Not long after buy- ing Griffith out the financial condition of the country v^^as such that the Dennys could not carry the load, and the company went into the hands of a receiver, M. F. Backus being appointed. In 1 895 the entire power plant and equipment of the road were destroyed by fire, which broke out after all the cars had been stored for the night. With the money derived from the insurance the system vs^as rehabili- tated. On January 1, 1897, a committee appointed by the bond- holders organized the Seattle Traction Company, w^hich, on Novem- ber 5, 1900, w^as absorbed by the Seattle Electric Company as part of a great consolidation that is worthy of a chapter by itself. When Mr. Osgood sold out his street railway interests he de- voted himself entirely to the electrical business and for twenty-five years thereafter was a big power in it in the Northwest. He not only built and equipped other lines in Seattle under contract, as related in the next chapter, but his activities spread over Vancouver, Victoria, Port Townsend, Fairhaven, Whatcom, Tacoma, Portland, Spokane and Fidalgo Island. [31 I i ■ " -. "is T i: r I mX 51 9 £ 'I F1 S u T • r, ? />• fcS 3« •3- 2 " 9 f ? i !l h ill 4-; T^— arrssTSBfCTj? fS ris; Rl -8 5i lii I 4)- : a ►4 'J u 1 I c«. iC crvM oj. Oo« I TT T • T — it' i CI Nvr Noi xvQ I i««'»oa 8^ U ; ? " a " H •1 "ir" II ='1 ZO«i o5w !; co«i FjvT == COS I >.-\ver Orenpfes the Site of the WyckotT Home, Shown In the I'pper Picture. *hotoKraph, Taylor and Bone Buy P.-I. 133 Eastern financial corporation underwriting $400,000 of 6 per cent bonds, redeemable at the rate of $20,000 per annum for twenty years. Mr. Wilson took charge of the paper December 1 , 1 899. J. G. Pyle became editor and S. P. Weston business manager. In September, 1 903, Mr. Pyle resigned and Horace McClure directed the editorial end of the paper until January 1 , 1 904, when Erastus Brainerd became editor. Mr. Brainerd continued in the position until September 1 , 1911, when he was succeeded by Scott C. Bone, the present editor. Mr. Brainerd proved to be a forceful editor, and while he was in the editorial saddle he conducted many cam- paigns with a vigor that made its impress on the history of the city. On August 1, 1912, A. S. Taylor, at that time one of the most prominent and substantial men of Everett, and Scott C. Bone purchased the control of the Post-Intelligencer. The paper is now the sole occupant of the morning field in Seattle and is the only publication having the seven-day Associated Press franchise. Before he came to Seattle Mr. Bone was one of the most promi- nent new^spaper men in the East and he has maintained the Post- Intelligencer on a dignified but enterprising plane. Mr. Taylor's business policy has cleansed its advertising columns of anything of a dubious nature and has made the paper one that Seattle has reason to be completely satisfied with. Beriah Brown, Jr., whose name runs through the newspaper history of Seattle since its early days, is one of the editorial writers on the Post-Intelligencer, and T. J. Dillon, one of the most polished writers in the Northwest, is managing editor. Having followed the history of the Post-Intelligencer until the present day, we can now go back and pick up the milestones that mark other activities that were contemporaneous with the incidents related above. In 1881 Kirk C. Ward, W. M. Beach, Judge R. Andrews and Beriah Brown, Jr., started the Chronicle, first as an evening paper and later as a morning daily. It did not gain the necessary sup- port and was subsequently acquired by Homer M. Hill. In the early eighties there was great activity in the newspaper field, and the Herald, Call, Finback, Bulletin and Mirror were among the papers that were started. Fortunes were sunk in an endeavor to make them self-supporting. Only the Call survived. In the sum- mer of 1 883 some leading citizens raised a large sum of money to subsidize the Daily Times to counteract the Call, which was so violently anti-Chinese as to become unpopular with the solid inter- ests of the city. The Times was conducted by T. H. Dempsey and J. R. Andrews, and after the subsidy had ceased it was continued 134 The City That Made Itself by Dempsey alone until March, 1887, when he sold a half interest to Col. George G. Lyon. In 1 886 Homer M. Hill, owner of the Chronicle, acquired control of the Call and united the two papers as the Seattle Press, daily and w^eekly, and in 1 889 sold the Press to the Press Publish- ing Company, in which the majority of the stock was held by W. E. Bailey — w^ho subsequently built the Bailey Building, now^ the Railway Exchange — who made S. R. Frazier editor. E. Brainerd, a new^spaperman from Philadelphia, succeeded Frazier as editor. In February, 1891, the Press and Times, both evening papers, united under the name of Press-Times. During these years business in Seattle was none too good and the papers had a hard struggle for existence. Their circulation was not great and the amount of advertising carried in their columns v^as not sufficient to make the financial side of the ventures anything but a source of worry to the owners. In 1895 Alden J. Blethen came to Seattle from Minneapolis, purchased the Press-Times and soon made his personality felt in the newspaper world. In 1897 the steamer Portland came out of the North with its story of the golden Klondike and Colonel Blethen, who had shortened the name of the paper to the Seattle Daily Times, took advantage of the opportunity presented by the new prosperity which Seattle experienced and built up his publication until today it is one of the best newspaper properties in the West. In the work he has been ably assisted by his son, Joseph Blethen, manager of the Times Printing Con^pany. Another son, C. B. Blethen, the managing editor, is largely responsible for the excellence of the Times as a newspaper. On April 30, 1888, the Enterprise was started but ran only a month, as there did not seem to be enough Democrats in Seattle to keep it going, its announced adherence to the cause of Democracy not producing enough financial returns to make its continued existence possible. In the same year Alexander Begg and Edmond S. Meany started the Trade Journal, which became the Journal when it was taken over in the spring of 1 890 by John Leary, W. H. Lewellyn, B. F. Shaubut and others. In 1891 it was ab- sorbed by the Telegraph, which had been first issued on August I 1 , 1890, by Judge Thomas Burke and D. H. Gilman to carry on the railroad fight which Seattle was waging. The undertaking proved a failure from a money-making standpoint and publication was suspended. One Hundred Publications 135 In 1883 Die Tribune was started in Seattle. It was printed in German and was the first paper to be printed in the state in any foreign language. In 1899 E. H. Wells founded the Seattle Star, the firm name being E. H. Wells & Company, E. W. Scripps, now the controlling spirit of some scores of daily publications in all parts of the United States, being the company. E. F. Chase became business manager. Sixteen months after the paper started the Star Publishing Com- pany was organized by its owners. The Star then, as it does now, fought the battles of the so-called "common people" and achieved extraordinary success. Under Mr. Wells it became a power polit- ically and has continued to wield great influence in the affairs of the city and county. In 1909 Mr. Wells sold his interests in the paper and was succeeded as editor by Kenneth C. Beaton, who resigned in 1911, since which time Leroy Sanders has been editor. Mr. Wells having given Seattle one successful evening paper, decided in 1912 to duplicate the performance. He organized the Sun Publishing Company, among whose stockholders were Law- rence J. Colman, John P. Hartman, T. S. Lippy and H. W. Treat, and on February 3, 1913, the first issue appeared. The birth of the Sun was somewhat remarkable, for it started with a circulation of 40,000 and an advertising patronage that gave its first number the appearance of a long-established paper. Mr. Wells has con- tinued as the editor of The Sun, which is notable for its cleanliness and enterprise. In 1914 S. P. Weston assumed the business management. Today Seattle has approximately 100 regular publications, great and small, and serving almost every profession, trade, cult or creed, and many different nationalities. Its two most prominent weeklies of general circulation are the Town Crier, published by James A. Wood and E. L. Reber, and The Argus, published and edited by H. A. Chadwick. Mr. Wood is one of the most pungent and graceful writers in Seattle, and the Town Crier possesses an editorial strength not surpassed by any other publication in the city. The Lumberman, founded by C. A. Hughes, who still con- trols it, is one of the most meritorious and prominent monthlies, and the Pacific Fisherman, owned and edited by Miller Freeman, is an able champion of the fishing interests. The Railway and Marine News, founded by J. P. Parkinson and now under the editorial management of Kenneth C. Kerr, is another trade journal that holds a high place in the transportation world. 1S6 The City That Made Itself Among the men who have been identified with the newspaper history and life of Seattle, and who are now devoting their atten- tion to other lines of endeavor, are the following: Stewart E. Smith, Thomas W. Prosch, Clarence Bagley, S. L. Crawford, E. W. Pollock, C. T. Conover, Charles Pye Burnett, Will H. Parry, E. B. Wishaar, Geo. U. Piper, C. M. Nettleton, C. B. Yandell, Will T. Elwell, E. A. Williams, Frank M. Sullivan, A. T. McCargar, E. A. Batwell, A. F. Marion, W. M. Sheffield, Erastus Brainerd, W. T. Prosser, Will A. Steel, Gilbert Smith, Ray L. Hodgdon, N. B. Solner, James D. Hoge. CHAPTER THIRTEEN THE SCHOOLS OF YESTERDAY AND TODAY WHEN the early pioneers of Seattle started to build the city that was to be, they did not long forget that intellectual development of the community must go hand in hand with material progress, that the building of well-rounded mental structures was essential if the other should endure and grow. In the days of struggle against a primitive environment, hitherto un- touched by human hands, there was little time or thought for the more scholastic things. Homes had to be wrought out of the stubborn forests, land had to be cleared and tilled to provide the bare necessities, and life, indeed, was a survival of the fittest. No sooner did the sturdy pioneers of Seattle get their homes established and their course of life laid out, than they began to think of their children's needs for school and books. It is charac- teristic of the high mental caliber of the men and women who constituted this first settlement on Elliott Bay, that they made Seattle a real educational center from the start, a center of intellec- tual life that has persisted from year to year with increasing growth until today the Queen City boasts as fine a system of public schools, as enterprising a university and as magnificent a library as is to be found in the older and larger cities of the East. When Seattle was getting started there was any amount of work for the boys, so much, in fact, that it was considered wiser to keep them at it than to educate them with their sisters. The enrollment of the first school opened in Seattle contains the names of thirteen girls and but one boy. Even eight years later the girls still outnumbered the boys, as in 1862 there were fifteen girls between six and sixteen years of age going to school in Seattle and nine boys. The first building used for school purposes in Seattle was erected in 1853 by W. G. Latimer as a general boarding house and domestic center for the bachelors of the city. It was referred to as Bachelor's Hall. Latimer, himself a bachelor, came to Seattle when there were only seven white men in it, and being somewhat of a carpenter, did his share towards building up the community. He returned East, married in 1 860, served through the war, and again in 1882 yielded to the impulse that was always strong in him to return to the Puget Sound country. Preceding him on this 137 138 The City That Made Itself occasion came his son, N. H. Latimer, now president of the Dexter- Horton National Bank, the oldest bank in the State of Washington. Within one year after its erection as a home for bachelors young Latimer's building was being used as a school for educating girls. Mrs. (Rev.) D. E. Blaine opened school in it in the spring of 1854, the parents of the children contributing towards the support of the institution. The first enrollment was: Mary Mercer, Susan Mercer, Alice Mercer, Eliza Mercer, Ursula McConnaha, George McConnaha, Laura Bell, Olive Bell, Virginia Bell, Rebecca Horton, Louisa Denny, Nora Denny, Hilda Phillips, Ruby Willard. The school lasted only three months, and in the succeeding Fall, 1854, there is no record of any school being open in Seattle. In that year Dr. H. A. Smith was appointed by the Legislature as superintendent of schools for King County. In 1855 Mrs. Blaine taught during the spring term, and from that time until the present the efforts to educate the children of Seattle have been continuous. Mrs. Blaine was succeeded by teachers in their order as follows: Dorcas Phillips, E. A. Clark, Edmund Carr, David Graham, Addie Andrews, Daniel Bagley. With the exception of Clark, who built his own school and called it the Terminus, all the teachers held their classes in the Latimer building. In 1 862 the University building w^as first used for school purposes, Mrs. O. J. Carr holding classes there for three months with the foUovs^ing pupils enrolled: Rebecca Horton, Eugenia Mc- Connaha, Loretta Denny, Eunice Russell, Jane Wetmore, Mary Boren, Gertrude Boren, Christine DeLin, Mary DeLin, Eva An- drews, Inez Denny, Mary J. Denny, Mary ^X'hite, Ettie Settle, Louisa Coombs, Wm. R. Andrews, Robert G. Hayes, George Man- chester, John B. Libby, Anders F. Delin, Wm. Boren, Frank Wet- more, Charlie Clark, Joe Crow. It was not until 1870 that there was erected in Seattle the first school building proper. It was a two-story structure and was called the Central School. Miss L. W. Ordway was the first prin- cipal, her staff being composed of Mrs. C. M. Sanderson. Other principals in their order until 1875 were Miss Phelps, Mrs. A. A. Mackintosh, Mrs. L. W. J. Well, J. H. Hall and E. S. Ingraham. In 1872 two lots were purchased from school purposes in the north end of the town from A. A. Denny and the next year two lots in the southern part of the town were purchased from Thomas Clancy. In 1873 buildings were erected; the South School was opened by Miss Mary Tibbell, assisted by Miss Mary Smith, and the North School by Miss Lizzie Clayton and Miss Agnes Winsor. In 1876 'Let's Have a School Boom" isg it was found necessary to open another school, Belltown, which is now First Avenue, the vicinity of Battery and Bell Streets being selected as the location. Each new school provided only temporary relief as the city continued to grow so rapidly that the education of its children was always jeopardized by the lack of facilities. Finally, on January 4, 1882, occurred the first wide-spread movement to get the whole school system of Seattle down to a permanent basis. At a meeting in Yesler's Hall Judge Thomas Burke, Judge J. R. Lewis, William H. White, and Judge Orange Jacobs made speeches in which they presented the case to the citizens, and as a result of the meeting a committee visited Portland and investigated the school system there. On April I, 1882, the people by a vote of 345 for to 97 against voted to levy a tax of $24,000 for the erection of a large school, and from that day until the present time the voters of the city have ever been ready to hold up the hands of its school direc- tors. Politics has never found a place in school affairs, as the edu- cation of the children is a matter of such importance that "let the schools alone!" has always been the cry when there has been any suggestion of tampering with the system. To the fact that the board is an unsalaried one, and members serving on it must of necessity be prompted only by a desire to serve the public when they accept the office, is largely due the high state of perfection which our school system has attained. The directors have always been men of the highest integrity. The earliest board I can find record of was that of 1867. when D. R. Lord. D. T. Denny and R. W. Pontius were members. When the "school boom" was inaugu- rated in the early •80s Judge Thomas Burke was a member of the • 1 QQO "school boom" sentiment that carried the bond election in 1882 derived its name from a remark made by Judge Lewis in addressing the mass meeting referred to above. "We have had saloon booms and real estate booms, and now, for God's sake, let's have a school boom!" It was in 1 884 that the school system had grown great enough to have a city superintendent, E. S. Ingraham holding that office. His first annual report for the year ending June 26, 1885, gives the school board as composed of Judge Burke, chairman; Dillis B. Ward and Henry G. Struve, with Angus W. Young as school clerk. Ihe total enrollment of the city schools was 1,478. and by this time the boys were running the girls a closer race, there being 701 boys and 777 girls. A high school course had been added and to prepare the class that was to graduate in June, j 886— the first high school graduating class in Seattle— an entertainment was held 140 The City That Made Itself at the end of the school year of 1884-5. Pierre P. Ferry, now a prominent attorney, delivered an oration on "The Fall of the Glad- stone Ministry." Also in that first printed report is notice of a standing resolu- tion to the effect "That the principals of each school building be directed by the city superintendent to prohibit the playing of any game of marbles on or about the school premises during school hours." Possibly as a sop to the boys whose pursuit of pleasure was curbed by the anti-marble resolution the next rule reads: "That the use of the raw-hide as a means of inflicting corporal punish- ment is hereby forbidden by the board." The resolutions are signed by M. Densmore as chairman of the board and Thomas Burke and D. B. Ward members. In 1 889, w^hen the district organized under a new act, the present organization went into effect. The first board was com- posed of Judge John P. Hoyt, George H. Heilbron, Wm. H. Hughes, J. M. Frink, W. H. Taylor. Judge Hoyt was chairman. Under the new organization members were elected for a three- year term and it became the custom for one of the directors who was to retire to serve as president of the board the last year of his term, hence the following have served at various times in that capacity: J. M. Frink, W. H. Hughes, W. J. Colkett, J. B. Mac- Dougall, A. P. Burwell, C. E. Patterson, E. C. Hughes, Dr. F. H. Coe, John Schram, E. Shorrock, F. M. Guion, Edmund Bowden, William Pigott, Everett Smith, F. A. McDonald, and Richard Winsor. Other prominent citizens who have served as members of the Board of Directors include Judge George Donworth, Judge J. T. Ronald, Dr. W. A. Shannon, John B. Agen, J. E. Galbraith, Rev. Edw. Lincoln Smith, Chas. L. Denny, Dr. G. V. Calhoun, C. J. Smith, Geo. H. King, T. W. Prosch, Dr. T. T. Minor, Judge Thos. Burke and D. B. Ward. The superintendents for the same period were : E. S. Ingraham, Julia E. Kennedy, F. J. Barnard (served eleven years), and Frank B. Cooper (13 years). Secretaries: Mrs. H. A. Hawthorne, H. E. Whitney, F. D. Ogden, A. A. Guernsey, Lyman Banks (4 years), and Reuben W. Jones (12 years). Of the present members of the board, Mr. Shorrock has served twelve years, Mr. Pigott five years. Judge Winsor three years. Messrs. Spencer and Eckstein, one year each. There are at present (1914) eighty permanent school buildings in the district, and the physical valuation of the property belonging to the district exceeds $6,500,000. A View uf Pioneer i'lace iu ISUU and u» it J^uuks In VJH. Tribute to Pioneers 141 Enrollment in the various years shows the growth of the schools: 1885. 