The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-11-13
IMPRESSIONS OF A VISITOR.
missouri EDITOR WHO THINKS
SEATTLE A GREAT CITf.
lie rFntses the Enterprise ef Its
People and Tells ST the Rash On
the Yukon Gouufry-sOFn~thinE
About Seattle rs oatffting Point.


Ia the TaFsic sMo.1 Avalanche OF a re-
cent data, the editor 81 that paper gives
& good account Of a trip TO Seattle and
other Sound points, which be took a. the
time the Kaondiks exodus vas a. It's
height Mr.. Z. T WILSON. the ediior, was
an observing and Intelligent visitor, and
his letter L. worthy Of Reproduction as
showing how the Sound cities appear 10
strangsrs. The two or three inaccuracies
re makes nlsy be attributed TO the fact
that re got h.s Information nuTrieeiiy lie
Gays that the steamer Humboldt. which
departed while he was here for she u
kon, was to 60 via Skaguay. which. OF
course, IL did not DO The other :naccu-
racy il where he states that Seattle Is not
OF the main line OF the Great Northern
railway. This is incorrect, for che over
land trains on that road are made up and
started from Seattle and no other place.
aud they come into Seattle from tie East
ard discharge their passengers. The
Northern Pacific also runs through trains
from Seattle TO the East. The little re-
mark the editor makes about raising corn
In this section Is easily pardoued.
Mr.. Wilson's letter Is as follows:
From Tacoma TO Seattle there are some
nice sections Of farming land. II all orig
finally had big growth OF timber, but It
hss been cleared and fine farms made.
The land Is very rich. From Tacoma 10
Seattle II is about thirty miles. Arriving
at Seattle. one Is at once In busting i've
~ city. seaSsle was the liyeiiest place we
saw while we were gone. 1t was largely
SO ut tais time, because of the klondike
fever. Seattle is The great Quitting point
for all who are going into the klondike
region. and that Il IS shows the enterprise
Of The city. Upon the first announcement
OF the great discoveries In the Alaska gold
fields the Seattle people rightly figured
that there would BE- a great rush into that
country. and al once sat about 10 capture
TIE business OF Quitting prospectors who
so out. and for it's enterprise It drew a
good rich plum. Seattle didn't say like
a5He Of the wayback merchants. Oh. we
are well enough known; everybody knows
us, and veil get the business anyway
seattle uide-Axaks.
mo. Seattle IL too wide-awake 10 be
caught mapping In that way. She at once
raised a hsg fund to advertise that place
ss an Quitting point. speciality of ills
VAS made IN ali the advertisements. Men
we're sent out TO intercept the west-hound
trains and induce the Klondlke travellers
10 20 to Seattle To outfit Men were also
sent 70 the Eastern cities 10 induce people
IN buy their tickets TO Seattle, and anyone
with half an eye could see the result az 1t.
The great army was moving 10 Seattle
-Four out Of every FIVE kiondikers on the
trains were going to Seattle. The COM
mon remark was that Seattle was the best
place to outfit. The money expended by
the people OF that city in advertising came
back thousand fold The city was full
OF people and the streets were alive and
all the merchants were doing a lively bugi-
ness II was hard work 70 get room
al hotel East OF tho Cascade mountains
the big wheat crop was talked about. but
al Seattle everything was kfondEke
About the hotels and public places the sub
jeet was always klondke All the stores
which handled klondike goods put them
20 the front. In the clothing stores and
the dry goods stores the kiondike goods
occupied the show. windows. When We
were there the weather was warm, and Il
seemed rather peculiar 10 stand on the
street and sweat and see IN the show win
d0ws heavy feece~itned overcoats the
heaviest of wool underwear heavy nit
tens, wool blankets. Sc., offered for sale
The harness shops displayed pack saddles
ard dog harness. the hardware stores
pcNs shoveIs. dog slsds and such other
goods were needed by the Klondikers.
and on through the whole list Any
one Nho had anything or use to the pros
pfciar was making rustic for the BUSH
meas Big banners were stretched In
front of the stores. on the street cars and
Ia fact any place TO attract attention, all
relating 10 the Klondike.
