Gold RushGold Rushby Aaron Hamburg by Aaron Hamburg

Author Aaron HamburgAuthor Aaron Hamburg

GOLD!!!GOLD!!!

July 17, 1897 was a very important date for Seattle. Seattle Post Intelligencer

( Seattle PI) said, “ GOLD! GOLD! GOLD! GOLD!”, quickly spreading the exiting news. Thousands of people rushed to Seattle’s docks cheering the SS Portland, its passengers, and its golden cargo.

BusinessesBusinesses

On July 17, 1897 at 6:00, the steamship Portland docked in Seattle harbor carrying 68 men and 1 million dollars in gold dust and nuggets from the Yukon. Seattle’s population grew from 42,837 to 237,194 from the year 1890 to 1910 as a result of the Klondike gold rush and Spanish-American War. As the population grew, different kinds of businesses were attracted to Seattle, helping Seattle grow.

Businesses cont.

Within 6 weeks of the landing of the SS Portland, Seattle was totally crowded. Not only did Seattle provide supplies, lodging, entertainment, and transportation for the estimated 100,000 prospectors on their way to the Klondike gold fields, but Seattle quickly made services to assist the gold miners on their way back from the goldfields with an assay office and other services. Many of the returning gold miners landed in Seattle and never left. Several of the returning gold miners who stayed and never left

Businesses cont.Businesses cont.

in Seattle founded businesses that are still vital to the local, regional, and national economy over a century later. These businessmen include John Nordstrom ( Nordstrom's), George H. Bartell ( Bartell Drugstore), and Alexander Pantages (Pantages Theater ).

Seattle mines the minersSeattle mines the miners

Seattle made money with several gold rushes. They were the 1858 Fraser River gold rush; the 1864 with the Boise, Idaho, gold rush; and the 1878 Sultan River gold rush. However, the most important gold rush to Seattle came after the 1893 panic caused by bank and railroad failures with the 1897 Klondike gold rush.

Canada to AlaskaCanada to Alaska

In the later Klondike strikes the gold frontier moved from Canada to Alaska, but Seattle with it’s ideal location, ready ship and rail transportation and aggressive promotion, remained the portal to the gold fields.

BibliographyBibliography

• Crowley, Walt, and Priscilla A. Long. HistoryLink's Seattle & King County Timeline. Seattle, Wash.: HistoryLink in Association with the University of Washington, 2001. Print.

• HistoryLink.org- the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History. Web. 07 June 2010. <http://Historylink.org>.

• Keniston-Longrie, Joy. Seattle's Pioneer Square. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2009. Print.

• Sundquist, Mark. Seattle. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2010. Print.

• Warren, James R., and William R. McCoy. Highlights of Seattle's History. Seattle, Wash.: Historical Society of Seattle and King County, 1982. Print.