1,478; 1894, 5,314; 1904, 18,077; 1914, 34.925. In 1914 the school organization was: Board of Directors, Richard Winsor (president), E. Shorrock (vice-president), George A. Spencer. William Pigott, Nathan Eckstein; Reuben W. Jones, secretary; C. P. Middleton, assistant secretary; Frank B. Cooper, superintendent; assistant superintendents. Frank E. Willard. Edvsrard G. Quigley, Almina George. The city is fortunate in its board and the board in its executive officers. Mr. Jones has kept his finger on the pulse of the organiza- tion and a great deal of the success of the schools from a business standpoint is due to his executive ability. In Superintendent Cooper Seattle has an educator of national reputation. It has been the custom of the Seattle School Board to perpetuate the names of some of those Seattle citizens w^ho have served the schools well. Among the schools in Seattle in 1914 were the follow- ing, named after former members of the Board: John B. Allen. Daniel Bagley. Frantz H. Coe. B. F. Day. J. J. McGilvra. F. A. Mc- Donald, and T. T. Minor. The Colman. Denny, Mercer, Van Asselt and Whitworth schools will also perpetuate the names of some of the early families. CHAPTER FOURTEEN HOW THE UNIVERSITY CAME TO SEATTLE SEATTLE must always be the educational center of the state on account of the presence here of the University of Washington. Like everything else that has come to Seattle, the University is the spoils of war, for in the days vv^hen its location was being decided upon there were other communities anxious to get it, and it was only after the energy, enterprise, and ingenuity of Seattle citi- zens were brought into play that the prize was secured for the little community. The capture of the University must always be reckoned as a factor in the upbuilding of Seattle, for it was with the enthu- siasm born of their successful struggles that the settlers aroused themselves w^hen setting out to conquer other worlds. Each victory strengthened the resolve of Seattle and gave it heart to continue the fight. In 1 854 the Act of Congress creating the Territory of Washing- ton allotted two townships (72 sections) of land for university pur- poses, but despite the energetic fight made by different localities to secure the prize the Legislature made no immediate selection of a location. In the following year — 1835 — the Legislature designated Seattle as the university town, but granted Boisport, Lewis County, a branch institution. In 1855 this act was repealed and the "Cowlitz Farm," in Lewis County, selected as the site. Seattle was busy with its Indian troubles and took little interest in the university question. In 1 860 there were only twenty families here, and the problem of recovering from the Indian troubles was sufficiently engrossing to occupy the attention of the heads of the families. In 1861, however, Joseph Foster took up the university matter actively and, backed by Daniel Bagley, Arthur A. Denny and their fellow townsmen, made an energetic fight for another repeal of the act of the Legislature and a new decision in favor of Seattle. At that time there seemed little likelihood of a university ever being built up and the question of deciding on a site w^as more or less of a joke. Foster used the argument that Seattle and the Sound county might just as w^ell be the official university site again, for a time at least, and the Legislature v^as kindly disposed towards the idea. So another act was passed, this time requiring Seattle to donate ten acres of land for a site. Daniel Bagley, John Webster and Edmund Carr were named as commissioners. Of these Bagley was chosen chairman, and the principal share of the work devolved 142 Denny Gives the Land j^j on him. He was a recent arrival, coming in I860 from Illinois, and at the time of his first connection with the University was the only clergyman in the town. It commenced to look as if the selection of Seattle as the loca- tion of the University were going to be final. Stirred up by Bagley, the people began to see the importance of being the center of educa- tion of the state in fact, in addition to official designation as such. Arthur A. Denny offered ten acres of land on his "north line." To- gether with Bagley he set out to mark off the land, but so dense was the undergrowth that he gave up in disgust. , . "Bagley," said Denny, "I'll give it on the knoll," and he waved his hand in the direction of what is now the center of the Metropol- itan Building Company's operations, and after 1895, until a few years ago, one of the recognized landmarks, known as the "Old University Grounds." When an effort was made to lay out the site on the knoll it was found that there were only eight-and-a-half acres that readily lent Itself to a proper division, so C. C. Terry (father of Ed. L. Terry, now the city treasurer) gave one-and-a-half acres for himself and Judge Edward Lander. There was no money available for building purposes but that mattered little to the enthusiastic men who were behind the enterprise. The University's only asset was land, and in heu of money it was used to pay the laborers. The land was valued at from $275 to $417 per acre, and the rate of wages varied fronri $2.50 to $4.50 per day. The sale of a tract of land at Port Madison to Meigg's Mill for $25,000 enabled the University to secure all the lumber it needed. Some of the names on the Univer- sity payroll were: Hillory Butler, L. B. Andrews, Lemuel J Holgate, James J. Crow, Ira Wooden, O. C. Shorey, O. J Carr Thomas Mercer. David Graham, D. B. Ward, A. S. Piiikham! C. B.' Bagley, John Pike (for whom Pike Street was named). In 1 862 the main building, the president's office and a boarding house were complete, and a very impressing group they made. The town was exceedingly proud of them, and when Mr. Bagley, by the sale of University lands, turned over to the University, in addition to the buildings, $23,000 in cash, he was acclaimed as a citizen of which the community might well feel proud. At first the main University building was used merely as a school, with A. S. Mercer as the first principal, assisted by Mrs. U. Calhoun, and it was not until 1876 that it turned out its first grad- uating class as a regular university. In the class there was but one graduate, still living, Mrs. Clara McCarthy Wilt, of Tacoma. 144 The City That Made Itself The University's faculty at that time was composed of Rev. George F. Whitworth, F. H. Whitworth and Miss Mary Thayer. Shortly after statehood, in 1 889, the necessity of a much larger university site became apparent. Commerce was surging to the foot of the hill upon which the seat of learning stood, and it w^as realized that there was no room for the expansion that the growing popula- tion and prosperity indicated would soon be forced on the Univer- sity. At that time the city and county were considering the estab- lishment of a great park on a fractional section of school lands on the shores of Lake Washington, and that this section w^ould become an ideal site for the University w^as readily admitted as soon as the sug- gestion w^as made. The city and county champions of a park got in behind the idea and things moved rapidly. Armed with the neces- sary authority by the Legislature, Governor John H. McGraw, in 1 900, bought in the fractional section for the University when it was placed on sale by public auction. The erection of the buildings was commenced forthwith and on September 18, 1895, the University of Washington opened classes on its present site of approximately 350 acres, one of the most magnificent locations in the world for an institution of learning. The staff at the time of the transfer to the new location w^as: Mark Walrod Harrington, President; Thomas Milton Gatch, Professor of Political and Social Science; Joseph Marion Taylor, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy; Ellen Jeannette Cham- berlin. Professor of English Language and Literature; Mark Bailey, Jr., Professor of Ancient Languages; Charles Hill, Professor of Biology; John Louis Hayden, Lieutenant, U. S. A., Professor of Mil- itary Science and Tactics; Edward John Hamilton, Professor of Mental and Moral Science and Oratory; Adolph Frederic Bechdolt, Professor of History and Anglo-Saxon; William Franklin Edwards, Professor of Physics; Henry Landes, Professor of Geology and Min- eralogy; Henry Coffinberry Meyers, Professor of Chemistry; Charles Francis Reeves, Professor of Modern Languages; John Henry Wholley, Lieutenant, U. S. A., Professor of Military Science and Tactics; Florent Constant, Instructor in French; George Millard Davidson, Instructor in Latin and Greek; Martha Lois Hansee, In- structor in Ancient Languages; John Haan, Instructor in Mathe- matics and German; Edmond Stephen Meany, Registrar; Orson Bennett Johnson, Curator of the Museum; Henry Havelock Hind- shaw. Curator of the Museum; Trevor Charles Digby Kincaid, Laboratory Assistant in Biology; Daniel Ellis Douty, Laboratory Assistant in Physics; Thomas Warner Lough, Laboratory Assistant in Chemistry; Marion Edwards, Clerk to the Registrar; Third and I iiidn Willi the Old UnlverBity in the I-efl Barkffround. Third and I'nion in HM I ; 1 lir roMtoltire in P^ir**Krf>iind, I'ubt-lntelligencer BnildinK Ue^iile It ; W hite, Henry and ('obl> Hiiildin^N of the Melropulitan Building Company in the Backgruund. Exposition Provides Buildings 145 Francis Ell Burnham Smith, Assistant in the Library; Carrie Odell Wilmire, Assistant in the Library. The enrollment numbered three hundred and ten. In 1 909 the Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Seattle's only attempt at a world's fair, and a highly successful attempt from every standpoint, was held on the University campus, and provision was made by the Legislature that most of the money spent on it by the state should go into permanent buildings that could subsequently become part of the University's plant. When the fair was over the University found itself in possession of a wonderfully improved campus and about twenty new buildings. Meanwhile the growth of the institution was remarkable and the additional space was so quickly filled that the necessity of additional buildings again faces the state. The principal buildings of the University are Bagley Hall (named after the "father" of the University), Denny Hall (named after Arthur A. Denny), Science Hall, Library, Observatory, Gymnasium, Armory, Engineering Building, Forestry Building, two dormitories, and Meany Hall, the last mentioned being the magnifi- cent building erected for the exposition to become the University's auditorium when the fair was over. It was given its name in 1914 by the Board of Regents as a mark of appreciation of the value to the University of Prof. Edmond S. Meany, an alumnus whose work for his alma mater has been one of the potent forces in its upbuilding. The successive presidents of the University were: 1861, Asa Shinn Mercer; 1863, William Edward Barnard; 1867, Rev. George F. Whitworth; 1870, John H. Hall; 1872, Edgar K. Hill; 1874, F. H. Whitworth, Miss Mary Thayer, joint acting presidents; 1875, Rev. George F. Whitworth; 1877, A. J. Anderson; 1882, Leonard Jackson Powell; 1887, Thomas Milton Gatch; 1895, Mark W. Har- rington; 1897, William Franklin Edwards; 1897, Charles Francis Reeves (acting president); 1898, Frank Pierpont Graves; 1902, Thomas F. Kane; 1914, Henry Landes (acting president). In 1914 the heads of the principal departments were : Orson Bennett Johnson, Professor Emeritus of Zoology; Henry Landes, Professor of Geology and Mineralogy, Dean of the College of Science; Edmond Stephen Meany, Professor of History; J. Allen Smith, Professor of Political and Social Science, and Dean of the Graduate School; Caroline Haven Ober, Professor of Spanish; Almon Homer Fuller, Professor of Civil Engineering, and Dean of the College of Engineering; John Thomas Condon, Professor of Law, and Dean of the School of Law ; Horace G. Byers, Professor of 146 The City That Made Itself Chemistry; Trevor Kincaid, Professor of Zoology, and Director of the Puget Sound Marine Station; Frederick Morgan Padelford, Pro- fessor of English; Milnor Roberts, Professor of Mining Engineering and Metallurgy, and Dean of the College of Mines; Arthur Sewall Haggett, Professor of Greek, and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts; Frederick Arthur Osborn, Professor of Physics, and Director of Physics Laboratories; William Savery, Professor of Philosophy; David Thomson, Professor of Latin; Charles Willis Johnson, Pro- fessor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and Dean of the College of Pharmacy; Pierre Joseph Frein, Professor of French; TTieodore Christian Frye, Professor of Botany; Robert Edouard Moritz, Pro- fessor of Mathematics and Astronomy; Carl Edward Magnusson, Professor of Electrical Engineering; Harvy Lantz, Professor of Law; Everett Owen Eastwood, Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Fred- erick William Meisnest, Professor of German; David Connolly Hall, Director of Physical Training; Elmer James McCaustland, Professor of Municipal Engineering; Isabella Austin, Dean of Women; Rev. Herbert Henry Gow^en, Professional Lecturer on Oriental History, Literature and Institutions; Oliver Huntington Richardson, Professor of European History; George Seaverns Cole, Professor of Law; Ivan Wilbur Goodner, Professor of Law^; Walter Greenw^ood Beach, Pro- fessor of Social Science; Irving Mackey Glen, Professor of Music, and Director of Fine Arts; Charles Church More, Professor of Civil Engineering; Henry Kreitzer Benson, Professor of Industrial Chem- istry; John Weinzirl, Professor of Bacteriology; Hugo Winken- werder. Professor of Forestry, and Dean of the College of Forestry; Vernon Louis Parrington, Professor of English; Frederick Elmer Bolton, Professor of Education, and Dean of the School of Educa- tion ; Edwin John Vickner, Professor of the Scandinavian Languages ; Edward Eugene McCammon, First Lieutenant, U. S. A., Professor of Military Science and Tactics; Edwin Augustus Start, Director of the University Extension Division. Administrative officers: Henry Landes, Acting President; Herbert Thomas Condon, Bursar; Edward Noble Stone, Recorder; William Elmer Henry, Librarian. In the Spring of 1914 the enrollment of the University was 3,340. CHAPTER FIFTEEN ACQUIRING THE PARKS AND BOULEVARDS NATURE has been lavish in bestowing gifts on Seattle. Scenery of surpassing grandeur leads the eye over hills and quiet v^ater to snov^-capped peaks which frame the picture that the city makes. Two fresh-w^ater lakes lie among the hills w^ithin the city, another skirts her eastern border for thirty miles, and from her western limits the salt water of the Sound carries the view to distant wooded shores which lie at the feet of towering, jagged mountains. In such a setting, and with a climate that encourages the growth of a multitude of flowers and shrubs, Seattle should ultimately be the most beautiful city in the world. Already she has taken long strides along the path that will lead her to this distinction, and if the com- prehensive scheme of park and boulevard extension which has been mapped out is backed by the architects, builders and home-owners of the city, her progress will be still more rapid. Throughout the world cities now recognize that the development of the aesthetic possibili- ties of communities not only is of value to the people of the commu- nities but also has a distinct commercial advantage, in that it attracts both tourists and permanent population. Particularly is this true of cities in the Pacific Coast states of the United States, where thou- sands of people settle each year to escape the rigors of the Middle West and Eastern climates. Early in her career Seattle realized the importance of parks. In 1 884 David T. Denny and his wife presented what is now^ Denny Park, a beautiful tract 4.78 acres in extent, to the city. At that time the first park board w^as appointed, its members being D. T. Denny, R. J. Graham and J. B. Metcalfe. For just twenty years the board existed, w^ith many different members, but little progress in park development was made on account of the system under which the board worked. It was the football of the political game played by the City Council, which had the board in its power by virtue of the fact that the Council could vote as much or little money as it willed for park purposes. Many good men accepted places on the board and did their best to be of service to the city, only to grow discour- aged by the attitude of the Council. In I 904 the people asserted themselves. Led by several public- spirited citizens, an agitation for the divorce of the Park Board and the City Council was begun, but with no effect on the City Council, which refused to submit the proposal to the voters of the city. This 147 148 The City That Made Itself difficulty was overcome by the preparation of an initiative petition which forced the Council to allow^ the people to vote on the matter, and in 1 904 the city decided by an overwhelming vote to enter upon a comprehensive plan of park development. A concrete proposal had been presented by J. C. Olmsted, one of the foremost landscape architects of America, who, in the winter of 1903-1904, had spent some months in Seattle studying the city's park and boulevard possibilities from every angle. His recommenda- tions, which were accepted by the city and are still being carried out, favored providing a park or playground w^ithin half a mile of every residence in the city, as opposed to developing a few large parks in more remote localities. These neighborhood or community parks have been established all over the city and for the most part are con- nected with one another by the remarkably attractive boulevard sys- tem which is also part of the Olmsted plan. It is proposed to have fifty miles of scenic drivew^ays within the city limits, skirting the shores of the lakes, follovs^ing the high ridges to provide a view of mountain and water, and w^inding in and out among the parks. Twenty-five miles of these boulevards had been completed by the beginning of 1914 and the work is being carried on steadily. The result of the board's activity in the past decade has been to provide Seattle with more and better recreation facilities than any city of twice her size in America. Park statistics amply prove the truth of this assertion. To do this involved a cash outlay by the people of five million dollars, four millions of which was raised by bond issues and one million by taxes. So much faith have the people in the personnel of the board, and so imbued are they with the desire to promote the work that w^as developing so capably before their eyes, that they have never refused to provide any funds which the board asked for. The amendment to the City Charter which marked the emancipation of the Park Board provided that 1 per cent of all licenses, fines and fees should go to the park fund, also not less than three-fourths of a mill of each annual tax levy. The dates and amounts of the bond issues were: 1906, $500,000; 1908, $1,000,000; 1910, $2,000,000; 1912, $500,000. Nearly one million dollars of this money has gone to provide playgrounds upon which grow^ing Seattle can grow healthy. It is impossible to estimate the value these playgrounds are to Seattle, but the people of the city, who paid for them, would cheerfully sub- scribe many times the amount to retain them were such a step nec- essary. So much importance, in fact, has been attached to this branch of the board's activities that new sites are now in process of acquisition in addition to the tw^enty-five, ranging in size from a city Purpose of Field Houses 249 block to thirty acres, with which the board entered upon its 1914 operations. Iri all. there are 205 acres of land within the limits of beattle devoted to the sole purpose of providing healthy bodies and cheerful minds for the little citizens who some day will use both bodies and mmds to the advantage of the city that is now developing A feature which the Seattle Park Board is developing is the con- struction and maintenance of field-houses in various parts of the city In no way can I better show the scope of the work along this line than by quoting from the last annual report of the board, prepared by the capable secretary. Roland Cotterill. In referring to the South Park Field-House, Mr. Cotterill says: "The basement is given over to boiler and fuel rooms, store- rooms and janitors quarters. On the main floor a social hall occu- pies the center of the building, with the directors' office and check- rooms facing thereon, while on either side are the boys' and girls' shower-rooms, locker-rooms, toilets, etc.. with a club-room attached to each section. The social hall serves as a reading-room and game- room. The entire second floor is given over to the combination gym- nasium and auditorium, with double stairways leading up from the social hall also separate stairways from the dressing-rooms and shower baths on the main floor. 