Reaping the Profits of the Klondike Trade

Population and Economic Growth During the Gold-Rush Era

It was during the late 1890s that Seattle eclipsed other Puget Sound communities as the state's most populous city. By 1890, Tacoma's population had reached 36,006 -- which was fairly close to Seattle's 42,837 residents. During the decade of the 1890s, however, Tacoma gained only 1,708 residents, while Seattle's population rose by 37,834, to a total of 80,671. [81]

Most of this growth -- approximately two-thirds -- occurred between 1897 and 1900, when the city increased from 56,842 to 80,671. [82] This development suggests the influence of the Klondike Gold Rush. By 1910, Seattle had developed into a city of 237,194 residents. Seattle's growth exceeded that of many other comparable cities in other regions of the country during this period.

For all this dramatic growth, the ethnic composition of Seattle's population did not change appreciably during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1880, native-born whites comprised approximately 69 percent of the population, while in 1910 they accounted for 70 percent. The percentage of foreign-born whites also remained stable, at around 26-27 percent. Between 1890 and 1910, African-Americans made up one percent of the city's population, while Asians comprised around 3 percent. [83]

Most native-born residents in Seattle came from somewhere else -- particularly the Midwest and East Coast. In 1910 only 16 percent of the city's residents were from Washington. Seattle's foreign-born population was comprised of migrants from Canada, Sweden, Norway, Great Britain, and Germany in 1880. Immigration from Japan, Italy, and Russia had become more common by 1910. [84]

Rapid population growth could be viewed as an indication of economic prosperity. Seattle's population figures reveal that the late 1890s and early twentieth century -- the era of the Klondike stampede -- was a period of vigorous expansion. [85] Even so, an examination of population figures for other western cities during the 1890s demonstrates comparable growth. Although Portland and Vancouver, British Columbia, did not attract the Klondike trade to the extent that Seattle enjoyed, they both expanded at a faster rate than Seattle, perhaps due to momentum gained early in the decade, before the gold strike. This trend suggests that the continuing movement west of the population of the two nations proved to be a significant influence on growth. [86]

By 1910, Seattle's position as the state's commercial center was assured. The region's rail and water transportation network also concentrated in the city. Foreign trade grew during the early twentieth century as well, shifting from British Columbia to Asia. On the surface, Seattle's manufacturing base seemed sound, as the city produced an array of products ranging from shoes to beer to bicycles. Yet, according to historian Alexander Norbert MacDonald, Seattle continued to rely mostly on extractive industries, including lumbering, fishing, and agriculture. Although the gold rush helped ensure Seattle's position as a commercial center for the region, it did not provide a broad, diversified manufacturing base that could rival the industrial cities of the eastern seaboard. [87]