Golden Opportunities Open

IF I HAVE counted correctly, there are here 19 men posing before the U.S. Assay Office. Most likely they are all federal employees. Those in aprons had the direct and semi-sacred duty of testing the gold and silver brought then to this First Hill address from all directions. Of course, in 1898, the year the office opened, most of it came across the waterfront.

After the Yukon-Alaska Gold Rush erupted in the summer of 1897, Seattle quickly established itself as the outfitter of choice. Most of the "traveling men" bought their gear here before heading north aboard one or another vessel in the flotilla of steamers that went back and forth between Seattle and Alaska. The importance of the Assay Office was to make sure that when the few of these "latter-day argonauts" who returned actually burdened with gold they would be able to readily convert it to cash here in Seattle — for by far the biggest purchaser of these minerals was the U.S. Treasury.

In the competition with its Northwest neighbors, Seattle by 1898 was getting pretty much anything it wanted, including this office and these "alchemists." Still, the anxious Seattle lobby worked especially hard to get the office because locals understood that having the assayers here considerably improved the chances that the lucky few might well spend their winnings here as well.

Paul Dorpat specializes in historical photography and has published several books on early Seattle.