Colorful Seattle history

Trading with the Indians

Alki Point, 1850's

This sketch was made by Emily Denny, one of the daughters of Arthur Denny. He led a pioneer party that founded the first white settlement in Seattle,  just down the hill from us on Alki beach.  The Denny family traveled the Oregon Trail by wagon train from Illinois to the Willamette Valley, and eventually made their way up the coast to Elliot Bay by steamer.

It's easy to forget just how young this city is when you look at around now. But 150 years ago, it was a wilderness.  The first arrivals found enormous forests, land, fish and animals there for the taking.  And take they did. These natural resources would have seemed unlimited.  The first things they built were lumber mills and canneries.

I've been working lately on interesting research projects about some of these pioneers. The smartest ones quickly became wealthy, and we still drive around on streets named after them, like Boren and Denny.  Even if you can't appreciate their methods, you have to admire the industry and hard work. They stuck together, too.  The high society marriage pool was limited in those early days.  

George Frederick Frye

For example, George here married the 17-year old daughter of Arthur Denny.  They had a happy marriage and built a number of businesses together, including the Frye Hotel and the Frye Opera House.  They had six children who all went on to become upstanding Seattle citizens. The MOHAI Library where I work is named after their daughter, Sophie Frye Bass.

It's kind of a miracle, but the Frye Hotel still stands in downtown Seattle. Once lavish, it is now used for low-income housing.  The Frye Opera House was the grandest theater north of San Francisco, but it burned to the ground in the Great Fire of 1889.

 Harry Treat, Esq.

During and after the Gold Rush, colorful businessmen like Harry Treat arrived. He was a real estate tycoon who bought up large swaths of suburban land to subdivide.  He even built a trolley line to attract buyers.

Harry was what we now call a "player," an avid Anglophile and sportsman who imported expensive English horses and held fox hunts and carriage rides through the streets of Seattle. This picture is the Treat daughters out for a ride.

Whee! What a time!

If you're interested, here's links to a few of the finding aids I've worked on recently:

Harry Treat Family Collection

George and Louisa Frye Family Papers

Priscilla Bullitt Collins Collection