seems improbable that the secretary could have known much about the great wealth locked up in Alaska's vast territory. During the early days San Francisco held the larger part of Alaska's trade, but with the completion of the Northern Pacific there came a change and Puget Sound gradually acquired first place in northern affairs. The first Alaska newspaper, established in Sitka in 1885, said: "When Seattle shall become, as it must, the true terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad and the city that its natural water advantages will make it, unquestionably its proximity and accessibility to Alaska will make it the lap into which our gathered treasures will be emptied. God speed Seattle's growth and Alaska's development." Ten years later the Alaska Steamship Company, March 3, 1895, sent the first of its steamers-the Willapa-into the Northland with a passenger list of seventy-nine and a cargo composed of mining supplies. From that day down to the present Seattle has been the recognized leader in Alaskan business. Gold, copper, fish, furs and lumber came down from the North and then on July 17, 1897, came the steamer Portland and news of the "big strike" in the Klondyke. Sadly unprepared was Puget Sound and the country generally for this news. From the eastern, southern and middle western states came tens of thousands of gold seekers. Transportation was needed and every old "tub" in every old "bone yard" on the Sound was hauled out, repaired and sent north loaded to capacity with passengers and freight. In the first seven months of 1898 Seattle built seventy-nine vessels for the Alaska trade. Twelve of them were light draft river steamers built by Moran Brothers near where the King Street station now stands. Robert Moran was in personal command of this fleet and its delivery with the loss of but one boat, was due to the experience gained in the late '70s and early '80s as engineer and pilot on Puget Sound steamers. In November, 1897, the steamer City of Seattle arrived with $800,000 in drafts, thirty-five pounds of gold dust and great tales of lucky strikes. She brought a still larger treasure on January 17, 1898, three men having a total of $470,000. All through the spring and summer other vessels brought treasure and then in the fall came the steamer Roanoke with $2,500,000. When the first returns from the wonderful tide of gold funds reached Seattle the miners were forced to deposit it in the banks. The banks sent the gold to San Francisco or other Government mints. This was unsatisfactory and the Seattle clearing house opened an assay office and started a movement for an appropriation for a Government office. May 21, 1898, the bill giving Seattle an assay office became a law. Early in July the office was opened and before January 1, 1899, had received $5,550,031.53 in Alaska gold. News of the strike at Nome reached Seattle September 30, 1899, at which time the office had received a total of $15,225,000 during its fourteen months' existence, the three preceeding months showing receipts amounting to $8,473,465.15, a larger amount of gold than was received by all other United States assay offices combined. The steamship Roanoke brought 13,500 ounces of gold into the office in the forenoon of one day. The business handled from its opening to January 1, 1915, was 13,289,654.92 troy ounces, or 455.3 avoirdupois tons of gold with a coining value of $227,539, Vol. I-24 656.42; the number of deposits being 54,882. This was received from the following districts: Nome, $53,890,437.73; Tanana, $46,494,368.90; Iditarod, $5,851,202.03; other Alaska districts, $12,376,043.83. British Columbia, $18,398,512.92; Yukon, $87,803,382.81; other districts, $2,725,708.20. Alaska business out of Seattle in 1899 totaled 34,932 passengers, 89,116 tons of freight with a value of $9,506,950; 285 vessels arrived during the year and 295 departed. Inbound tonnage, 180,000; outbound tonnage, 187,000. Leading all other organizations in agitation for the development of Alaska was the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. It opened an Alaska exhibit which attracted, and still attracts, great attention. This led to the Alaska-YukonPacific Exposition, about the inception of which Clarence B. Bagley's History of Seattle says: "A casual remark in the course of a conversation between three men in a Seattle newspaper office was the germ which developed into the city's great world's fair, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. The three men were William M. Sheffield, James A. Wood and Godfrey Chealander. The conversation, in the light of events which followed, proved to be one instance of where a good newspaper "story" has set gigantic things in motion. "It happened late in the year 1905, when Chealander returned to Seattle at the close of the Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland, where he had made a success of a small Alaska exhibit. At the time of the opening of the Portland Fair, Chealander had lived a number of years in Alaska, where he was the grand secretary of the Arctic Brotherhood and was picked as the most capable man to represent the North. "The universal attention which this small exhibit attracted so impressed Chealander that, when the exposition closed its doors, he determined that it ought to be retained permanently. With this idea in mind he came to Seattle and fell in with William Sheffield, who was the secretary of the Alaska Club, later called the Arctic Club. His offices were on the top floor of the Alaska Building. "Together these men determined to interest the people of Seattle in a plan to put up a building for a permanent Alaska exhibit in the city. The Portland exhibit was to be the nucleus of an extensive institution which should be a constant reminder of the wealth and promise of the northern territory. With this plan Sheffield went to Wood, then city editor of the Seattle Times, and now publisher of the Town Crier. "Jim,' said Sheffield, 'do you want to get hold of a good story? I don't know what you may think of it, but I believe I have a first class one here. It may amount to a whole lot and it may not.' "Let's hear it,' Wood replied. Sheffield then introduced Chealander, who told of the success of the Portland exhibit, outlined their plan for a permanent Alaska building and exhibit in Seattle. Before long Wood interrupted. ‘If Portland can have a successful Lewis & Clark Exposition, what's the matter with us? Why can't we have an Alaska exposition in Seattle which will be even more successful?' "Sheffield and Chealander looked at each other and wondered 'why not?' The more the three men discussed their idea the larger it grew in proportions, until by the time the interview closed an Alaska exposition in Seattle was a fact as far as they were concerned. |