The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1893-12-01
WAsINGToN FRIDAY DECEMBER lgs
Why Port Angeles BoOmed.
Many big stake has been made

Many big stake has been made bv
clever boomers in times past in this
Western country, but the methods
adopted for working up excitement in
some particular locality are never un-
derstood by the people at large. One
Oh the cleverest tricks that has vet
come to light was related by a gentle
man who got into a reminiscent mood
regarding his experience as a real
estate dealer in former years.
"You were speaking of Port Ange-
les" said he, "and l want to tell YOU
how tine boom in that town was first
started. 1t won't take over six minutes
to tell 1T. You know that the princi-
pal investors in that town had been
Victoria people, and they were first led
into it by a clever trick. 1t was sew
eral years ago and Mr.. Hickey, of Vic
toria, engineered the scheme. He
went to Port Angeles and purchased
32O acres of land, not in his own name
but IN the name of syndicate, for it
would not do to have his name con-
nected with it. He had the land plat
ted In acre tracts. Now you know
that whatever Dunsmuir did was popu-
lar and Hickey thought if he could
only induce the people to believe that
Dunsmuir was investing money in Port
Angeles others would also invest there.
| was in Victoria at the time and saw
the whole performance. He get about
a half bushel, I should think, of the
washers, only they had no holes in
them, being simply rounded pieces of
iron OF the size and thickness of gold
pieces, and he paid 81 for them. These
he put carefully into two sacks, tied
them up with stout strings, labeled
each "$2O,OO0" and put tags on them.
Then he got another man to carry one
of the bags while he took the other on
his shoulder. He hired policeman,
who was of course not in the secret, to
accompany them and protect the gold.
At that time the boat left Victoria for
this side about or O'Clock in the
morning. Hickey took bag of iron
on his shoulder that evening, and, ac-
companied by his friend and guarded
by the policeman, started for the
wharf. Walking into the first saloon
he came to, in which happened to be,
he dropped the bag from his shoulder
to the bar, saying:
" 'Whew but that's heavy The
other man dropped his bag also, and
Hickey asked the proprietor to set the
bags inside a few minutes while they
took a drink. The proprietor was
thunderstruck at the sight of so much
money. Whenever he went any dis
tance away from the bags the police
man stood guard over them, but
Hickey told each proprietor quietly
that it was Dunsmuir's money going to
Port Angeles. After visiting the Sec
ond saloon left them and went 20 my
hotel, but two hours afterwards in
came Hickey with the bags, and had
them put up behind the bar while he
waited for the boat. They were in
plain sight and, although the proprie-
tor had been cautioned not to say any
thing about it being Dunsmuir's
money, he could not kept such a Sec
ret, and impaired the information to
several astonished gentleman, while
Hickey and l played a game of rounce
and the policeman stood guard over
the gold. When it came time to go to
the boat Hickey hired another police
man, and the two officers escorted him
and his fraud down to the boat, where
he thew the washers overheard and
came over to Port Townsend.
"Well, it was surprising how quickly
the news spread. In few days every
body knew that Dunsmuir had sent
$4,000 over to Port Angeles to buy
land. What Dunsmuir did was sure
to be profitable, and everybody was
anxious to invest. Within three
weeks people became so excited that
they got up an excursion to Port Ange-
les, and over $50 people went over.
They averaged $1,000 apiece, and
Hickey told me afterwards that he
made $35, 900 out of the deal selling
his acre tracts."-P. 1.
a. 10