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Bird's Eye Seattle: 1884 · Street Smart Naturalist

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  SPEAKER_00: Greetings.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is David B.
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  SPEAKER_00: Williams and the podcast of my newsletter,
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  SPEAKER_00: The Street Smart Naturalist,
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  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind.
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  Every week I share my observations and adventures with the
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  human and natural world
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  SPEAKER_00: around Seattle,
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  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound and the Pacific Northwest.
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  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode celebrates another, the third bird's eye view of Seattle.
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  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about my work, please go to my website, geologywriter.com.
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  You'll also find a link to my Substack newsletter and my
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  previous four years of newsletters,
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  SPEAKER_00: as well as images tied to this week's episode.
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  Thanks again for joining me on this adventure and welcome to
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  podcast 22 of the
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  SPEAKER_00: Street Smart Naturalist,
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  SPEAKER_00: Birdseye Seattle,
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  SPEAKER_00: 1884,
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  SPEAKER_00: May 1,
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  SPEAKER_00: 2025.
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  On July 14,
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  1884,
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  a short article appeared in the Seattle Daily Post Intelligencer.
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  It noted that artist H.
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  Welk had just completed,
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  quote,
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  the finest view of Seattle ever taken.
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  SPEAKER_00: The image was of the bird's eye character,
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  measured 14 inches wide and 33 inches long and would cost $3 a
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  piece or $12 for $20.
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  SPEAKER_00: Quote, it will be a splendid thing to send abroad to advertise the town.
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  SPEAKER_00: Unquote.
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  SPEAKER_00: Bird's eye view of the city of Seattle,
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  Washington Territory would be one of more than 150 panoramic
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  bird's eye views that
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  German-born Henry Welg made from Florida to Yellowstone
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  National Park to Seattle.
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  In Wells' illustration,
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  Seattle is in full commercial bloom as the rising city of Puget Sound.
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  SPEAKER_00: More than 36 ships,
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  SPEAKER_00: steamers,
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  SPEAKER_00: paddle wheelers,
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  SPEAKER_00: one,
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  SPEAKER_00: two,
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  SPEAKER_00: and three-masted sailors,
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  SPEAKER_00: and no canoes vie for space on Elliott Bay.
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  They include the 336-foot Ironhold Queen of the Pacific,
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  which could hold 300 passengers.
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  SPEAKER_00: The 270-foot Sidewheeler Olympian,
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  SPEAKER_00: which crashed in the Straits of Magellan,
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  SPEAKER_00: where its remains could be seen until 1980.
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  SPEAKER_00: The steamer Evangel envisioned as a ship to spread the gospel.
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  When it was launched,
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  a little girl dropped religious tracks into the water.
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  But it soon blew up and killed three men,
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  but then was repaired,
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  then sank for good.
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  SPEAKER_00: And the T.F.
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  SPEAKER_00: Oaks, a three-masted clipper jinxed by bad luck.
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  SPEAKER_00: In 1897,
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  SPEAKER_00: after an epic trip when the ship had been given up for good,
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  SPEAKER_00: it was towed into New York with a scurvy-ridden crew.
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  SPEAKER_00: Those ships, plus two railroad lines, serve the busy waterfront.
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  SPEAKER_00: Six years after the previous birds I had described,
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  SPEAKER_00: wharves,
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  SPEAKER_00: docks,
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  and piers have continued their push into Elliott Bay and
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  obliterated the historic shoreline.
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  SPEAKER_00: Welg shows furniture manufacturers,
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  SPEAKER_00: a barrel factory,
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  SPEAKER_00: coal bunkers,
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  SPEAKER_00: machine shops,
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  SPEAKER_00: two iron works,
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  SPEAKER_00: and at least six sawmills.
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  SPEAKER_00: One dock,
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  SPEAKER_00: the Ocean Dock,
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  SPEAKER_00: extends far enough into the bay to have encompassed Ballast Island,
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  the artificial island that had become a sort of safe haven for
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  Native people,
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  SPEAKER_00: one of the few places where they were tolerated in Seattle.
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  SPEAKER_00: In addition,
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  Welk shows how a few people have begun to populate the east
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  side of Lake Washington.
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  Those who wanted to reach their homes would catch a ferry at
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  what is now Madison Park,
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  SPEAKER_00: and was then the Laurel Shade home of Elizabeth and John McGilvray.
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  SPEAKER_00: Access to Laurel Shade was by a ragged wagon road,
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  SPEAKER_00: which inexplicably curves in Wilg's drawing,
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  SPEAKER_00: but actually was straight.