'The auditorium is forty by sixty feet, exclusive of the stage and dressing-rooms which are modern in every respect, being fitted With full scenic and electrical equipment for dramatic entertainments. "This type of building makes possible the practical working out of the social center idea and has something to attract and interest the people of the community regardless of age. The social hall and club- rooms afford an opportunity for reading and playing games. The shower baths are open for the free use of all. whether in connection with gymnasium work or not. The gymnasium is equipped with modern apparatus, and trained instructors conduct classes for people of all ages, boys and girls and men and women; in fact, an institution of this kind affords a community athletic club service free of cost. "The auditorium is available without cost for improvement club meetings, socials, musicals, literary or dramatic entertainments, danc- ing parties, etc.. m fact any proper function except religious or polit- ical meetings, the only requirement being that users must be an organized or responsible group, and no admission fee can be charged Un account of the long rainy season in Seattle, recreation buildings ot this type make possible the continuance of supervised playground TTh b "d^ - '^'"*^'' ^^^ ^^*'^'ti^« s^^ifti^g from the playground ISO The City That Made Itself Contemplation of what Seattle is now doing, as Mr. Cotterill's report shows, makes interesting the reflection that there are still living here people who were residents of the city when the popula- tion was less than one hundred. The beach upon which Seattle's earliest settlers landed is now given over to public bathing, the Park Board having acquired it in 1910. The city's beach is 2,500 feet in length. It already has a substantial bath-house and other facilities for bathers and spectators. During the hot summer days it is the Mecca for thousands of people. A broad walk has been constructed and provides a delightful promenade. This affords an excellent illus- tration of what the city's public-spirited park commissioners are doing for the health and recreation of its citizens. The five million dollars which Seattle has spent in the purchase of parks and boulevards does not by any means represent the total value of its holdings, considering even that they are worth no more now than when acquired. To this total value must be added that of the tracts that have been donated at various times to the city by some of its public-spirited citizens. Seattle's first park is the one located at Denny Way, John Street, Dexter Avenue and Ninth Avenue North. This was donated to the city in 1884 by D. T. Denny and wife. At the time it was on the outskirts of the town and was known as Seattle Cemetery. The first work of Seattle's original park commission, consisting of D. T. Denny, R. J. Graham and J. B. Metcalf, was the removal of the bodies from this park to the tract just north of Volunteer Park. While Denny Park is per- haps the most beautiful of all the parks in the city, the fact that it is in the road of the regrade (it is now ninety feet above grade) means that it will soon be obliterated or remade at a lower level. One of the parks, consisting of more than thirteen acres, which was donated to the city is Colman Park, the gift of the J. M. Colman estate. This is located on Lake Washington, between Plum and Holgate Streets, and extends up the hill to Thirty-first Avenue South. In 1 907 Charles Cowen presented to the city a beautiful park of eight and one-half acres. This is located at Fifteenth Avenue Northeast, in the University Heights section. It is one of the best kept and most beautiful in the city. In 1887 Mr. and Mrs. George F. Dearborn gave to the city a five-acre park located on the ridge west of Hillman City. This is still in its wild natural state and remains to be developed when the population in that section grows to a point where it will be needed for recreation. Denny-Blaine Park, in the Denny-Blaine Addition, on the Madrona car line, on the hill just above Lake Washington, was Parks Given to City j^j donated to the city by the Denny-Blaine Land Company. It is the center of a district which has some of Seattle's most beautiful homes. Its area is a little less than three acres. A beautiful tract of land overlookins; Lake Washington, called Frink Park, was donated to the city in 1906 by J. M. Frink, who was one of the most active members of the Park Board for many years. It comprises more than fifteen acres. Its view and setting are de- lightful and it is now being made easy of access to the city's boule- vards. One of the best known of all the recreation spots in the city is Kinnear Park, located on the west slope of Queen Anne Hill. It is one of the oldest parks in Seattle, having been donated to the city in 1887 by George Kinnear and wife. It is a place of remarkable beauty and has an unsurpassed view of the city, Sound and moun- tams. It is also one of the most popular parks in the city, due to its easy access. It contains fourteen acres of land. Lakeview Park, on Blaine Boulevard, between East Thomas and hast Harrison Streets, consisting of two acres of land, was donated to the city in 1908 by J. C. Ford. The city enlarged it by purchase of adjacent property. A three-acre park, called Lincoln Beach Park, situated on the waterfront in the Fauntleroy district of West Seattle, was dedicated to the city by the owners of surrounding property. It is not as yet developed, but, with its 500 feet of frontage on the Sound, will make a fine salt-water park. But the largest of all the parks that have been given free of cost to the city ,s Schmitz Park, located on the West Seattle peninsula near Alki Point, a half mile back from the Alki Bathing Beach A tract of thirty-eight acres was donated to the city by Ferdinand Schmitz and wife in 1 908. Mr. Schmitz was then and is now a mernber of the Seattle Park Board. Schmitz Park is the most beau- tiful of all the natural parks in the city and is conceded to be the most remarkable park of its kind within the limits of any city in the United States. It has great trees and all the vegetation that is char- acteristic of Western Washington, together with many ravines and brooks. It is conceded to be "a nature lover's paradise." Park Board perfection has been built up in Seattle by the unsel- fish labor of many men. A leader in the agitation that resulted in the board being put on a satisfactory basis in 1 904 was E. F. Blaine, and he did more than any other one man to provide Seattle with the splendid system of parks and boulevards it now possesses. Mr. Blaine will go down in history as the "father of the park system," and the 152 The City That Made Itself system itself will be a monument that should forever remind Seattle of its obligation to him. Charles W. Saunders, J. E. Shrewsbury, J. T. Heffernan, A. B. Ernst and Edw^ard C. Cheasty also rendered invaluable service, Mr. Cheasty's lamentable death in 1914 being a distinct loss to the board, as he made it a practice of visiting parks in all parts of the world to improve his know^ledge as to what wan best for Seattle. The work of Austin E. Griffiths in connection with the playgrounds was one of the great factors in securing for the children of the city the magnificent open spaces which are now devoted to their physical development and mental stimulation. Not only for the magnificent gift of a park to the city, but for his years of labor as a commissioner, should Seattle be grateful to J. M. Frink. For forty years Mr. Frink had been a leading citizen and a useful one. He established the Washington Iron Works in 1 883 at a time in the history of the city when it badly needed industries, and his prudence and foresight were always at the command of his neighbors. It is perhaps invidious to pick out of such a strong list one of the men who served on the board in the early days, but I would like to make the name of W. E. Bailey something a little more substan- tial than a memory, for he was the first man to suggest a comprehen- sive park system for Seattle. During the eighties Bailey was a force in the city. He built the Bailey Building immediately after the fire and gave C. W. Saunders, his architect, instructions to make it one of the most imposing structures in the Northwest. This was at a time w^hen it required nerve and great faith in the future of Seattle to justify such an investment. In 1 890 Bailey indicated on a map the corner of Second Avenue and Pike Street and expressed the belief that it would be the most important retail center of the city in the future. At that time stumps stood on the lots that now bear the structures which prove the wisdom of his prophecy. Also in 1890 he bought Bailey peninsula for $20,000 and offered it to the city for the same figure, declaring then that Seattle would ultimately have to acquire it; and when she did she paid $200,000 for it. When Bailey became a member of the Park Board he commenced work at once for the acceptance by the city of some comprehensive parking system, the development of w^hich could commence in a small way then and keep pace with the capability of the city to finance it. He engaged E. A. Schwagerl, a landscape gardener, to make the plans of such a system and paid for the work out of his private resources. The plans were never adopted, but when, a score of years later, the city realized the necessity of having a comprehensive system, Olm- sted vindicated the wisdom of Bailey by making plans that followed very closely the old ones of Schwagerl. Members of Park Board 1S3 The 1914 board was composed of Ferdinand Schmitz, president; Ritchie M. Kinnear, Otto Roseleaf, George B. Lamping, Erastus Brainerd. Those who have served the city as park commissioners from 1884 to 1913 are: D. T. Denny, C. M. Sheafe, Daniel Jones, W. E. Bailey, B. E. Bennett, F. F. Randolph, Herman Chapin, W. R. Andrews, A. T. Lundberg, C. W. Saunders, C. J. Smith, J. E. Shrewsbury. J. B. Metcalf, G. O. Haller, W. E. Burgess, Otto Ranke, W. H. White, J. H. Ryckman, J. D. Lowman, Andrew Knox, Melody Choir, E. F. Blaine, J. W. Clise, J. C. Ford, R. J. Graham, W. E. Boone, Abram Barker, C. W. Lawton, C. M. Evans, T. N Haller T. M. Green, C. D. Williams, T. H. Cann, C. E. Fowler, C. H. Clark,' J. T. Heffernan, J. D. Trenholme, A. B. Ernst, J. M. Frink, E. C. Cheasty, Ralph C. McAllaster. The department officials of the board in 1914 were: J. W. Thompson, superintendent; F. L. Fuller, assistant superintendent; H. L. McGillis, chief engineer; H. A. Hanson, attorney; J. Howard Stine, director of playgrounds; Roland W. Cotterill, secretary. CHAPTER SIXTEEN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE A FIGHTING FORCE THE men who build a city have their deeds chronicled aftei them by biographers and historians; their personality and character are accentuated in the minds of their fellow citizens by achieve- ments they have attained. The man of character who builds is rea- sonably assured of recognition for his work. But what of the man w^hose civic pride and loyalty leads him to fuse his personality w^ith that of many other men for the common good? Of such men and by them Seattle was made. Always, since the first landing at Alki Point, have the men of Seattle stood together with the determination to build a city that should one day be queen of all. First, in the early days, they fought the Indians to protect their homes and families; then they worked side by side to provide the necessities to give them life, and finally came the struggle for their civic existence. And it is in the latter case that the real unsel- fishness of Seattle's pioneers came most into being. At first, as of necessity in a more or less primitive settlement, the efforts for the common weal were far from organized. But the advent of each emergency, always a matter of defense, was met with a united front, and in the face of what must seem defeat the pioneer citizens of Seattle worked as one. Soon the settlement grew. The community took form. It became a town. Even yet the w^atchword was defense, but a newer spirit entered in — the motif of aggressive- ness, the determination that the community must grow, must get the things that should give greater comfort and better living to the pop- ulation. And thus the stand-together spirit gave rise to a civic organization. It was called the Chamber of Commerce; the found- ing of which marked the beginning of the metropolitan life of Seattle. Without the existence of the Chamber it is doubtful if this city would be half as far along on the way to being a world city as she is today. It was in the year 1 882 that Seattle, by the acts of these loyal citizens who elected to work for her good without pay or praise, cast off her swaddling clothes. And the metamorphosis was as sudden as it was sure. James P. Ludlow^, a Baptist preacher by profession, but occupied as clerk of the Territorial court, had prospered in a financial way and decided to devote a portion of his time to missionary work on Paget Sound. In a spirit of devotion and piety he built a smcdl 154 After the Mastick 155 ship, which he named Evangel, to take him and his associates to the nooks and corners of the Sound and facilitate his work among the Indians. In an effort to combine worldly profits with heavenly pros- pects he secured in 1882 the contract for carrying the Alaska mail betvs^een Port Townsend and Sitka, Alaska, with service once a month. Prior to this the mail had always gone from Portland or San Francisco. The latter cities, alive to their welfare, resented this interference with one of their advantages and took steps to have the routing changed. They urged that the Evangel was not sufficiently seaworthy for the ocean trip. The inspectors who had to decide if the Evangel were equal to the task of conveying the mail safely to Alaska had their headquarters in Tacoma, a fact that did not reassure Seattle to any great extent, for at that time the Northern Pacific was overlooking no opportunity to block any movement that might be of assistance to Seattle. The contract w^as to go into effect on a Monday and Seattle was quite proud of the fact that she had taken the plum away from Tacoma. On the Saturday afternoon preceding, John Leary vs^ent to Judge Burke's office. "Tom," said Leary, "I think the Northern Pacific got in some of its work with the inspectors. Anyway, Ludlow's boat has not passed inspection and we have to get something else to commence carrying the mail, and we have to have it by Monday morning." "What do you want me to do?" asked Burke. "You know John W. Ackerson, don't you?" asked Leary. "Very well," replied Burke. "Then I want you to come with me to Tacoma and procure his tug, Mastick. It is the only boat on the Sound that the inspectors could not refuse to pass. We will take Ludlow's boat out of the water and make it seaworthy enough to circle the globe, but mean- while we will lose the contract if we do not get Ackerson's tug by Monday morning. Come on." Leary and Burke just caught a boat sailing for Tacoma, but when they arrived there they found that Ackerson was at his farm somewhere near Puyallup. "We will have to take horses and ride out," announced Burke. "Tom," said Leary, impressively, "not to save a contract for carrying all the mail in the world, not if Ackerson would present me with his boat for nothing, would I ride to his farm. I rode a horse once and that was enough. You will have to go alone." Burke went alone, and it was after 1 o'clock of a wild and wet night when he mounted his horse for the return trip to Tacoma. 156 The City That Made Itself He could not see his horse's head, much less the road, so he made no effort to guide its movements. It was an animal of spirit, and it had been held in the stable w^ithout its evening meal, so it decided to get back to its livery stable home in the shortest possible time. Burke was satisfied that he could ride as fast as the horse could run, so he settled himself in the saddle and let er rip. It w^as a great ride. Burke had the sensation of great speed and could feel that the animal was eating up the road with long strides that brought her belly almost to the ground, but he could see nothing and at no stage of the jour- ney except its ends did he have the remotest idea w^here he was. Covered w^ith mud, wet to the skin, he at last pulled up at the livery stable, where he w^as informed by its irate keeper that he had almost ridden to death a race horse which he had in training for some approaching meet, and which an addle-pated stable attache had rented by mistake. Burke added two dollars to the charge for the horse. "When she starts in a race, no matter how many or how speedy contestants she is to meet, bet that on her for me. I don't know if you know how fast she is, but I do, " and from inside his mud-covered garments he extracted a written order for the Mastick, and he and Leary went to the dripping waterfront to find the boat that saved the mail con- tract — Seattle's first faint finger sent out to slumbering Alaska — for the city both of them worked so hard to serve. Those among Seattle's citizens who had her interests at heart realized that the substitution of the Mastick for the Evangel was only temporary and that after the gospel ship had been altered to meet the demands of the inspectors there would be further need of civic vigi- lance or another excuse for injuring Seattle's interests would be found. By this time, too, Seattle was growing, and assuming such proportions that need was felt for some organization whose duty it would be to serve the city when such issues as that of the mail con- tract presented themselves. TTiere was a feeling already manifested that some day Alaska's trade would be worth a great deal to the city that secured it, and Seattle did not propose to allow any of its rival cities to gain it w^ithout a struggle. It is interesting to note, in view^ of its long and consistent fight for the development of Alaska, that the Chamber of Commerce was brought into being for the specific purpose of promoting closer relations betw^een Seattle and the Northern possession. Mixed with this desire was unquestionably the spirit of antagonism towards Tacoma. At that time the feeling between the two cities was so intense that one would fight for what the other wanted purely for the love of fighting and thwarting its enemy. There were undoubtedly some people in Seattle then who The Chamber Organizes 157 did not share the opinion that Alaska's trade would some day be worth something, but they were willing to get in and work enthu- siastically to retain the mail contract, the fact that Tacoma wanted it being the only incentive necessary for the enlistment of their serv- ices. The important thing, however, is that an organization was effected, and it accomplished the most immediate cause of its exist- ence by making a fight at the national capital that resulted in the Ludlow mail contract matter being finally settled in favor of Seattle. On the evening of April 17, 1882, twenty-three of the city's most prominent men gathered in the office of McClure & Taylor, in the old Butler Building, on James Street. These twenty-three men comprised Seattle's first Chamber of Commerce, the organization that is today the chief factor in the civic and commercial upbuilding of the city. Those who attended the first meeting were: Henry L. Yesler, Joseph R. Lewis, Orange Jacobs, John Leary, Angus Mackintosh, Alfred Snyder, George W. Harris, Z. C. Miles, James Campbell, John J. Post, Corliss P. Stone, Samuel C. Woodruff, Samuel Kenny, W. A. Jennings, Samuel Frauenthal, Judge Thomas Burke, W. H. Taylor, J. C. Haines, Bailey Gatzert, C. B. Bagley, John Collins, H. G. Struve and F. W. Wusthoff. The first officers were: J. R. Lewis, president; Bailey Gatzert, vice-president; C. P. Stone, recording secretary; Thomas Burke, corresponding secretary. From the moment that this spirit of aggressiveness took root in the city in the organization of the Chamber of Commerce, Seattle has gone ahead by leaps and bounds. No influence has had more to do with the development of the city. Always well organized, with men of judgment and power at its head, it has worked effectively, though unostentatiously, and none but some of the men who have been with it through all the years know how much the city owes to its efforts. Today the Chamber is a powerful organization, and the same spirit of loyalty permeates it that prevailed when Missionary Ludlow's contract was endangered. The list of presidents of the Chamber of Commerce is an honor roll of Seattle citizenship. Each man who filled the office gave largely of his time to promote the welfare of the city, and to each of them is due the tribute that should be accorded self-sacrifice for the public good. The men who held the office, and their terms, were: J. R. Lewis, 1882-1884; Bailey Gatzert, 1884-1890; John Leary, 1890- 1 89 1; Jacob Furth, 1891-1892; E. O. Graves, 1892- 1900; J. W. Clise, 1900-1904; John Schram, 1904-1905; John H. McGraw, 1905-1909; J. D. Lowman, 1909-1912; J. E. Chilberg, 158 The City That Made Itself 1912. At the end of his first term in 1913 Mr. Chilberg was unan- imously elected to succeed himself. Of scarcely less importance than the men who filled the highest office in the Chamber were those who acted in the capacity of secre- tary, for upon them often devolved the chief work. In the order of their incumbency they were: Thomas Burke (corresponding), 1882-1884; C. P. Stone (re- cording), 1882-1884; T. T. Minor (corresponding), 1884-1886; Roswell Scott (recording), 1884-1886; E. M. Carr (recording), 1886-1888; C. H. Kittinger (secretary), 1889-1890; Walter Ely (secretary pro tern.), 1890; J. W. Dodge, 1890-1893; L. W. Thomp- son, 1893; Wm. H. Whittlesey, 1893-1895; Tracy H. Robertson, 1895-1896; Ernest E. Ling (acting), 1896-1898; J. H. Shively. 