I'VE saw q good deal OF the KlondIke
business. 1t WAS AT its height when We
were there. Many people were getting a
benefit from II. Travel was heavy on the
west-hound trains and many OF these were
kiondfke people. I saw ten on our train
ous who ware going and OF course there
were many more IN the other parts OF the
train. Tie hrakcsman told me that On the
last previous run ont their train had thir-
~ bound for the kioudike. ON cur train
were three men from Triton. Mo, VINO
we're going They would outfit q: Seattle
THE Western peapio have the fever the
worst o. anybody. Many have gone from
the Coast cities. There hsa been a good
snrtnkiing az prospec.ors in Alaska from
the Sound country for TIE past two or
three years sud good number Of then,
were there aud had 4 part in the Bonanza
strikes. aad the first mails oIt after the
SpF.nz washrSs brought rha good u-4rf
30 their friends a Nome In many cas- 3
the information Va. acronnnauls,i hv ,be
afTicr 20 Trends - sell anything they
had sad c9rre. The result ~ coiir~,. was
e'e0t~icsl P>Yaons who had good inaa
threw t3cCt ur and went Mayor Wood
of Sosst'e, brew up his loh and ssii.-a f,r
IN N@aa city white we were There No
r@w his vessel 50 out. u was loaded 20 u.
utmost capacity NTH freight ana f.ta.s ~.
Srr@. lie hai rurchass,i the vessel and
~ al Nticn ~ The prospecting eSt.-ta,l m
'io carrying trade nttwces, Scatf}a sv-,
'he Hola reE'0ns lte won't VIA g. Nt.NaoI
and TIE fukAE riVar although son,s 81 tho
raSsenGef@ on board woul4 yet ofY AZ S(,H--
uaY ana ro oycr the. pasSe4 scen-se. tta
latter vas Mrs xiv Srea wifi - enc ON
81 lyman Case snrtetarH ~ thn tr~a~s,-,
~ meAtnlPEs cabinet Her husband "a
zone on some uwe Before ard wss -.
Tessdv st Dawson Ci'v ard hot erected a
sng cabin snf sent 90 he- sfava, ys,o4.s
sea-Folns vrssel-thA ur7lr.t ---v-,s ,.,c
large 20 60 NJ tbs Yukou Fl, fe4vea,, g.. g
s0a m hIs first tr!n ouf ~ took tAe r,,a+.>.
rial - build river steamer NJ - Nj.
chaet that would make enc tg}o ,ts mi.
sree Of She WY.
Thu discovery has hs,a = great ,hir-
far the transportation c9ff4ta,r,iss ,s,..,-s =
ing o. the waters IN the Narfbyy.>sf ,-,,,-.
~ Business IN thar fire haa beer, \. -,
duh Tor the PAST three ~ fa&r wears sr,
hsnF et ths vessels had teeN ia i-s ard
otst ~ comm s$iNn Tspt since .hA E.l..,.
S'ke strike snythiaE ia thut cusi,}>~,- fAar
cNnif float vaS united nn1 lsug f.s y,.r},
On cst@ trip over ~ Victoria Va uess ,uf
cH tae G3ty of Seattle au she FIRST tt5a S~a
f&i maize ~ three yea~S She hsf b-rr
sisd ~ oass0 az Tacoma. TIE zse.s-,t,r
t'tfy II kingston has hean k{r. the
T@S3'ss run - Nfotaria. t93t sire was r,tr
ga the run Is Sk2g0sy &nd UNea IN sae
kinntiRe carrying trade. Res re se.tv. ~,
Ssa:'ls-ainaost a duplicate - yhe t~{s, ~
ksgExtca-aai 50 e'eEart boat was rs,
On tho NictoTia rffs- Eoih thas,e f,,s4ss a%s
ewH9d ~ the Northern pacsA. rssljts..y
snd the F!cfersA nan u made t-ss Ia
coma ard connection re matte wst- IS