Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - American History THe beginning of Seattle history THe beginning of Seattle history The coast of Washington is rich with the history of early America. While much of the United States was still in its infancy, Washington was thriving with industry. Though the industry was large, the towns were just beginning to grow. Though Washington’s coastal towns offered much to its citizens, it was the logging industry that started it all. In this paper, I will discuss the growth of the logging industry, specifically in relation to Seattle, and the resulting extension industries in the development of what is now our nations largest port city. The laborers who sat idle during the fur trading off-season were of great concern to George Simpson, resident governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821. As he sat in his newly transferred building situated on the north bank of the Columbia River, he noticed the commanding view, in which he saw endless stands of thick timber. By order of Simpson, command of the new post, Fort Vancouver, was secured by one John McLoughlin and together, the two established the first Washington timber mill (Ficken 1987). The mill, which began operation in 1828, was charged with the responsibility of supplying timber up and down the southern coast of the United States and where ever markets were deemed profitable. This venture enabled the company to cover expenses throughout the remainder of the year and according to Simpson, “…yielded quite a handsome profit” (Ficken 1987). The mighty Columbia had proven useful in transporting logs to the port in the Puget Sound. The successful Fort Vancouver sawmill constituted the only timber exploitation resource in the Pacific Northwest for over a decade. As the industry became more and more profitable, the inevitable happened, and the Americans came to the Northwest. II. The potential of Seattle is realized: In 1851, Arthur Denny and a small crew built small log shelters on the beach of Elliot Bay. As Denny and his party recognized the availability of timber in the region, they moved camp to the more protected eastern shores of the bay to erect facilities to process the lumber they would soon be harvesting (Ficken 1987). As they laid out their settlement, they called their village Duwamps (later to be know as Seattle). The industry grew and soon mills were showing up all over the coast of Washington. Wherever there was protection, a mill site was erected to procure timber for the vast needs of an ever-expanding San Francisco in California. Though the mills were able to process timber into boards with unrivaled efficiency, the quality of the cuts soon became questionable. Distributors soon began to complain to the mills that the boards being milled were often thicker at one end than the other and contained other unacceptable irregularities. The mill towns were soon in search of a solution. The solution would soon arrive in the form of two men, David S. “Doc” Maynard and one Henry L. Yesler. III. Seattle establishes itself as a mill town: Doc Maynard was a failing purveyor of lumber who had a penchant for boozing and selling his wares that were initially purchased at half price, for half the asking price of the competition (Morgan 1951). He was in a slump and was shut down by his own vices and threats from other lumber salesmen. In search of new opportunity, Doc arrived at Alki beach, where he soon befriended the local Indians. As his relations with the locals grew, Doc took up residence in a nearby Elliot Bay site, where after meeting Arthur Denny and other influential figures, began his new life in commerce. With the help of his new Indian friends, the enterprising Maynard began to cut cordwood, catch and salt salmon, and manufacture barrels though the new business he called the Seattle Exchange (named after close friend and local Indian chief, Sealth). Doc was soon one amongst the most influential of all citizens and was able to coax the local pioneering population into renaming their settlement Seattle (Morgan 1951). Soon Henry Yesler, a successful Portland mill owner, arrived on the shores of Elliot Bay to survey land for a new steam powered sawmill. With and extended hand, Doc Maynard greeted Yesler and together, the two, in cooperation with other civic leaders, secured the success of Seattle’s ports by erecting the Puget Sound’s first steam powered sawmill (Morgan 1962). Yesler and Maynard recognized that logs from inland could easily be transported to the Seattle tide flats via the nearby Duwamish River and while Yesler was in California purchasing implements for milling, Maynard and compatriot Carson Boron reserved the tide flats or “Sag” for the future mill. Here they would be able to take advantage of the deep Elliot Bay harbor and readily transport lumber to California, now in desperate need of building materials to facilitate their gold rush (Binns 1941). With opening of the mill and “Skid Road” on March 26, 1853, other forms of commerce soon arrived. A bunkhouse was erected next to the mill, as were saloons and cookhouses. The mill and its surrounding services had effectively jumpstarted Seattle’s bustling Warf economy (HistoryLink 2001). With the sudden explosion in population, the inevitable expansion in the service industries occurred. As the inhabitants of the city were as salty as the water in Elliot Bay, a seedy side to Seattle developed. The male to