1898-1899; Thos. W. Prosch, 1899-1901; James B. Meikle, 1901- 1906; C. B. Yandell, 1906. In 1914 the full list of officers of the Chamber were : J. E. Chilberg, president; E. F. Sweeney, vice-president; J. C. Slater, vice-president; James D. Hoge, treasurer; C. B. Yandell, sec- retary; Roy O. Hadley, assistant secretary. Board of trustees: F. W. Baker, Alfred Battle, A. J. Blethen, Scott C. Bone, J. S. Brace, Thomas Burke, J. E. Chilberg, J. W. Clise, Josiah Collins, J. F. Douglas, D. E. Frederick, J. S. Goldsmith, Joshua Green, J. T. Hef- fernan, James D. Hoge, A. E. Knoff, A. W. Leonard, J. D. Lowman, Frank McDermott, Will H. Parry, S. H. Piles, Perry Poison, J. C. Slater, C. J. Smith, E. F. Sweeney, Park Weed Willis. Bureaus and departments: Alaska, Scott C. Bone, chairman; Charities Indorsement, Park Weed Willis, chairman; Commerce and Statistics, J. D. Lowman, chairman; Exhibits, E. C. Hughes, chair- man; Publicity and Industrial (conventions), A. J. Blethen, chair- man; Taxation, Perry Poison, chairman; Transportation, J. S. Gold- smith, chairman. Standing committee chairmen: Arbitration, Justice and Peace, F. W. Baker; City Affairs, Joseph Blethen; County Affairs, Alfred Battle; Finance, C. J. Smith; House, C. M. Nettleton; Logged-off Lands and Irrigation, Howard A. Hanson; Mercantile Affairs, D. E. Frederick; Membership, J. A. Swalwell; National Affairs and Legis- lation, Thomas Burke; Progress and Prosperity, J. C. Slater; Rivers and Harbors, J. S. Brace; Reception, Josiah Collins; State Affairs and Legislation, A. S. Taylor. It was under the presidency of Mr. Chilberg that the Chamber somewhat startled the national capital by moving to it in the winter of 1913-14 a complete exhibit of Alaskan products to impress upon Alaska Bureau's Work 1S9 the members of Congress the merits of Alaska's plea for a govern- ment railroad. The Chamber of Commerce had its origin in the necessity of securing, protecting and fostering direct mail service from Seattle to Alaska; thirty years later (November, 1911,) the Alaska Bureau was formed as a special department to carry on the v^ork of enlighten- ing the nation w^ith regard to the Northland. As the result of govern- ment at long range, the application or misapplication of conservation theories, bureaucratic red tape, and dense ignorance of the people as a whole and the lawmakers in particular, the Territory had become bound with regulations until no one could move. Its pioneers were discouraged and the prospect of development had vanished. With J. E. Chilberg, chairman, and J. L. McPherson, secretary, the Alaska Bureau, on behalf of the Chamber, first sent a committee, consisting of John L. Wilson, J. D. Lowman (then president), and Secretary C. B. Yandell, to the other leading cities of the Coast in an effort to enlist the co-operation of their chambers of commerce in sending a delegation to Washington, D. C, for the purpose of urging that Alaska be relieved of its government bondage, and of insisting that the pioneers be given a chance to live. Its mission was to advo- cate that, whatever the method, the resources be unlocked, the resi- dents be given opportunity to enjoy some fruits of development during their lifetime and the world to gain the advantage of the wealth that would be forthcoming. Such a delegation, headed by Senator Wilson and Secretary Yandell, did spend the winter of 191 I - 12 at the National Capital and accomplished noteworthy results in arousing an intelligent interest in and understanding of the problems of Alaska and her citizens. Meanwhile the Chamber, through this bureau, assembled the most complete library of reports, maps and other data — including a physical exhibit of the resources — that had ever been collected on Alaska. It made maps, obtained photographs, prepared charts, and combined them into atlases, which were laid before committees of Congress, and presented to the President, the Secretary of the Interior, and others of influence in national political life. In the Summer of 1913, carrying as guests correspondents of many national and Eastern publications, with Scott C. Bone at its head, and with Seth Mann, of San Francisco, as personal representative of the President of the United States, the Bureau and the Chamber sent an excursion on a tour of more than 8,000 miles, covering all the present established routes of transportation, and visiting all accessible portions of the Territory. Following this trip, and as the culmination of all the other work that had been done in paving the way. President Wilson, in his 160 The City That Made Itself message to Congress in December, 1913, strongly advocated the building of a Government railroad from the Coast to the great interior valleys of Alaska, reaching also the coal fields. Meanw^hile, through the refusal of Mr. Lov/man to permit his re-election, Mr. Chilberg had become president of the Chamber and Mr. Bone chairman of the Alaska Bureau. Under their direction a strong committee of volun- tary workers went from Seattle to Washington, where, led by Will H. Parry, it impressed upon members of Congress the necessity of the Government building this railroad, inasmuch as it made impossible securing the road in any other manner. A complete and striking exhibit of the products of Alaska was dismantled at the Chamber, packed and hastened to Washington on passenger-train time, and installed in the Senate office building for the visual enlightenment of Senators, Congressmen, Cabinet Members, and others who had not previously been able to free themselves from the conviction that Alaska is perpetually snow covered and ice bound. That the President recommended and Congress in 1914 passed the Alaska railroad bill is due in larger measure to the Chamber of Commerce than to any other single or several factors. This was at a cost to the organization and the business men of Seattle of many thousands of dollars in direct outlay, and represented voluntary time and effort on the part of numerous public-spirited citizens which cannot be estimated in terms of money. Mr. Yandell's connection with the Chamber really dates from October, 1905, when he acted as secretary during the latter months of Mr. Meikle's term. In June, 1907, Roy O. Hadley became assist- ant secretary of the Chamber, and has continued in that position since. It was practically out of the membership of the Chamber that the men were chosen to conduct Seattle's first bid for world-wide exploitation — the Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909. This fair, which lasted from June 1 to October 1 6, had the double distinc- tion of being ready on the opening day and closing its gates on the final day free from debt. As a result of an extraordinary campaign carried on by Will H. Parry, Seattle citizens purchased all the capital stock of the exposition company in one day. Mr. Parry's dynamic energy and remarkable organizing ability put the undertaking over its first barrier and the same talents in him have been used on a score of other occasions to the profit of the city. At the head of the expo- sition as president was J. E. Chilberg, a man who grew up in Seattle and who early absorbed the prevailing desire to do things for his city. For practically two years he devoted all his time to exposition affairs, and no one during the entire period ever saw him without a smile on his face. To all the men connected w^ith the exposition, who gave As the View lA>oking l>uwn Second Avenue Truni .Stewart Street I'Hed to Appear and nt* It Does Now. C. J. Smit h's Good Work 161 their time unsparingly and gratuitously, Seattle owes a debt. TTie full list of officers follows : President, J. E. Chilberg; Vice-Presidents, Hon. John H. McGraw, A. S. Kerry, H. C. Henry; Director General, I. A. Nadeau; Treasurer, C. R. Collins; Secretary, William M. Sheffield; Counsel, John W. Roberts. Executive Committee: J. E. Chilberg, Hon. John H. McGraw, A. S. Kerry, H. C. Henry, C. J. Smith, E. C. Hughes, J. W. Clise, J. S. Goldsmith, Will H. Parry, F. W. Baker, Prof. E. S. Meany, C. R. Collins, Josiah Collins, Jacob Furth, George Boole, N. H. Latimer, Ralph S. Stacy, G. V. Holt. Board of Trustees: T. Arai, E. W. Andrews, E. E. Ainsworth, F. W. Baker, Alfred Battle, Col. A. J. Blethen, George Boole, Henry Broderick, Wm. M. Calhoun, J. E. Chilberg, J. W. CHse, C. R. Collins, Josiah Collins, John Davis, J. D. Farrell, G. W. Fisher, J. C. Ford, R. R. Fox, C. E. Fowler, Jacob Furth, J. S. Goldsmith, John P. Hartman, Andrew Hemrich, H. C. Henry, James D. Hoge, E. C. Hughes, S. H. Hedges, A. S. Kerry, N. H. Latimer, Hon. John H. McGraw, Geo. S. McLaren, J. C. Marmaduke, James A. Moore, William Hickman Moore, William Pigott, J. B. Powles, John G. Price, W. L. Rhoades, John W. Roberts, E. Shorrock, C. J. Smith, A. B. Stewart, C. D. Stimson, H. W. Treat, E. E. Webster, H. R. Will- iams, Hon. John L. Wilson, C. F. White, Will H. Parry. The executive heads of the various departments were: James A. Wood, director of exploitation; Frank P. Allen, Jr., director of works; Louis Baeder, assistant; Henry E. Dosch, director of exhibits; C. E. Mattox, director of concessions; Welford Beaton, chief of the department of publicity. These officials, with the director-general and secretary, were the salaried heads of their departments, all the others whose names are given above having served the exposition for three years without any further remuneration than the satisfaction of having done a good work well. It was largely due to the extraor- dinarily efficient work of the chairman of the building committee, C. J. Smith, that the exposition lived up to its widely exploited promise that it was "The Fair that Will Be Ready," point being lent to the phrase by the fact that previous expositions in the United States had not been completed on the opening day. The work which Mr. Smith did in connection with the exposition was characteristic of his many years of service for Seattle. One predominant feature of the exposition was the exquisite effect gained by taking full advantage of the climate and site in devel- oping the landscape possibilities. Olmsted Brothers made the plans, James Frederick Dawson, a member of the firm, being in charge of 162 The City That Made Itself the actual work. So well was the work done that it was generally conceded that Seattle's exposition was the most beautiful ever held. In the month following the closing of the exposition the Cham- ber of Commerce tendered a banquet to the non-salaried officers. To W. A. Peters was assigned the duty of unveiling a bronze tablet which now occupies a permanent place on the University Campus, where the exposition was held. Mr. Peters' brief address reflected the feeling of the citizens at the time and was such a gem of poetic eloquence that I reproduce it here in full: "You who have listened to the eloquence of our toastmaster (Judge Thomas Burke), who has so ably portrayed the sentiments of those who sit about you here, surely have no room for doubt that so long as his lips may speak, so long as our hearts may beat, you will not want for testimony to your noble acts of citizenship. "Sitting under this spell, it is hard for us to realize that the citadel which you set in stars beyond the lake, and which made the glory of our summer nights, has long since become a shadow across our sky; it is hard for us to believe that those graceful temples, those firelit waters, those magic gardens may soon return to the wilder- ness from which your genius charmed them, or to the unpoetic walks of daily commerce; harder, still, is it for us to believe that the lesson in self-reliance, in daring enterprise, in magnificent achievement which you have taught an unbelieving nation, can ever be forgotten; or that your honored names may sound but strange upon the ears of those who throng our streets in days to come. Yet well v/e know that all such memories must go the road of the unremembered past. "And so, against such chance, we have thought to place upon that spot which you have so ennobled a memorial which may speak in more enduring tongue to those who follow us The inscription is as follows: On these grounds was held between June 1 st and October 1 6th, 1 909, THE ALASKA-YUKON-PACIFIC EXPOSITION, amd this tablet is erected by the Seattle Chamber of Commerce as a testimonial to those citizens of Seattle who, from a sense of civic loyalty, and at great personal sacrifice, created and carried to success an exp>osition of lasting benefit not only to this city but to the entire Northwest. But far more important than all other advantages resulting from such an exhibition, is the inspiring example of unselfish and disinterested public service which these citizens, without material reward, or the hope thereof, have given to their city. Such men are the proudest possession of any community and the surest guaranty of its prosperity and greatness. "Thus may your children's children, and generations on the heel of these, made mindful of our measure of your worth, them- selves add honor to a noble heritage," concluded Mr. Peters. Seattle Commercial Club 163 In 1 904 an agitation in favor of an organization of a body of business men to supplement the work of the Chamber of Commerce led to the formation of the Seattle Commercial Club. The first meeting was held on November 6, 1 904, at which George H. Revelle was elected president and Homer L. Bull secretary, their terms to continue until the first regular election of officers. In January, 1905, the election was held and the follow^ing officers selected: C. F. White, president; George H. Revelle, vice-president; W. C. Ruckman, vice-president; Ralph S. Stacey, treasurer; W. R. Williams, secretary; directors, George Matzen, J. C. Marmaduke, N. R. Sibley, George A. Virtue, F. C. Harper, J. A. Forehand, J. F. Lane, H. A. Schoenfeld, Frank Waterhouse, F. Edgar Barth, Homer L. Bull, Dr. J. H. Snively, H. W. Mix. During the ten years that the Commercial Club has been in existence some efforts have been made to prevent its energy being expended along the same lines as is that of the Chamber of Com- merce. At one time it was suggested that all civic publicity and entertaining be done by the Commercial Club, leaving the other problems exclusively in the hands of the Chamber. Nothing came of these efforts, however, and there is no line of demarkation between the fields of operation of the two organizations. The officers of the club in 1914 were: Fred W. Bert, Jr., president; Earnest Carstens, first vice-presi- dent and treasurer; W. E. Stevens, second vice-president; Otto A. Case, secretary; directors, H. E. Jones, Glenn C. Beechler, M. J. Car- keek, Roland W. Cotterill, Robert A. Devers, Albro Gardner, Jr., M. A. Gottstein, Otto L. Luther, Nels Hartvig, Fred Hoyt, George B. Cole, Carl A. Ewald, Cassius E. Gates, W. G. Norris, Harry A. Owen, A. T. Rautenberg, W. H. Barnes, M. V. Kellogg, William H. Gorham. Robert S. Boyns, C. C. Finn. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN FROM THE LOG CABIN TO THE SKYSCRAPER A CITY is not made with a hammer and saw; a mere collection of buildings does not indicate civic valor, so there is small space in my book of Seattle fundamentals for reference to the individual units that make the city that each of us can see. The man who erected the first rude log cabin displayed more nerve than did the man w^ho later erected a sky-scraper. The first required grim determination, sublime courage and self-reliance — the second, merely money. The man w^ho carved his home w^ith his axe laid the foundation that the great steel buildings were later built upon; the men w^ho fought for a score of years to give Seattle a place on the map opened the w^ay for the dollars that subsequently came to reap the benefits of their heroic w^ork. It was immediately after the fire in 1 889 that Seattle com- menced to rear the buildings that gave her the appearance of a city. TTie notable structures before that time v^^ere the Yesler-Leary Build- ing, near where the Mutual Life Building now stands, on Pioneer Place, the Boston Block, still a modern structure, which -was erected by Herman Chapin and associates at a time when it required some nerve and confidence to erect such a large building in such a small city, and the Burke Building, at the corner of TTiird Avenue and Union Street. There were other large buildings, of course, but these three were significant. Yesler and Leary erected the first office build- ing at the head of the street that was then the most prominent retail thoroughfare in the city; Herman Chapin spent a great many thou- sand dollars blocks away from it on Second Avenue, where the com- merce of the city was commencing to develop; Judge Burke went still farther afield and erected a building at Third and Union when he had to go through woods to reach it from "down town." After the fire the principal property ow^ners of the city began to rear more ambitious buildings on the ashes of those that had reached back almost to the village stage of Seattle's history. W. E. Bailey erected the building that for many years bore his name and is now the Railway Exchange Building, J. D. Lovs^man the Pioneer Building, John Collins the Seattle Hotel and Collins Block, Angus Mackintosh the Kenneth Building, the Starr-Boyd estate the building that bears its name. Dexter Horton the New York Block, and A. H. Foote and associates the Pacific Building. All these buildings clustered around the business center as it then was. Again Judge Burke did some 164 The First Skyscraper 165 pioneering, and at the corner of Marion and Second Avenue built the Burke Building, which was the most ambitious structure in the Northwest when it was completed, and which is still an ornament to the main retail street. The Downs, Hinckley, Haller, McDonald and Epler Buildings w^ere also added. The first steel building of the "sky-scraper" type to be erected in Seattle was the Alaska Building. In 1 903 J. E. Chilberg, Jafet Linde- berg and other stockholders of the Scandinavian-American Bank, pur- chased the southeast corner of Second and Cherry from the Amos Brown estate for $250,000, with the intention of erecting upon it a home for the bank. The morning after they made the purchase, J. C. Marmaduke, of St. Louis, decided that he would like to erect a building on the corner and approached the Amos Brown estate with a view of buying it. When he discovered the sale had already been made he hunted up Mr. Chilberg, made him a proposition, and the two joined in the erection of the first fourteen-story steel building in the Northw^est. Construction work was completed in eleven months. The building stood as the highest in the city until James D. Hoge and associates erected the Hoge Building, across the corner from it. In 1914 was completed the Smith Building, which rears its forty-second story into the clouds and gives Seattle the proud distinc- tion of having the highest building in the world outside New York City. The Leary Building, at the corner of Madison Street and Second Avenue, was erected by Mrs. John Leary. The first reinforced concrete structures in Seattle were the American Bank and Empire Buildings, which connect and were built jointly by the American Savings Bank and Judge Burke. A. Warren Gould was the architect, and in 1914 he is engaged in erecting a million-dollar court-house for King County. It is interesting to note that Judge Burke, in covering five lots with business blocks, has done more building on his own property than any other individual in the city. Dexter Horton was a close second, his New York Block covering four lots. A striking feature of the erection of buildings in Seattle is the work of development now being done by the Metropolitan Building Company, an organization of prominent capitalists. The company was organized in 1907 for the purpose of taking over from James A. Moore a lease he then had on the ten acres situated in the heart of Seattle which A. A. Denny, C. C. Terry and Edward Lander, in 1861, presented to the state for a site for the University, and which was used for university purposes until September, 1895. It was a tract without streets or buildings, although completely surrounded by both. The Metropolitan Company began the unique task of build- 166 The City That Made Itself ing a city within a city and has given to Seattle some of the finest office buildings on the continent. The White, Henry and Cobb and the Metropolitan TTieatre Buildings were the large structures com- pleted prior to 1914, and the Stuart Building was in course of con- struction in that year. The company is not only developing the tract with buildings that will produce revenue, but it is doing all the phys- ical work with regard to beauty of design and the artistic effect of the group when it shall be completed. The land is still owned by the University, and the Metropolitan Building Company has increased its value not only to the extent of the buildings it erected on it but by bringing it so emphatically into the city. How^ells & Stokes, the architects, have carefully preserved harmony of color and design in all the buildings and are giving to Seattle a group of structures that will be a decided ornament. In 1914 the officers of the Metropolitan Building Company were: C. H. Cobb, president; C. F. White, E. A. Stuart and O. D. Fisher, vice-presidents; J. F. Douglas, secretary and manager. Among the stockholders were, in addition to the above: H. C. Henry. R. D. Merrill, Grant Smith, A. F. Coats, W. H. Talbot, W. G. Collins, M. G. Draham, Thomas Bordeaux, Patrick McCoy and M. J. Whitson. Many millions of dollars of outside capital have been spent in building operations in Seattle. One of the most persistent investors, who are not now and never have been residents of Seattle, is G. Henry Whitcomb, of Worcester, Mass. Mr. Whitcomb was the first man in America to manufacture envelopes by machinery and has had a singularly successful business career. Early in 1 898 James A. Moore, then a real estate broker in Seattle, was introduced to Mr. Whitcomb in Worcester and, as the manufacturer was contemplating a trip to the Pacific Coast during the summer of that year, he prom- ised Mr. Moore that he v^ould visit Seattle and see if it measured up to the enthusiastic description of the real estate man. Mr. Whitcomb brought his entire family. When he arrived Seattle had all the ear- marks of a frontier tov^^n. The Klondike rush was at its height, and on the street in front of the Rainier Grand Hotel, where the Whit- comb party stopped, dogs were being trained to harness. Mr. Whit- comb spent some weeks in Seattle and explored it thoroughly. The impression it made was apparently satisfactory, for he proceeded to purchase property to the extent of $1 13,000, spread out as follows: One hundred lots known as the Lowman property, for $25,000; thirty-five acres known as the Emerson land, near the University, for $16,000; the northwest corner of Pike and Fourth, for $42,000; the northwest corner of Third and Virginia, for $10,000, and the north- A Non-resident Investor jgy west corner of Second and Union, for $20,000. On the last men- tioned property he proceeded to spend $8,000 remodeling the build- ing, bringing the total of his first year's investment up to $121,000. These purchases indicated Mr. Whitcomb's faith in two things that were not accepted at that time even by many residents of Seattle — the gradual working north on Second Avenue of the retail business, and the ultimate development of the University district. It also re- flected quite remarkable foresight and a confidence in the ultimate growth of the city that was not influenced by local prejudice, as he had no sentimental interest in the future of Seattle. That he was not carried away by a momentary burst of enthusiasm was demonstrated durmg the following year, when he purchased the southeast corner of Second and Union and proceeded immediately to erect the Esta- brook Block. In 1901 he purchased practically all of what is now Capitol Hill, cleared it, paved it, and placed it on the market through the office of James A. Moore. Also in 1901 Mr. Whitcomb leased the entire block surrounded by Second, Union, First, and University Streets — the Denny cow pasture — had the cows removed and com- menced the construction of the Arcade Building, which, with the Annex erected in 1907, occupies all the property. This building, still owned by Mr. Whitcomb and built entirely by him, is the largest office structure in the city, containing 351 ,000 square feet of floor space. In the forty-two-story L. C. Smith Building there are 300,000 square feet. In 1905 and 1906 Mr. Whitcomb acquired all the frontage on the east side of Second Avenue from Pine to Stewart and erected the Amherst apartment building and the Washington Hotel Annex. So closely did he follow the regrade operations that the steam shovels were eating away the hill on the rear of his property while he was building on the front. I give in detail Mr. Whitcomb's activity in Seattle to guard against the possibility of a charge that the title of my book bears an implication that Seattle owed nothing to outside capital. During the more strenuous period of her existence, when she was passing from the village stage to that of more metropolitan proportions, she received but little aid from beyond her borders, but when she had proven her worth outside capital was attracted, and the story of Mr. Whitcomb's interests illustrates the part that one non-resident played m her development. He is still a large property owner here, the Arcade Building and Annex and the Estabrook Block being owned by him. His son, David Whitcomb, is in charge of the Seattle property. Seattle's most unique structure — the forty-two-story L. C. Smith Building, the highest in the world outside of New York City — was the result of another non-resident's faith in the future of the 168 The City That Made Itseli city. The chain of circumstances that led up to the construction of the conspicuous land-mark starts away back a full half century ago. At that time Miss Mary Slocum was making dresses for Mrs. L. C. Smith's mother and other women in Syracuse, New^ York. In the eighties Miss Slocum decided to join her sister, Mrs. W. E. Boone, in Seattle. In 1 888 Mrs. Smith's parents, Mrs. Smith, and her son, Burns Lyman Smith, crossed the continent for a visit to San Fran- cisco. While on the Coast they decided that they had better return home by way of Seattle, in order to see their old friend Miss Slocum. They put in a week here, the most notable incident of the visit being the soaking of Mr. Boone by little Burns, who learned to play with the garden hose, and who was promptly chas- tised by his victim. On the return home the members of the party were warm in their praise of Seattle and Mr. Smith visited the city a fev^ years after in order to see it for himself. In 1 890 J. W. Clise left for New York City to endeavor to interest capital in the pur- chase of a number of properties in the w^holesale district south of Yesler Way. He stopped off at Syracuse to call on his friend William Nottingham, a prominent attorney. In course of the visit Mr. Nottingham suggested that he try to interest L. C. Smith in the properties. Mr. Smith by that time had amassed a great fortune by manufacturing the typewriter that bears his name. The necessary introduction was arranged and the three men held numerous con- ferences. A fewr months later Mr. Smith w^rote one check to cover the purchase of the follovs^ing properties: Tlie corner of Second Avenue and Yesler Way, where the great building now stands; the Pacific Block, the northw^est corner of Occidental and Main, the southwest corner of Occidental and Main, the northeast corner of King and Occidental, the Marshall Building, at the southeast corner of First and Main; the Grand Central Hotel Building, at the north- east corner of First and Main, and the northwest corner of First and King. Four and five-story modern buildings occupied some of the corners. Watson C. Squire, formerly Governor of Washington, was the vendor. It was probably the largest individual purchase of property at one time in the history of Seattle real estate. It w^as two years after he made the deal before Mr. Smith came west again to view his property. Meanwhile Mr. Clise represented him here and continued to do so for ten years. In 1909 Mr. Smith visited Seattle and Mr. Clise urged him to improve his property at Second and Yesler, as the chief building then under way in the city was in the neighborhood of Second and Pike and Mr. Clise feared that the other end of Second Avenue was suffering through neglect. While in Seattle Mr. Smith met John Hoge, who was associated with Smith and Hoge Buildings j^g James D. Hoge in the ownership of the northwest corner of Second and Cherry, and the two millionaires indulged in good-natured spar- ring regarding the improvement of their respective properties. Each was anxious to build a greater structure than the other, and both declared that they thought fourteen stories was about the proper height to go. Meanwhile Burns Lyman Smith was busy examining sky-scrapers m New York, and when his father returned east in November, 1909, the son was wedded to the erection of a main bmldmg twenty-one stories high and a tower of the same height above It makmg forty-two stories in all. His mother shared his opmion, for she was confident that while the building might be too large for the Seattle of that day. the city would soon overcome it and grow great enough to justify the investment. Both of them were somewhat surprised when Mr. Smith, at a family dinner on the night of his return, stated that he thought he had better run up a building so high that there was no danger of anyone else even approaching it for many years to come, and he outlined just the sort of structure that his wife and son had intended to urge him to build. Gaggin & Gaggin, Syracuse architects, were called in work started November I 1911. and in 1914 the magnificent building was opened. Mr. Smith never lived to see his plans materialize, but hJurns Lyman Smith carried them through. The Hoge Building got under way before the Smith Building construction having started in March of 1911, and it broke all worlds' records for the rapidity with which the steel frame went up, the entire eighteen stories being in place in thirty days. For a while therefore, the Hoge Building enjoyed the distinction of being the tallest structure in the Northwest. It is a very beautiful building Seattle architects, Messrs. Bebb & Mendel, being responsible for it' It IS the home of the Union Savings and Trust Company. The Denny Hill regrade was followed by a building boom in Its vicinity, the Standard Furniture Company's building, the New Washington, Calhoun, Archibald, and Washington Annex hotels being erected in quick succession. The Moore Theatre, erected by James A. Moore, was built as soon as the ground was leveled, and the Haight Building, erected by James A. Haight, a man who has long been active in public affairs in Seattle, added another modern U)uch to the district through which the steam shovels ate their way. The Joshua Green Building, at Fourth and Pike, was erected in 1 9 1 4 by Joshua Green, and is one of the handsomest office structures in Seattle; Stirrat & Goetz had previously improved the corner opposite it with the Northern Bank Building. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN THE MAIL,THE TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE IN these days of rapid and almost instantaneous communication, when in their flight the messages from man to man annihilate time and space, it is hard to appreciate the lack of facilities in this respect AA^ith which the pioneers of early Western days had to contend. It is a far cry from the pony and canoe to the fast mail train of our present day, or from the carrier pigeon to the wireless flash that has conquered hill and plain. Today Seattle is in instant touch with all the centers of the earth; sixty years ago news from any point was worth a holiday. Struggling settlement though it was those three score years ago, Seattle would not be cut off from the outer world, and in the days of 1852 its mail was first received. It came by the canoe express, with Robert Moxlie as the canoeist carrier, who had been engaged to make a trip each week. But receiving mail was then a luxury as we see it now. The charge w^as tw^enty-five cents per first-class envelope, C. O. D. Nor was that all: since the revenue thus derived did not cover the expense of the service, nearly all the settlers sub- scribed additional sums to maintain the postal route. It is not of record how many letters came by the first canoe, but on the last official trip arriving August 15, 1853, the letters numbered twenty- two. The mail came by w^ay of Olympia, then the largest settle- ment in the State. After this the mail was carried by more preten- tious boats. In that same year A. A. Denny was appointed to be Seattle's first postmaster, and he received the first official United States mail on August 27, in his log-built home on the site where stood Frye's Opera House, now the Stevens Hotel, which served as postoffice for several months. On October 1 1, 1853, W. J. Wright succeeded Mr. Denny in the postmastership and the office was transferred to the drug store of Plummer & Chase, on Commercial Street. On May 4, 1854, there was another change, with the ap- pointment of Charles Plummer as postmaster, the office having been declined for a second term by Mr. Denny. Wm. H. Gilliam, later a postmaster, was placed in charge of the office at this time. The quarters w^ere most handsomely equipped for those days. Mr. Plummer was succeeded by Timothy D. Hinckley, who was appointed November 14, 1861; Samuel F. Coombs was made postmaster March 25, 1862; then Gardner Kellogg took over the 170 When Hanford "Rode the Mail" 171 office. It remained at the location on First Avenue South, between Main and Washington Streets, where Postmaster Plummer had established it. Mail was delivered to Seattle by boat until the year 1867. In that year a contract for the "overland" delivery of mail by way of Puyallup was let. From Puyallup it was brought on pony back by trail, a distance of forty miles. The contract was taken by C. H. Hanford, then a young man, later a federal judge, who "rode the mail" for one year at a consideration of $500 per annum, after which he was underbid on the job. Postmaster Pumphrey, in 1875, moved the office to the corner of Mill Street, now Yesler Way, and Post Street. He was succeeded by Thomas W. Prosch on July 1 8, 1875. After serving two years, Prosch was succeeded, on June 25, 1877, by Ossian J. Carr. Mr. Carr held the office nine years, the longest continuous service of an administration since the beginning of Seattle's postal service. John M. Lyon was appointed on January 5, 1887, served little over a year, and was succeeded on April 5, 1889, by Albert M. Brookes. Mr. Lyon moved the office to the Boston National Bank Block, on Second Avenue near Columbia Street. It was located here when the big fire occurred. Because it was regarded as being too far out of the business district at this point. Postmaster Brookes moved the office to the north side of Columbia Street be- tween Second and Third Avenues, and on this site it remained until the rapid growth of the thriving city made it necessary in 1889 to seek larger quarters. Griffith Davies became postmaster on February 14. 