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  SPEAKER_00: The route,
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  SPEAKER_00: now Madison Street,
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  SPEAKER_00: still exists,
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  SPEAKER_00: and it's the only road directly linking Lake Washington and Elliott Bay.
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  From a topographic point of view,
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  Welg is far more accurate than Eli Sheldon in 1878.
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  The best place to see this is on Yesler Street,
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  as it rises east from the waterfront.
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  Note how the road crosses on a trestle over a valley,
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  then climbs the slope.
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  SPEAKER_00: The road is so steep that it requires stairs, as Welk shows.
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  You can also see how many houses include entrance stairways,
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  a sure sign of vertical relief.
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  SPEAKER_00: He also includes another unexpected feature,
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  SPEAKER_00: a lake located perhaps around 17th Avenue and Denny or Howe Streets.
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  It's hard to place,
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  but it appears to be on Capitol Hill,
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  where no lake of this kind is known.
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  SPEAKER_00: In contrast, Welk removed Foster Island, leaving Union Bay featureless.
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  SPEAKER_00: By the time of Welch's drawing,
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  SPEAKER_00: industries had started to spread north to Lake Union,
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  SPEAKER_00: though Seattle's original railroad,
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  SPEAKER_00: the Seattle Coal and Transportation,
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  SPEAKER_00: no longer existed.
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  SPEAKER_00: Most prominently,
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  SPEAKER_00: smoke spews out of David Denny's Western Mill Company,
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  which sits on land where the Museum of History and Industry is
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  now located.
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  SPEAKER_00: With the mill running out of trees to harvest on the surrounding hills,
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  Denny and other investors would form the Lake Washington
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  Improvement Company.
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  SPEAKER_00: Their plan?
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  Connect Lake Union with Lake Washington in order to exploit the
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  virgin forests to the east.
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  SPEAKER_00: To do so,
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  the LWIC worked with the Wachong Construction Company to cut a
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  canal between the
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  SPEAKER_00: lakes as well as between Lake Union and Salmon Bay.
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  Welg included both connections,
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  though he doesn't show the locks at the canal linking the lakes.
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  SPEAKER_00: They were located roughly where State Route 520 is,
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  SPEAKER_00: a few hundred yards south of the modern Montlake Cut.
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  The canals were probably not yet completed when Weld made its panorama,
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  but would soon be.
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  SPEAKER_00: As I look at this map,
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  SPEAKER_00: Seattle looks to be on the verge of booming,
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  SPEAKER_00: but then I focus on the background.
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  The forest begins just east of what would soon become Capitol
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  Hill and north of Lake Union.
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  Trees spread for miles across a rolling topography that ends at
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  the jagged horizon
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  SPEAKER_00: where massive peaks,
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  SPEAKER_00: Baker,
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  SPEAKER_00: and perhaps Shuxin,
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  SPEAKER_00: Whitehorse,
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  SPEAKER_00: Three Fingers,
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  SPEAKER_00: Pilchuck,
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  SPEAKER_00: Glacier,
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  SPEAKER_00: and others,
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  SPEAKER_00: plus Rainier and Inset,
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  SPEAKER_00: rise to snow-capped summits.
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  SPEAKER_00: Despite the city's rapid growth and fierce ambition,
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  SPEAKER_00: it is still just a speck,
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  SPEAKER_00: barely chipped into a rugged wilderness.
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  This dichotomy is one of the reasons I love noodling around in
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  these bird's eye maps.
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  They provide an unrivaled and truly imaginative way to time
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  travel back to the
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  SPEAKER_00: early days of my hometown.
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  Of course,
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  I know what happens next,
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  but it's still exciting to see how that story develops.
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  SPEAKER_00: Once again,
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  SPEAKER_00: this is David B.
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  SPEAKER_00: Williams,
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  SPEAKER_00: author and voice of The Street Smart Naturalist,
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  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind,
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  a weekly newsletter and podcast focusing on the human and
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  natural world around Seattle,
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like more details about my books,
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: walks,
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: and talks,
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: and a link to sign up for my newsletter and podcast,
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: check out my website,
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: geologywriter.com.
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  SPEAKER_00: And in addition, I've also started another way to hear a podcast.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's on Space 101.1 FM.
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  Every Wednesday at noon,
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  I will release a new episode from one of my old previous newsletters.
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  SPEAKER_00: I hope you'll tune in.
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  And don't forget to slow down,
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  pay attention,
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  and enjoy the world around you.