female ratio was relatively grim at around 10:1 so in moved San Franciscan, John Pinnell to provide for the city of Seattle’s more steamy needs. Pinnell recognized the unbalanced population and also the bonanza that he would surely strike with the formal introduction of the sex industry to the still young city. With a fully white population, Pinnell solved his lack of Caucasian staffing, by substituting with the local Indian women, who were referred to as “Hurdy Gurdies” (Meier 1990). Due to the employment of a largely Indian staff, Pinnell named his operation, “Illahee” or “Home Place” in the local Indian vernacular. Thus, Seattle became and open town and soon the bordello was profitable enough to warrant the introduction of white prostitutes, which he had shipped up from another of his bordellos in San Francisco (Meier 1990). Others soon joined the industry of sin, amongst them were respectable citizens such as Asa Mercer and his “Mercer Belles” and even woman began to realize their share of financial success in the industry. Mary Anne Conklin, soon to be known as “Madame Damnable”, quickly established herself as one of the foremost brothel owners in the city. Conklins clapboard Felker House was erected on land purchased from Doc Maynard just down from the Sag and was billed as a boarding house, though Madame Damnable soon added the brothel to the second floor. The location was perfect and the availability of both lodging and “other services” proved to be a stroke of genius and the results were lucrative. As was a sign of the times, the sex industry thrived and Madame Damnable’s hotel even became instant competition for the likes of Henry Yesler and his “non-servicing” hotel (Meier 1990). Just as the sex industry thrived, the gaming industry took on its own share of regulars, as did the local saloons and watering holes. Since Mayor Hiram Gill based his office on a permissive attitude towards such vice industries, Seattle began to share its boarding houses with men from the Klondike Gold Rush (Binns 1941). The easy port access made Seattle a prime port of call for the miners of the Klondike gold rush. Stories of riches soon flowed like the whiskey in the saloons of Seattle. Tales of the steamer Portland and its payload of 2 tons of gold took the city by storm and Seattleites caught “gold fever”. The gold rush rocketed already thriving city to unimaginable prosperity. Not only was the lumber industry cranking out more milled boards than ever to facilitate new buildings in the Klondike, but also the ships constantly pulling into port supplied the local economy with more than enough business to establish the city as a permanent port and metropolis on the west coast (Binns 1941). As the population of Seattle continued to grow, the needs of the people were met with more and more services. Seattle began to cease the importing of goods from other locations and instead prided itself on the ability to produce more than enough for its own and for exporting to other parts of the country. Though lumber was and remains Seattle’s main export, the city also manufactured an estimate $50 million in various goods (Morgan 1951). Eventually, the city that flourished as a very much, blue-collar population, became home to more cosmopolitan people. A white-collar management level workforce took to the streets surrounding what is now known as the Pioneer Square area. The addition of new buildings to facilitate commerce brought civil engineers and architects, electrical works, and consulting and financial institutions. World War I soon brought new industry to the continually expanding city and not until the crash of the stock market in 1929, did the economic development pause. As Seattle became less of a frontier town and assumed its place as one of America’s top respectable cities, prohibition arrived. The city that once existed as a salty seaport that was built by hard living loggers and sailors began a new revolution. As one looks over the skyline of present day Seattle, the progress is amazing; but also as one looks past the sky scrappers and coffee shops of the new downtown to Yesler way and the piers on the waterfront, its roots are undeniable. Seattle was born into logging and shipping, and though these same industries might be wearing a new polish, they were in fact, rough-hewn and at one time also lived hard. Seattle is the port town that was all started when George Simpson surveyed the timber and rivers of the land and recognized possibility. It is a town that was nourished by prostitutes and gambling timber men and subsisted on vice. Seattle boomed again and again and was always ready because of Elliot Bay and the vision of many. Bibliography: References Binns, A. 1941. Northwest Gateway, the Story of the Port of Seattle. Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, Doran & company, Inc. Ficken, R.E. 1987. The Forested Land: A History of Lumbering in Western Washington. Durham, N.C.: Seattle: Forest History Society; University of Washington Press. HistoryLink. April 26, 2001. Yesler, Henry L. (1810-1892). http://www.historylink.org/welcome.htm Meier, G. 1990. Those Naughty Ladies of the Old Nothwest. Bend, Or.: Maverick Publications. Morgan, M.C. 1951. Skid Road; An Informal Portrait of Seattle. New York, Viking Press. Morgan, M.C. 1962. The Northwest Corner, the Pacific Northwest; Its Past and Present. New York, Viking Press Word Count: 1710
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