1891 ; Gilbert S. Meen on April 8, 1895, and George M. Stewart on March 3, 1899. At the time of Mr. Stewart's ap- pointment the quarters of the postoffice were being moved to the Arlington Block, at the corner of First Avenue and University Street. At that time there was almost constant complaint that the office was situated too far away from the business center. Several years later, or about 1 902, the surprising growth of the district north of Madison brought the postoffice in the center of the business district and there it remained until the occupation of the present Federal Building, at Third Avenue and Union Street, on November 1 , 1 90 1. Postmaster Stewart was succeeded in Novem- ber, 1908, by George F. Russell, who prior to that time had served as city treasurer of Seattle. Edgar Battle, the present postmaster (1 91 4), was appointed by President Wilson on September 10, 1913. The oldest living ex-postmaster of Seattle is Gardner Kellogg, who held that office from 1 863 to 1 870. The oldest employe of the 112 The City That Made Itself postoffice still in the service is William J. Colkett, the present assistant postmaster, who had entered the service in 1 880. From that day in 1853, when the last canoe mail brought twenty-two letters and fourteen papers to Seattle, to the present time the development of the Seattle postoffice has been remarkably rapid. During the calendar year of 1913 there w^ere dispatched from the office 5,183,680 letters and 501,000 sacks of other mail. It re- ceived an average of seven car-loads of mail a day, to say nothing of a big mail by boats. The money-order department w^as added in I 870, after many years of persistent fighting to have it established. During the first year 1 40 money orders were issued. During the year 1913 domestic money orders to the number of 203,365, totalling $1,977,410.38, and 39,835 international orders, amounting to $1,261,147.78, were issued from this office. In that year there v^^as paid out on 910,786 money orders of both kinds the sum of $7,589,905.48. In 1913 stamps to the total of $1,344,248.44 were sold from the Seattle institution. The carrier service of the Seattle postoffice was put into effect on September 1, 1887, with F. C. Henry, John P. Jones, Andrew J. Snyder and R. H. Brooks as the first carriers. Today the Seattle office has 200 carriers, 221 clerks, 18 special delivery messengers and 6 rural carriers to supply the immediate vicinity of the city. The postal savings system was established in Seattle on September 9, 1911, and has already 2,200 depositors, with $350,000 on deposit. The Seattle postoffice is now tvs^enty-first in size among all the offices in the United States. It is one of the five exchange offices in the country for handling foreign mail. The present building is already so crovs^ded that the government has purchased a site for a branch office near the depots, in the south end of the city, and it is here that the foreign mail v^ill be handled. Of this sort of mail 20,012 sacks were dispatched from Seattle during 1913. Spread over the city are nov^^ fourteen civil-service postoffice stations and forty-seven contract offices for the convenience of the public. With one exception, all the postoffices of the State of Wash- ington and of Alaska remit surplus postal and money-order funds to the Seattle institution. This amounts to $5,000,000 annually. Its payroll covers 300 rural carriers in the state, 1 25 railway mail clerks and the 320 employes of the office, the 745 persons receiving $1,400,000 each year. No more convincing testimony to prove the grit, aggressiveness and self-sacrifice which characterized the citizens of pioneer Seattle is extant than the record of deeds and events that kept in the city All Kiirly-Uay Pit-ture mid a Rerenl Ono Taken from the Same Spot. First Telegraphic Dispatch jyj its early telegraph facilities. No self-interest could have induced the men of that time to go down in their pockets to help maintain a means of communication which was a novelty in those days. It was pride and loyalty to their town. In 1864 the California State Telegraph Company, then the western rival of the Western Union Telegraph Company, decided to build Its Ime to Westminster, B. C, by way of Olympia, then the most important point in Washington. In the same year construction was begun by R. R. Haines, who built the line. Seattle was not even considered as a station. As the building of the line progressed northward and reached Seattle on its way. an office was established here as a result of the decision of John M. Lyon, who had supervi- sion of construction. Mr. Lyon was one of the first telegraph oper- ators in the West, besides being proficient as a construction and maintenance expert. He saw that somewhere between Portland and New Westminster there had to be a relay station and division point and that the selection of this place must fall to him. Although Olympia was then the larger place, he had the vision and foresight to see that Seattle held the larger future. So his decision fell on this city, thus making it a telegraph center from the earliest days Mr Lyon himself became the Seattle operator, relieving Daniel F. Lehigh in 1865, and continuing in that capacity until 1884. Seattle IS still his home. The first telegraph office was located in the Yesler-Denny Com- pany store, at the corner of Mill and Commercial Streets, now Yesler Way and First Avenue, and was afterwards moved to perma- nent quarters in C. C Terry's building, at the corner of Mill and Commercial Streets. The first message received in Seattle came over the one wire. October 25. 1864. It stated that "A courier from the front reports Price in full retreat, closely pursued by our forces " 1 he opening of the line was fittingly celebrated by the firing of a cannon— a method of celebration in harmony with the tenor of the nrst dispatch. The telegraph had come easily to Seattle, as if by accident. It almost left as readily, and the successful efforts of local citizens to retain the service was the real Seattle Spirit exemplified. With the panic of 1873 hard times seized the land. Retrenchment was in the air. One of the first things the directors of the telegraph company did was to vote to discontinue the service north of Portland Seattle citizens heard of this. Realizing that the telegraph had become a necessity and that Seattle's commercial life had grown to depend on Its continuance, and because the sawmills needed the wire to keep m touch with the Southern markets, her citizens acted promptly 174 The City That Made Itself Eighteen men subscribed $1,800 at once in advance tolls and suc- ceeded in their efforts to prevent discontinuance of the service. The sawmill operators easily used up the advance tolls they had paid, but much of the money subscribed was never utilized for messages. Although A. A. Denny had subscribed $ 1 00 towards the fund, he received a number of messages "collect" and paid the money rather than reduce the amount of his subscription. The telephone had not been proven successful in the East long before Seattle wanted it. When an opportunity to secure a system was offered the town eagerly seized it. The Sunset Telephone Com- pany was organized in 1 883 and immediately secured a franchise to install a system in Seattle. The organizers were John S. Sabrine and a number of other officials of the telegraph company, who un- dertook to found the system on their own responsibility and secure subscriptions to its stock. The telephone was first exhibited to the people of Seattle in the same year. The exhibition took place in a hall, where the townfolk had gathered. E. H. Larabee sang into the line at some point outside the building and was heard by those within. The service was inaugurated in 1 884, with the main office in the telegraph headquarters in the Yesler Building at Second Avenue and Cherry Street. For many years the Sunset Company had the Seattle field to itself. Then a general feeling of dissat- isfaction with its service culminated in the establishment of a second system in 1901. The competitor was called the Independent Tele- phone Company. In the eleven years of its existence the new com- pany developed a system of 16,000 telephones. In the meantime the original company had become reorganized and made a part of the great Bell system. Its service had so improved that when, in 1912, it took over the entire plant of the Independent Company there was a general feeling of relief throughout the city. In the year preceding the consolidation there had been an attempt to vote bonds to establish a municipal telephone system that would take over the Independent Company's properties, but the scheme was decisively defeated. Today, with a population of 303,000 people, Seattle has more than 5 1 ,000 telephones, which means one instrument to every six persons within its boundaries. That Seattle is better equipped with telephones than the majority of cities in the United States is shown by telephone statistics. The average number of telephones in use in American cities of more than 1 00,000 population is I 1 .4 to each hundred people; in Seattle there are seventeen phones to each hun- dred of population. The system here is one of the most highly developed in the entire country, and its management is infused with Wireless and the Cable 175 that predominant note that is now being struck by all enlightened public-service corporations — a desire to please the public. From his home or his office a Seattle citizen can get in touch with 674,000 phones on the Pacific Coast, and in 1915 it is promised that he will be able to speak across the continent. There are 1 50,000 tele- phones in the State of Washington, and of this number Seattle has considerably more than one-third. The city is a district center of the great Bell interests — on this Coast organized under the name of the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company — and approximately 2,000 employes are attached to the Seattle division. C. O. Myers is manager. The district commercial superintendent is F. L. McNally. In the development of means of communication, Seattle is still abreast of the world and today she is one of the principal wireless stations of the earth, in easy touch with the ships that ply the Pacific thousands of miles aw^ay as well as with the country to the north or south of her. Seattle is also headquarters for the United States cable to Alaska. The work of connecting Seattle with Alaska by cable com- menced in 1 90 1 . At the present time the Government operates through the Seattle offices, of which Capt. Basil O. Lenoir, U. S. Signal Corps, is in charge, the following cable units, the dates desig- nating the time that they were laid: Cordova to Cape Whiteshed, September 10, 1908; Fanshaw to Wrangell, December 21, 1906; Hadley to Ketchikan, December 24, 1906; between Forts Lawton, Worden and Flagler; Lawton to Ward; Seattle to Sitka, August 28, 1904; Sitka to Valdez, October 6, 1904; Seward to Valdez, August 5, 1905; Juneau to Sitka, October 2, 1903; Juneau to Skagway, August 23, 1901; Montague Island to Cordova, August 12, 1908; Valdez to Liscum; Wrangell to Hadley, December 30, 1906; Sitka to Japonski, August 31, 1907. CHAPTER NINETEEN THE CITY'S STRONG FINANCIAL POSITION SEATTLE is the financial center of the Northwest. The foun- dation upon which she built this enduring structure was the honesty of two men. "Horton and Denny's bank is good enough for me," was the expression universally heard, from Vic- toria to Olympia, in the seventies, and from all parts of the Sound men came to Seattle and deposited their money with as much con- fidence as the Briton leaves his in the safe keeping of the Bank of England. The effect this had on the growing community was im- portant; it brought all the leading men of the Sound into close finan- cial relations with Seattle and laid the foundation for the great wholesale trade that the city novv^ enjoys, as country merchants found it convenient to buy their supplies in the town where their money w^as on deposit. Had Dexter Horton and Arthur A. Denny never entered the banking business it is reasonable to presume that an institution w^as as likely to develop in some other community as in Seattle and the tide of early financial transactions to turn in its direction. When Dexter Horton started in the mercantile business in Seattle in 1 854, opening a small store at what is now the corner of First Avenue South and Washington, he had no intention of becom- ing a banker. There v\^ere no banks in the Territory then and the need for one did not exist, as money was somewhat scarce. In those early days the possibilities of studying character were greater than they are now, for every man knew his neighbor well and the early struggle brought into bold relief the stuff the men were made of. As the years went on Dexter Horton measured up to the stan- dard that man set upon man and gained the reputation for honesty and integrity that followed him to his grave. Loggers coming in from the camps did not wish to carry their money with them and grew into the habit of leaving it with Horton. It was placed in sacks and hidden in various places in his store, the depths of a barrel of coffee being one of the favorite spots. As this stock of other people's money grevs^ Horton installed a safe to better care for it. Men w^ould leave their sacks with him and he would throw them into the safe, wfith an identifying tag on each. In some cases years would elapse before some of the owners would call again, but wrhen they did the sack was still in the safe. Gradually it became the habit to keep the sacks in action by the ow^ner calling often to 176 Dexter Norton Opens Bank 177 add to or subtract from his store of gold. When money was needed the owner of a sack would take out what he needed, place a receipt for the amount in its place, and again the sack would be thrown into the safe. The evolution of this practice was natural. Dexter Horton found himself overrun with money by 1870 and decided that there was nothing left for him to do but open a bank and care for it in a more systematic manner. David Phillips, another progressive mer- chant, joined forces with Horton and on June 16, 1870. under the name of Phillips-Horton & Co., they opened a bank in a one-story frame building, twenty by forty feet in size at the corner of what is now First Avenue South and Washington Street. The new bank was less than two years old when, in March, 1872, David Phillips died. Arthur A. Denny took over the Phillips interest and the firm name then became Dexter Horton & Co. With the thoroughness that characterized all his actions, Mr. Denny en- tered the banking business, accepting full responsibility for his in- vestment. It was while Horton and Denny were in partnership that the bank commenced to develop into the big institution that it is today, and the universal confidence reposed in the two men was a greater asset for the firm than the columns of figures that reflected its financial standing. In 1887 a Territorial charter was obtained and the bank operated under it until June 27, 1910, when it re- ceived a charter from the national government and the name was changed to the Dexter Horton National Bank of Seattle. Arthur A. Denny died on January 9, 1899, and Dexter Horton on July 28, 1904. N. H. Latimer, who entered the bank's employ as a youth, rose to become its president when it became a national bank. R. H. Denny, one of A. A. Denny's sons, is a vice-president, and C. E. Horton, nephew of Dexter Horton, is on the board of directors. I have followed the history of the Dexter Horton bank because It was the first to be organized, not only in the small town from which the Seattle of today grew, but in the Territory that is now the State of Washington. As the city grew other banks were organ- ized, reached prosperity, were absorbed by others or — as happened in but few instances — had to give up the struggle against odds too great to meet. Jacob Furth was always one of the big, dependable factors in the banking world, and during the financial disturbances that occurred after he became a Seattle banker his calm judgment was one of the great forces that brought Seattle banks through two panic years without a failure. At the time of his death in 1 9 1 4 he was chairman of the board of directors of the Seattle National Bank. Seattle's largest financial institution. 178 The City That Made Itself There are today strong and enterprising men directing the des- tinies of Seattle's score of banks, and to them must be given a share of the credit for the magnificent record in city building Seattle has made during the brief half century that connects the present metrop- olis with the saw-mill town. It is a far cry from the days when Dexter Horton was persuaded by his neighbors to permit them to leave their money buried in the coffee sack in his place of business to the days of the present great institutions, which figure in the commerce of the world and participate in great financial undertak- ings as a matter of every-day routine. It is a far cry only in point of accomplishment, for it is true of America, and particularly of the West — and vastly more of Seattle — that life is "not measured by figures on a dial " but by deeds. That Seattle has been enabled to leap through the period of municipal infancy and adolescence to full-fledged maturity, a young giant taking its place among the world's cities, is wonderful, and in looking for the reasons behind the accomplishment we do not progress far before we encounter the great force that has been the chief characteristic of Seattle banking from the time of the coffee barrel until today — Integrity and Faith. The seeds that were planted by Dexter Horton and Arthur A. Denny have grown into hardy plants that flourish in the keeping of Seattle's banking fraternity today. In the village period the only necessity of the business man was a place in w^hich to safely keep his money and a safe method of transmitting his payments for goods. The needs were small and the facilities were correspondingly meager. Growth up to the panic of 1 893 found increasing demands and facilities. Eastern investments constituted practically all of the medium of financial exchange, and with stress in the East the money was called home. Despite the desperate situation, the banks of Seattle went through the period as well or better than most of the country. With the revival of 1 897-8 and the great advances made in the succeeding years up to the panic of 1907, there came a change from the days prior to I 893, for Alaskan money was made home capital for Seattle by the fortunate miners; the great development of the salmon industry, vast growth of lumbering in all its phases, the development of dairying, increasing importance of the State as a grain producer, quicker and more frequent communication with the Orient, more railroads — all contributed to bringing monied men to Seattle as permanent residents and to making the capital used in its activities more a home-owned resource. For this reason the panic of 1907 found the banks in splendid shape. Not a soft spot devel- oped. Clearing-house certificates were issued for a few weeks, Seattle's Enviable Record lyg solely because Seattle, in its important and close relations with other financial centers, could not send gold in exchange for clearing-house certificates of other cities without depleting its own supply. As this is a credit nation, no such amount of gold as would have been re- quired exists. Had Seattle been less important as a commercial city she could have avoided any issue of certificates. Although the issues throughout the United States were outside the letter of the law, the situation was met with such wisdom and sanity and con- servation that the people of Seattle did not hesitate to accept the clearing-house certificates and were in no especial hurry to redeem them when called in, another tribute to the personnel of the bank- ing community of Seattle. In this connection few cities may with truth point to a record such as Seattle has, that in twenty years not a cent of money has been lost to depositors in her banks. Seattle banks are in the main owned at home by something like 1,200 persons, and in few instances is full control of a majority of the stock held by anv individual. The officers and employes are drawn from the best life of the community, and through the Amer- ican Institute of Banking careful instruction is given to the bank clerks, who will be the future bankers, in all the technical details of the profession. Without going much into figures, but by easily verified state- ments, some idea of Seattle's great advances through the several periods of growth may be succinctlv stated in the fact that bank clearings in 1913 were greater than the entire total for the eight years from 1894-1901 inclusive; greater than in those three great years, 1903, 1904, 1905 added together, despite consolidations in 1910 that reduced the amount of business going to the clearing house. Two-fifths of the deposits in the banks of Washington are held in the banks of Seattle in 1914; four-fifths of the deposits in Seattle banks are in institutions in the blocks on Second Avenue be- tween the north side of Madison and James Street. In 1896 Seattle's bank clearings corresponded about with those of Tacoma and Spokane, and were less than one-half those of Portland. Seattle today is the twenty-first city in the country in relative population and is the seventeenth in individual deposits in her banks; no other city reaches the volume of deposits or bank clearings in the territory of the northwestern one-fourth of the United States, i. e., in a region bounded on the south by a line drawn due east from the northern boundary of California, going as far east as Omaha and thence north to the Canadian boundary. This includes Portland, Denver and other important cities. 180 The City That Made Itself Seattle today has several banks that have resulted from the consolidation of pioneer institutions. These mergers v^ere due to the demand for banks of larger capitalization to meet the needs of the growing city and surrounding territory. The Dexter Horton National Bank absorbed the Washington Trust Company and the Seattle National Bank was united with the Puget Sound National in 1910. A few^ years before the National Bank of Commerce ab- sorbed the Washington National Bank, these consolidations bring- ing million-dollar banks into the field. The original units had, year after year, increased their own capitalization and enlarged their fields of activities to include trust relations, bond departments and all of the many forms of service rendered to the business community by the larger banks of the East. Steady and intelligent work by Seattle bankers has helped to decrease many of the minor evils that attach to pioneer banking, such as overdrafting. They also have at last helped to put an effect- ive law on the statute books by which the private bank 'wiW be at an end after next January, 1915. The private bankers of the state have been influential and blocked this reform for years. No small part of the efficiency of the state banking department created in 1907 is due to the co-operation given to the examiners by Seattle bankers. The office w^as located here in the first six years of its existence. The men who are today upholding Seattle's position in the financial world, and the banks with which they are connected, are as follow^s: American Savings Bank & Trust Co. (organized 1902; capital, $600,000): James A. Murray, president; James P. Gleason, man- ager; John A. Campbell, vice-president; John K. Bush, cashier; George F. Russell, secretary; J. Malloy, Jr., trust officer; directors, James P. Gleason, John A. Campbell, James A. Murray, Marton Woldson, George F. Russell, W. J. Johnston, S. C. Jackson, Rufus H. Smith, Marcus M. Murray. Bank for Savings (organized 1907; capital, $400,000): Daniel Kelleher, president; R. Auzias-Turenne, vice-president; O. H. P. LaFarge, secretary; W. H. Crowther, assistant cashier; directors, R. Auzias-Turenne, James Campbell, August J. Ghiglione, George J. Danz, Griffith Davies, John W. Eddy, John Erickson, Gabriel Faure, Joshua Green, G. Alston Hole, Daniel Kelleher, Harry Krutz, O. H. P. LaFarge, Malcom McDougal, Alex F. McEwan, Ralph A. Schoenfeld, James Shannon, Victor Hugo Smith, Frederick K. Struve, C. E. Vilas, F. W. West, Louis Jalon, G. Teste Du Bailler. Banks and Their Directors 281 Dexter Horton National Bank (organized 1870; capital, $1,200,000): N. H. Latimer, president; R. H. Denny, vice-presi- dent; W. H. Parsons, vice-president; M. W. Peterson, cashier; H. L. Merritt, assistant cashier; C. E. Burnside, assistant cashier; J. C. Norman, assistant cashier; R. H. MacMichael, bond manager; directors, N. H. Latimer, R. H. Denny, W. H. Parsons, M. W. Peterson, C. J. Smith, W. M. Ladd, J. W. Clise, E. Cookingham. Edmund Bowden, M. E. Reed, C. E. Horton, J. T. HefFernan, A. S. Kerry. Dexter Horton Trust & Savings Bank (organized 1903; cap- ital, $400,000) : J. W. Clise, chairman of the board; C. J. Smith, president; W. H. Parsons, vice-president; J. H. Edwards, vice- president; W. W. Scruby, cashier; directors, N. H. Latimer, M. W. Peterson, W. H. Parsons. C. J. Smith, J. W. Clise, C. E. Horton, R. H. Denny. First National Bank (organized 1882; capital, $300,000): M. A. Arnold, president; D. H. Moss, vice-president; M. McMicken, vice-president; C. A. Philbrick, cashier; C. H. Howell, assistant cashier; directors, M. A. Arnold, Thomas Bordeaux, O. D. Fisher Maurice McMicken, R. D. Merrill, D. H. Moss, Patrick McCoy, H.' W. Rowley, Hervey Lindley. German-American Mercantile Bank (organized 1910; capital, $200,000): Ernest Carstens, president; C. S. Harley, vice-presi- dent; T. B. Minahan, vice-president; I. J. Riley, cashier; Horace Middaugh, chairman board of directors. National Bank of Commerce (organized 1889; capital $1,000,000): M. F. Backus, president; R. R. Spencer, first vice- president; J. A. Swalwell, vice-president; G. F. Clark, cashier; O. A. Spencer, assistant cashier; R. S. Walker, assistant cashier; E. W. Brownell, assistant cashier; directors, E. E. Ainsworth, M. F. Backus, LeRoy M. Backus, W. C. Butler, John A. Campbell, G. F. Clark, W. G. Collins, T. A. Davies, George Donworth, Joshua Green H. C. Henry, C. J. Lord, R. D. Merrill, E. S. McCord, Chas. S. Miller^ Chas. E. Patten, R. R. Spencer, J. A. Swalwell, E. F. Sweeney, Moritz Thomsen, Geo. W. Trimble, Hugh C. Wallace. Northern Bank & Trust Company (organized 1906; capital $100,000): W. R. Phillips, president; F. J. Martin, vice-president; O. A. Kjos, vice-president; W. L. Collier, cashier; L. P. SchaefFer, assistant cashier; Edward Everett, trust officer; trustees, W. R Phillips, F. J. Martin, O. A. Kjos, Gerald Frink, W. W. Felger, Wm. T. Perkins, J. G. Price, Geo. N. Skinner, F. J. Carver. 182 The City That Made Itself Scandinavian American Bank (organized 1892; capital, $500,000): A. Chilberg, president; J. E. Chilberg, vice-president; Perry Poison, second vice-president; J. F. Lane, cashier; L. H. Woolfolk, assistant cashier; S. S. Lindstrom, assistant cashier; W. V. Rinehart, Jr., manager Ballard office; Otto S. J. Pedersen, cashier Ballard office; directors, A. Chilberg, Alfred Battle, J. E. Chilberg, Perry Poison, Jafet Lindeberg, Jas. F. Lane, M. J. Shaughnessy, A. G. Hanson, C. J. Erickson. Seattle National Bank (organized 1890; capital, $1,000,000): Daniel Kelleher, chairman of the board; Frederick Karl Struve, pres- ident; J. W. Spangler, vice-president; R. V. Ankeny, vice-president; E. G. Ames, vice-president; W. S. Peachy, cashier; C. L. LaGrave, assistant cashier; H. C. MacDonald, assistant cashier; J. H. New- berger, assistant cashier; directors, E. G. Ames, R. V. Ankeny, Daniel Kelleher, F. K. Struve, J. W. Spangler. Metropolitan Bank (organized 1909; capital, $100,000): H. C. Henry, president; J. T. McVay, vice-president and cashier; R. P. Loomis, assistant cashier; directors, H. C. Henry, C. H. Cobb, O. D. Fisher, E. S. Goodv^in, C. S. Miller, E. A. Stuart, C. C. Bronson, E. G. Ames, W. G. Collins, J. T. McVay, P. M. Henry. National City Bank (organized 1911; capital, $500,000): J. W. Maxwell, president; F. W. Baker, vice-president; J. H. Bloedel, vice-president; E. W. Campbell, cashier; N. H. Seil, assistant cashier; directors, C. A. Black, J. H. Bloedel, Albert Daub, F. W. Baker, F. T. Fischer, Robert R. Fox, F. H. Jackson, C. B. Lamont, J. W. Max- well, C. L. Morris, Olof Olson, W. C. Prater, A. J. Rhodes, D. E. Skinner, David Whitcomb, Clifford Wiley, Worrall Wilson. The State Bank of Seattle (organized 1905; capital, $100,000) : E. L. Grondahl, president; A. H. Solberg, vice-president; Hugo Carlson, cashier; A. C. Kaklke, assistant cashier; D. H. Lutz, assist- ant cashier; directors, Hugo Carlson, C. J. Erickson, Herman Goetz, E. L. Grondahl. H. E. Lutz, Will H. Parry, A. H. Solberg. The Oriental American Bank (organized 1905; capital, $40,- 000): M. Furuya, president; K. Hirade, vice-president; H. Hase- gawa, cashier; directors, M. Furuya, K. Hirade, C. T. Takahashi, W. A. Keene, M. Matsumoto. The Japanese Commercial Bank (organized 1907; capital, $50,000): M. Furuya, president; W. L. Gazzam, vice-president; M. Matsumoto, cashier; S. Kawai, assistant cashier; directors, M. Furuya, W. L. Gazzam, W. A. Keene. Federal Reserve Headquarters £££ Union Savings & Trust Company (organized 1903; capital, $600,000): James D. Hoge, president; J. D. Lowman, vice-pres- ident; A. B. Stewart, vice-president; N. B. Solner, cashier; Rollin Sanford, assistant cashier; E. J. Witty, assistant cashier; O. P. Dix, manager bond department; directors, A. B. Stewart, J. D. Lowman, Ferdinand Schmitz, Charles H. Clarke, John C. Eden, James D. Hoge, N. B. Solner. Peoples Savings Bank (incorporated 1889, capital $100,000): E. C. Neufelder, president; R. J. Reekie, vice-president; J. T. Green- leaf, cashier; G. B. Nicoll, J. S. Goldsmith, directors. Washington Savings & Loan Association: Herman Chapin, president; William Thaanum, vice-president; Raymond R. Frazier, vice-president and manager; H. D. Campbell, secretary; G. A. Bruce, assistant secretary; William A. Peters, counsel; directors, E. G. Ames, H. D. Campbell, Herman Chapin, D. E. Frederick, F. B. Finley, Raymond R. Frazier, W. F. Geiger, Ivar Janson, L. O. Janeck, Hans Pederson, William A. Peters, James Shannon, William Thaanum, Eugene B. Favre, C. E. Vilas. Seattle also has branches of two large outside banks. The Canadian Bank of Commerce is represented in Seattle by Grange V. Holt, manager, and the Bank of California by E. C. Wagner. Under the federal reserve bank law passed by Congress in 1914, Seattle is to have one of the branch banks. The directors of District No. 1 2, which has its headquarters in San Francisco, went on record immediately upon organization as favoring the establishment of a branch in Seattle. As a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Chas. E. Peabody of Seattle was appointed by the Federal Government in October, 1914. Mr. Peabody for many years was one of the most prominent shipping men on the Coast. His appoint- ment as a federal reserve director is a tribute to Seattle's standing in the financial world. CHAPTER TWENTY HOW SEATTLE WOMEN STARTED LIBRARY ANY history of Seattle must necessarily be a record of the ac- complishments of men, by nature made builders of the home and providers of subsistence. Of woman's participation in the upbuilding of the connmunity little has been said. Yet the women of Seattle have played important parts in the development of the city that built itself. TTirough all the years of Seattle's growth they have labored well and unostentatiously. Today, as a monument to their vs^orlc of years, there stands on Fourth Avenue between Spring and Madison Streets a wonderful public library, which they began and which was fostered and encouraged by them through all the trying years of the city's growth — a library which stands at the present time in the ranks of the nation's best. At this time public-spirited v^^omen help to guide its destinies and it is still growing, as it has grown, at a pace which more than keeps up with the development of the city in every other way. Seattle's Public Library, the intellectual beacon-light of the great Northwest, was founded in 1 888 by the women of Seattle, among the leaders being Mesdames J. C. Haines, A. B. Stewart, L. S. J. Hunt, W. E. Boone, G. Morris Haller, J. H. Sanderson, Joseph F. McNaught and Geo. H. Heilbron. Their organization was called the Ladies' Library Association. Its members at first secured public subscriptions for support of their project. TTien they persuaded Henry L. Yesler to give the triangle at Third Avenue, betw^een Terrace and Yesler Way, to the city for public library purposes. This tract has since been traded for a site at Tw^enty-third Avenue and Yesler Way, where a branch known as the Henry L. Yesler Memorial has been built. So hard did these women work for the establishment of a public library that in 1890 the city charter convention was induced to include a provision in the annual city budget for the support of this institution to the amount of ten per cent of the fines and licenses. The cause of the library was effectively championed before the con- vention by Junius Rochester and Judge Roger S. Greene. In 1 89 1 the public library was launched. It vs^as established in the Occidental Block, now the site of the Seattle Hotel, with A. J. Snoke, a scholarly gentleman, as the city's first librarian. It re- mained in this location for three years, being moved in 1 894 to the 184 ^ qM. ^cH^ CiyLi..^ Yesler's Mansion Taken 185 top floor of the Collins Block, at First Avenue and James Street. Librarian Snoke served one year and was succeeded by Mrs. L. K. Harnett, who held the position for one year. In I 893, J. D. Atkin- son, w^ho w^as later State Attorney General and is still a resident of Seattle, was appointed City Librarian, remaining at the work for about two years. In 1 895 Charles Wesley Smith was elected to this position. He served until the completion of the present building and until the new^ institution had been well established, resigning in 1907, and being succeeded by Judson T. Jennings, the present able librarian. TTie Seattle Public Library, despite its assistance from the city, had no easy rovs' to hoe in the early nineties. It w^as then the only really free library in the state, the only other ones being circulating libraries such as are now found in small country tow^ns. Seattle's institution was especially hit by the hard times of 1893. During Mr. Atkinson's administration the city's revenue for its support was not sufficient to keep it going, so it had to close down, but only for one week. A collection vs^as taken up and $800 raised. H. C. Henry alone gave $ I 00 to the fund. Patrons of the library were charged ten cents a month for the use of books. Money was so scarce then that it brought down in one year the circulation of books from 144,000 to 77,000. The charge drove the children's patronage away and this accounted largely for the decrease. After Mr. Smith became librarian in 1 895 the library, contain- ing 7,500 books, was moved to cheaper quarters in the Rialto Block, now the location of the Frederick & Nelson store. All possible ex- penses were reduced and the institution again put on a free basis. From that moment the grow^th of the library has been as phenom- enal as that of the city itself. Mr. Smith prided himself on the fact that the library not only kept pace with the material development of Seattle, but remained always just a little in the lead. His first innovation v^as the adoption of the open-shelf system, then nevs^ on the Coast. This immediately increased the popularity of the library. It remained in the Rialto Block for three years and on January I 2, I 899, -was moved to the old Henry L. Yesler home, at Third and James. This was a forty-room residence, then one of the shov^r places of the city, and probably the finest residence in the North- west. It had hardwood floors and was magnificently finished. It was heated by a hot-air furnace. To Librarian Smith it was a joyous home for the institution in w^hose welfare he had become absorbed. The library just spread itself. There was room, and a room for every feature that could be suggested. The bindery was established in the kitchen, the librarian's office in a bedroom. 186 The City That Made Itself At midnight on January 1 , 1 90 1 , Librarian Smith had returned from the library, where he worked with his assistants until half-past eleven to take the annual inventory of the city's books. He had just retired, when the telephone bell rang. "Is this Mr. Smith of the Public Library?" said the voice at the other end. On being advised in the affirmative the voice continued: "This is the Post-Intelligencer. How much insurance was carried on the library?" "What," yelled Mr. Smith. "Is it afire?" Without waiting for a reply, he dropped the telephone and ran outside, where the lighted sky verified his suspicions. Then he came back, put on a pair of rubber boots and a rubber coat, and ran from Beacon Hill, where he lived, through a foot of snov^, down to the burning structure, plunged in and personally rescued the records of the library. The building burned to the ground, and though it then possessed 30,000 volumes, only about 2,000 books then on the shelves were finally saved. At the time 5,000 books were out in circulation. Inasmuch as Mr. Smith, at the risk of his life, had saved the record cards, the library was able to recover them. Quar- ters were opened in the Yesler barn, which had been saved, v^^ere located there for one month, moving then into the old University Building in the tract where the Metropolitan Building Company's structures now^ stand. This historic structure, since demolished, housed the library until the completion of the present home in 1 906. In the Fall of 1900, just prior to the destruction of the library building by fire. Librarian Smith and Chas. E. Shepard had made a trip to the East to visit other libraries and to ask Mr. Carnegie to help Seattle in the way that was then making him famous. They received a cool reception from Mr. Carnegie's secretary. He advised them that Seattle was a "hot-air," boom city, and that he had been so advised by S. A. Perkins, of Tacoma, and that he did not con- sider it worth while to suggest to Mr. Carnegie the donation of any amount for library purposes. So the two Seattle men came back empty-handed. And when the fire laid low the Yesler residence Seattle was not only without a library but saw before it no way to procure one. In spite of the rebuff the city's representatives had met in the outskirts of Carnegie's office, the members of the board who wished to restore the library after the fire could think of noth- ing but the Scotchman's gold when their minds grappled with the question of ways and means. It w^as a natural mental condition, for at that time to think of a library builder was to think of Carnegie. Seattle took a chance. J. G. Pyle, editor of the Post-Intelligencer, sent the following telegram to the Laird of Skibo: A Telegraphic Campaign 187 "Seattle Public Library and its building totally destroyed by fire this morning. City authorities willing to purchase site and guarantee $50,000 annually for maintenance. Can you give Seattle a library building?" On the following morning Mr. Carnegie wired in reply: "Sorry indeed to hear of the library being destroyed. Seattle should build fireproof next time. Am disposed to give Seattle a suitable building if site and maintenance provided by city. Your wire says that city would expend $50,000 a year in maintenance, which may be an error in transmission. Refer you to correspond- ence with Mr. Shepard, of library committee, last year. "ANDREW CARNEGIE." Mr. Pyle, for the Post-Intelligencer, immediately sent another message : "Sincere thanks for your generous assurance. Library reve- nues greatly increased this year by increase of assessed valuation. I am authorized by chairman of Council committee to guarantee $50,000 if suitable building is furnished. You may condition everything on provision of site and above named city maintenance by city. May I announce Carnegie library for Seattle tomorrow? Will await your reply." Then Mr. Carnegie telegraphed from New York to the Post- Intelligencer: "Having been in correspondence vs^ith Mr. Shepard, it would be discourteous to ignore him. Should like you to see him and have him wire me. ANDREW CARNEGIE." Mr. Pyle had been in touch with Mr. Shepard during all this time and a consultation resulted in sending the two messages that follow: "I have just been appointed on Library Commission. Tele- grams of the Post-Intelligencer to you were sent with knowledge of our correspondence and with my cordial approval. We are work- ing in harmony and are sure of a very fine site. I w^ould concur in all that Mr. Pyle wires you. "CHARLES E. SHEPARD." "We guarantee finest site and $50,000 maintenance for suit- able building. "CHARLES E. SHEPARD. Library Commissioner; WILL H. PARRY, Chairman of Library Committee, City Council; J. G. PYLE, Editor Post-Intelligencer." 188 The City That Made Itself To these the Post-Intelligencer added another wire: "Telegrams sent you today after consultation with gentlemen signing them in my office. Will you please advise me of your deci- sis"? J. G. PYLE, Post-Intelligencer." It was apparent now that Mr. Carnegie was interested and amazed. From New York, on Friday, he telegraphed: "Delighted to receive your last telegrams. There is only one point about which I am not clear. What does a city of 80,000 in- habitants need of $50,000 annually to maintain a library? Seems to me that this is somev^^hat more than is necessary for the city to tax itself. Atlanta has more population, and I have allowed that city $125,000 for the building. Presume this would give you a building suitable for present needs, but site should have vacant ground for additions. ANDREW CARNEGIE." This was the Post-Intelligencers chance, and the following clinching argument was immediately put on the wire: "Increase in population from 1890 to 1900, Atlanta, 37 per cent; Seattle, 88 per cent. Seattle's population practically all white and all readers. Actual revenue for 1900 is $30,000. We would like to build fireproof for the future as well as for the present. In less than five years a building costing $250,000 and maintenance of $50,000 ■wiW be none too large for our real needs. Nothing from you to us or Shepard published yet. Can you say anything now for publication tomorrow? POST-INTELLIGENCER." An hour later Mr. Shepard and Librarian Smith followed with this statement: "Supplementing Post-Intelligencer's telegram today. I find home circulation, 309 days, 1 900, 1 50,000 volumes. Approximate average week-day attendance, 1 ,450. Sunday attendance, 450. Separate newspaper reading room, 500 daily. "C. W. SMITH. City Librarian; C. E. SHEPARD, Library Commissioner. That Mr. Carnegie not only was greatly interested in the enter- prise of Seattle, but admired the courage of the men who pleaded in its behalf is shown in the following message received in the Post- Intelligencer office at 8:20 on Saturday evening: Carnegie Promises Help igg "New York, Jan. 5, 1901. "J. G. Pyle, Editor Post-Intelligencer, and Library Committee, Se- attle, Wash.: "I like your pluck offering fifty thousand dollars yearly for library purposes. You may build up to cost two hundred thousand, which I shall provide as needed. We remember our visit to Seattle and kind reception with great pleasure and are delighted to shake hands, as it were, over this matter. Be sure to have spare grounds about building for additions which Seattle's brilliant future will surely require. Happy New Year to all her people. "CARNEGIE." Negotiations were closed with this message of thanks: "We cannot express adequately our appreciation of your mag- nificent gift of $200,000 for a public library building for Seattle. In the name of all our citizens we send you earnest and heartfelt thanks. The Carnegie Public Library of Seattle will stand as another monument to your love of letters and your generosity to a proud arid grateful people. You have given us a golden New Year, and will be remembered and honored as a public benefactor through all the future of Seattle. "J. G. PYLE, for the Post-Intelligencer; CHARLES E. SHEP- ARD, for the Library Commission; WILL H. PARRY, for the Library Committee of Common Council; J. A. JAMES, for Finance Committee of Common Council." But Seattle had four years to wait before the beautiful structure that the institution now owns was completed. The choice of a site occupied the attention of the City Council and Library Board for two years or more. Then, after work had begun and the foundations were completed, the Great Northern tunnel, which passes under- neath, undermined the work and a year was consumed in adjusting the damage, for which the railway paid $100,000. A second claim for damages, to the amount of nearly half a million, is now pending. When the building was practically completed and things had cost a little more than was expected, it was found that about $20,000 additional was needed to equip the structure. Where the money was to come from was a puzzle. At a meeting of the Library Com- missioners, the Rev. J. P. D. Llwyd, an enthusiastic member of the Board, suggested that he could go to Scotland, where Mr. Carnegie was then on his vacation, to ask the Laird of Skibo for the extra funds. The Board felt reluctant as to this, and thought it had no right to spend the money of the city for such a purpose. Dr. Llwyd stated, however, that he would pay his own fare across the Atlantic 190 The City That Made Itself if the Board could find a way to cover his expense overland. Judge J. A. Stratton then suggested that the Board share the cost of the trip. This vs^as done. Dr. Llwyd went to Scotland and when he alighted from his train at Skibo the first man he saw was Mr. Car- negie, who was pacing up and down the platform at the station. He fell in with the Laird and while they walked he introduced him- self and explained his mission. Mr. Carnegie was visibly and vol- ubly agitated. "Why do you follow me to the ends of the earth?" he fairly yelled, "I just come here for the purpose of getting away from such things as libraries." Dr. LWyd kept in step and persisted. "All right, I'll give you the $20,000," said Carnegie after he had become sufficiently interested in the conversation to stand still and give the Seattle clergyman an opportunity properly to present his case. Thus Seattle received $220,000 from Carnegie for its big li- brary. Since that time he has given funds to the amount of $105,000 for the building and equipping of branch libraries in various parts of the city. Altogether the library property of the city totals in value in 1914 more than $1,000,000. Seattle, always a maker of epochs and in the advance guard of progress, in securing its donation of $200,000 for a library building set a new pace in giving for Mr. Carnegie. Prior to his Seattle gift, he had given so large sum to only tv^^o other cities in the country, Pittsburg, his home city, and Washington, D. C. TTie big library, located on a full block in the heart of the city, has been so planned as to permit additions in the future to make it three times its present size. When the building was opened to the public on December 1 9, 1 906, it represented an investment of $350,000. Mr. Smith, the Librarian, anticipated that its cost •would reach a larger sum than Mr. Carnegie's donation and had econo- mized vk^ith his appropriation from the city. Thus he v^^as enabled to turn over a large sum of money toward the building. In the Charter Convention of 1 895 citv boards and commissions were abol- ished, but Mr. Smith appeared before it and urged the retention of the Library Commission. He was successful and, though it legis- lated out the vs^omen, a commission of five, advisory to the Librarian, was incorporated in the charter. It had no pow^ers, how^ever, and only met once a year to hear the Librarian's report. When the library got too large for one man's shoulder, Mr. Smtih prevailed upon the Council to submit a charter amendment to restore the Board to power. During all of Mr. Smith's administration his esti- Library Board Members 291 mates in the city budgets were allowed without a cut, the only city de- partment which enjoyed this rare distinction. Mr. Smith also framed the state library law, which has served as a model for other states and which is responsible for the high development of the library movement in this State. Mrs. J. C. Haines is the real founder and originator of the library movement in Seattle. She remained as a member of the Library Board from the day it was organized until 1895, when women were legislated from such commissions. The first Chairman of the Board, who served for many years in that capacity, was Judge Eben Smith, a courtly gentleman in whom the people had much confidence and who thus was able to carry the library's influence over the crucial periods of its existence. The member of the Board who has served the longest of the present incumbents is Judge Julius A. Stratton, a venerable gentleman whose willingness to work for the public good without reward is largely responsible for the growth of the present library system of Seattle. Other members of the Board who have served at various times since the establishment of the library are: Eben Smith James Murphy George Donworth Samuel Morrison Rev. David C. Garrett Daniel B. Trefethen Alexander F. McEwan Jacob Schaefer Charles E. Shepard John W. Efaw Charles A. Taylor Miss Adele M. Fielde Edwin W. Craven O. H. P. La Farge Robert H. Lindsay Rev. Samuel Koch Harry A. Chadwick J. Allen Smith G. A. C. Rochester Mrs. W. A. Burleigh Rev. J. P. D. Llwyd Julius A. Stratton Rev. W. A. Major C. M. Sheafe James H. Lyons, M. D. Mrs. A. B. Stewart Sidney S. Elder R. C. Washburn Andrew Weber Mrs. J. C. Haines George E. Wright John E. Ayer Frederick M. Padelford Mrs. C. H. Wilcox Branch libraries occupying beautiful buildings have been es- tablished in the communities known as Ballard, Columbia, Fremont, Green Lake, the University, Queen Anne Hill. West Seattle, George- town, Yesler Way, and in the schools and playgrounds. TTie Central Library and its branches contain 219,927 volumes and report a regular registered patronage for the year ending June 30, 1914, of 55,203 persons, with a circulation of 1,041,002 volumes. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE. WHEN JOHN COLLINS GOT A GAS FRANCHISE IT was not in the nature of things that men of the stamp that battled for Seattle's early possessions and for homes for them- selves in the virgin forests vs'ould be content to be v^^ithout any luxury that vs^as at all procurable. Early in the seventies John Collins decided that Seattle should have a gas plant. He inter- ested A. A. Denny, Dexter Horton and Charles E. Burrows, and on June 6, 1873, the City Council granted the four men an exclu- sive franchise to lay mains in the city streets for a period of twenty- five years. Mr. Collins was Mayor at the time and the Council- men who granted the franchise were John Leary, Isaiah Waddell, Robert Abrams, James McKinley, J. S. Anderson, William Mey- denbauer and Stuart Crichton. A small tank was located on the tide flats near where the Oregon-Washington depot now stands, and from it gas was dis- tributed in 1 874 to the business houses and residences. It was quite the proper thing at the time to have gas lights in the house and those who had them moved in a higher social scale than those who still retained oil lamps as a source of light. For nearly ten years the one little tank supplied all the demand, but early in the eighties the population of the city was climbing to the ten thousand mark and the need for a larger gas supply was felt. In this emergency John Collins acted with great vigor. He induced Captain Renton, John Leary and others to invest v^^ith the original group. At that time there was talk in Europe and in the East of a new light that was to revolutionize the lighting industry, so Mr. Collins and his associates provided for possible expansion in the new^ field by naming the company that was now^ organized the Seattle Gas & Electric Light Company. The work of installing a large tank, greater than was necessary for the city at the time, received the personal supervision of both Collins and Leary, the former be- ing particularly active. In fact, it has been said of him that he spent almost two years doing nothing but walking around the tank. It was not only as an investment that would provide dividends that Mr. Collins regarded the gas company's extensions; he was one of the most loyal citizens Seattle ever had and it gave him joy to pro- vide the city with a bigger and better gas system than any other city on the Sound possessed. And it took nerve to do it; to make the investment a paying one the city had to grow, but Collins never 192 Thci I'hiitograiiliK from lilenliiiilly the Sunif Spiit Which Show the l)evelinent iif the (•inimercml IHstrlet. That Tart of Klllotl Hay Whieh U Shown ExIendInK to the Kxlreme Left of the I pjier I'hotoKrallh Mils Keen Ulled In and Covered with Coniinereial llon»e» «» Shown in the l-ower rhotoKnM>''' Two Companies Merge 193 had any doubt as to Seattle's future greatness and his optimism was sufficient to bring him the additional capital he needed from Dexter Horton, A. A. Denny, John Leary and others. The whole city was interested in the slowly growing tank, and when gas was first made and delivered from the new quarters there w^as a mild celebration. The history of the development of the gas company in Seattle is not as exciting as is the history of any of the other big public utilities for the reason that there were no violent rows to mark its progress. John Collins purchased the Renton interests in the first company and in 1 892 the Seattle Gas & Electric Company was organized, Samuel Hill, J. D. Farrell, J. S. Goldsmith and associates taking over the majority interests of John Collins and merging the two companies. To manage the ne^v company C. R. Collins was brought out from Philadelphia in 1 895 and he remained with the company for six years. In 1901 J. W. Clise, C. R. Collins and H. R. Clise organized the Citizens Light & Power Company and decided to give battle to the company already in the field. L. C. Smith and William Notting- ham, of Syracuse, N. Y., financed the new company, which soon commenced an energetic campaign for business. They laid mains in the business districts already served by the old company and also opened new territory, supplying Capitol Hill and other districts which previously had had no gas. In 1 904 the Seattle Lighting Company, the present organiza- tion, w^as formed and took over both the companies then in the field. It really meant the purchasing of the entire gas business by the Dawes interests, the Chicago concern that controls the gas supply in a large number of American cities. The present officers of the lighting company are: J. D. Farrell, president; John Schram, vice- president; H. R. Clise, secretary; F. K. Lane, manager. The expansion of the gas business under the present organiza- tion has been very great. There are now (1914) 42,400 consumers in the city, supplied by 541 miles of mains. Most modern appliances of every kind enable the company to supply a perfect service, which is a fitting monument to the ambitious beginning that John Collins made forty years ago. JACOB FURTH, BANKER AND GOOD CITIZEN OVER here, in the back of the book, so as to leave his memory with you when you close the volume, 1 wish to bear brief tribute to the memory of the man to w^hom I dedicate my work. When the book w^as first planned 1 discussed it v^ith Jacob Furth, and in that kindly and courteous way that endeared him to all w^ho knew him, he assured me of his support. In recurring confer- ences with him many features of the book as it stands today w^ere decided upon as a result of his suggestion. That the pages are not taken up with biographies of the men prominent in the building of the city is due to Mr. Furth's advice, and the absence of pictures of living men is also due to a suggestion by him. "What we w^ant," he said, "is a story about the fights the city had to make itself; the people wrho will read it are not concerned with the birthplace of any of the men who engaged in the fight, or how old they are now^, or were at the time of their deaths. And also let us have one volume that w^ill not be full of the portraits of those who are willing to buy their way into it and of eulogy of those who are prepared to purchase it." Our agreement was that Mr. Furth would sign a Foreword to the book, but death cut him off when the work was half way finished. Mr. Furth was never Mayor of the city; for one term only he was president of the Chamber of Commerce. He never sought posi- tions that placed him in the public eye; but during all the momen- tous periods in the history of the city after he came to it those w^ho w^ere foremost in her fights were comforted by the knowledge that he was available, that his wise counsel was ever ready when he was appealed to. On such occasions his cool judgment and great abil- ity to make the right decision instantly were one of the city's real assets; he never failed to fill the breach when an emergency was presented, and such a relentless judge as time has yet to show an instance when his regard for the public good was not the final de- termining consideration in the settlement of any problem that came before him. Furth, the man, and Furth, the banker, were one and the same. He carried his kindliness to his counting room and many a tottering business w^eathered its little storm with his assistance. I will relate but one instance out of the thousands that might find a place in any record of the life and deeds of Jacob Furth. In 194 Furth Prevents a Panic 195 the panic of 1893 Seattle was hard hit; the first transcontinental railroad was just coming to it, but had not as yet been of any great financial benefit; it w^as before the Klondike rush — before anything had happened to prove beyond all question that Seattle would be the future city of Puget Sound. The panic was the last straw^. Mr. Furth was president of a bank but did not control it. The directors met and decided to call in practically all the loans. "Gentlemen," said Mr. Furth, rising in his place at the head of the table, "if you do this you will ruin many business men who were assured by me when they began to do business with this bank that they would be taken care of; you will create a financial condi- tion that we can perhaps weather but which will bring other institutions crashing down around us. What you propose may be good banking, but it is not human. As president of this bank I will not yield to see my friends ruined on the sorry pretext of saving ourselves. I demand ten days' delay in putting your resolution into effect; at the expiration of that time I vs^ill have a plan to propose." The delay being granted, Mr. Furth went to New York, raised sufficient money to buy the control in his bank and brought back with him not only enough for his ovsrn institution, but sufficient to also enable him to extend relief to rival banks. There are great fortunes in Seattle today that have their foundations in that meet- ing of directors when Mr. Furth demanded that humanity be allov^^ed to enter banking. During that period of unrest, uncertainty and financial stress Mr. Furth allow^ed his reserve to drop as low as nine per cent, a brave thing to do at a time when it was considered that twenty-five per cent was fairly close to the margin of safety. It reflected the faith Mr. Furth had in his fellow^ man, and his willing- ness to strain the bank's resources to keep a tottering situation well in hand. Throughout his whole banking career he was one of the giants upon v^hose strength Seattle leaned confidently, but he wras a kindly, far-seeing, charitable giant who ever used his strength to help instead of to crush. In my quest for information to put into this book I follov^^ed the trail of many men through their years of activity for the public good. The one among the living who came most frequently into the stories was Judge Thomas Burke. For forty years he has served Seattle, for thirty years of that time he served beside Jacob Furth, so is bet- ter equipped than any other man to judge of the value that Mr. Furth has been to growing Seattle. Grim fate has ordained that by the restrictions he himself suggested for my book Jacob Furth has qualified to have his portrait included in the volume; his other wish — that these pages should be free from autobiographies — I will re- 196 The City That Made ItseU spect, and leave to his old friend, Judge Burke, the task of voicing what all who knew Mr. Furth must feel. In the Post-Intelligencer of June 3, 1914, the morning after Mr. Furth died. Judge Burke was quoted as follows: "Jacob Furth v^as an unusual man. To exceptional ability he united a high order of public spirit and great kindness of heart. It would be difficult to overestimate his w^ork in the upbuilding of Se- attle. His time, his strength and his money v/ere always at the call of the city. In his many years of residence here I doubt if he was ever once called upon for help or leadership in any public matter, in which he failed to respond and respond cheerfully, liberally and with genuine public spirit. "He was a man of sound judgment and admirable balance. He never lost his head no matter how^ great the excitement or agitation around him w^as. No one could hold fifteen minutes' conversation with him without feeling that he was talking with a man of great reserve power. "He was a man of courage and wonderful self-control. He kept his own counsel, whether it related to the transaction of his large and varied business affairs or to the numberless acts of kind- ness which he w^as constantly doing for others. "It has fallen to the lot of few^ bankers, in this or any other community, to do so many acts of substantial kindness for his cus- tomers and for others. Many a man in this community owes a debt of gratitude to Jacob Furth for a helping hand at a critical juncture in his affairs. His passing from the scene of action here is, and will continue to be for many years to come, a serious loss to Seattle." 1 E^ 1 ■fna P ■1 1 i ■Cciircsiiiiiiiia^'i' !! - 1 til Three W:irH of I'ntf^renN In the neiiiiy lllll Kegriide I>lHlrict. Water and &»t4»uui Were Utied in l.rt»\\eriii(; the HU1» That Were Ulot^kiuK tl)e f the I.. C. Smith lluildinB- SwinBiiiB llu- (anura I l> llu- Hill from the I,. C. Smith BiiildinK. the Shadow of the Tower BeillB Jiotlcoable in the rielnre. 219 Looking I'li Second A\eniii' in 1K!H iiiid Nttw. T!ie Siiine Two HuittlluKH Art' in tlie F4)regroiin(l of Kach rioture. Itfi<-e in the I^>\ver riinlotcnipli the White, Henry and C'olttt BuildiuK^* of the Metropolitun HiiildinK <'onipiiny Are Shown. THE. PKOGEE55 OF BEST JJ^IE. LOOKING JOTPTtt TKDK CHei?l?Y6T THIRTY YLAR5 OF PR0GRE55 i OCCIDENTAL AVENUE LOOKING NORTH TO YESLER WAY \ 23 r, I^oukinK Vp MudiHuii Sipwl a Ken VciirK .\k