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When the Northern Pacific Railroad laid its final tracks within the fledgling hamlet of Tacoma, it brought opportunity and wild characters by the car full. Seemingly overnight, the quiet Puget Sound village transformed into a booming metropolis and eccentric playground with its fair share of growing pains. On one unlucky evening, residents awoke to the cries of a man who fell into the sewers after a road collapsed. Tacoma's first school avoided demolition for a time thanks to a band of enterprising tramps who converted the place of learning into Hotel de Gink, complete with unique minstrel show. Local author and guide Karla Stover explores these and many more stories of the quixotic and curious history of the City of Destiny.

The work herewith presented needs little introduction to the citizens of Tacoma, but to the public at large, whose hands it is destined to reach, some explanation may not be out of place. The object of the publication is the embodiment, in concise and correct form, of the rise and progress of a city whose growth in population, trade, manufactures, and whose surrounding resources are almost without parallel. The resources of the State of Washington are first given a space in our columns; then a cursory history of Tacoma and her important interests, followed by full descriptions of these interests, and concluding with histories of her leading business houses. The familiar features of some of our prominent and enterprising citizens will also be recognized in its pages; many others are equally deserving a place in our limited gallery, but further space could not be afforded.

Reachable only by ferry, Vashon Island is a breathtaking rural retreat from the bustling activity of nearby Seattle and Tacoma. The island's first inhabitants, the sx̌ʷəbab", took advantage of its evergreen forests and rich marine resources. In 1792, George Vancouver was the first Anglo to discover the island and named it after Captain James Vashon. By the late 1800s, the first white settlers had established farms and greenhouses that supplied nearby cities with berries, tomatoes and cucumbers. Ferries drove development in the later half of the century, introducing new industries and tourism to the area. While both influenced by and isolated from the mainland, the island developed its own unique character treasured by locals. Merging human and natural history, author Bruce Haulman presents the rich heritage of this thriving community.

"Dear Sir--I have found the place that can become the Greatest City of the World. Hold on there! Laugh if you will after you have read this. The biggest folly is to fool yourself. The best authorities agree that as to climatic conditions, life-supporting soil and wealth-producing lands and waters, the Pacific Ocean and lands on each shore half way across the Continent to the Atlantic are more than twice as great and good as those in, and on, the Atlantic half-way across to the Pacific. . . . No part of America is more blessed by grand watersheds than the North Pacific Coast, and no city gets greater benefit from them than Tacoma. This State of Washington, with the beauty of Switzerland and the fertility of ancient Egypt, with its vast and varied resources, with its rich irrigable eastern half and its western half enjoying a semi-tropical climate, owing to the Japan current, will, when the world's population becomes adjusted, support twenty times its present population in comfort; and, if it had thirty times its present population, it would be more self-sustaining than the original thirteen American States are now. This will be conceded when the life-supporting resources of, and external items that contribute to, the respective districts are weighed and balanced. . . ." Donald Fletcher, Nov. 1, 1906

The City of Destiny took shape where rails met sails on the shores of Commencement Bay. When Tacoma was chosen as the Northern Pacific Railroad's terminus, the city rose from the mudflats and took the lead as the Northwest's destination for opportunity. In this collection, discover the city's early notables and uncover the stories behind the historic landmarks. Why did city planners abandon Olmsted's vision? How many war bonds did Lana Turner's kisses buy? Why were vegetarians warned, "Don't drink the water"? Who is the tiny figure with coal black hair and bound feet who haunts Old Tacoma? Local author and guide Karla Stover answers these questions and more as she spins stories from the tomes of Tacoma's past.

The spirits of the early pioneers still roam the streets of Leavenworth and lurk in the lengthening shadows of the surrounding hills. Chas Gordon's murder sits unsolved after a century of mystery, as does the location of the lost Ingalls gold. Muffled sobs mark out the Thorp Cemetery, while a ghostly hand coaxes a soft tune from the piano in the lobby of the Tumwater Inn. Saloon shootings and railroad tragedies left their own legacy of restless souls. Author Deborah Cuyle reveals the fascinating history behind the ghost stories from this corner of the Cascade Mountains.

Lewiston has a proud heritage of historic preservation. Yet, as with other communities, it has neglected and thrown away once-treasured landmarks and precious memories with the passage of time. Some legacies were crafted with brick and mortar, others with flesh and blood. Nothing is permanent unless we make it so. Join award-winning historian Steven D. Branting as he takes a focused look at some of Lewiston's bygone edifices and the ambitious civic leaders and craftsmen who fashioned them. Reconnect with the city's scholars, its pious, its dreamers and one desperate teenager. They all made Lewiston what it once was, bequeathed their present to be our past and have sadly faded from our view.

By way of introduction the writer desires to state that Seattle and the Orient is published to act as an opening wedge into a country up to this time very little known to people residing upon Puget Sound. It is for the purpose of introducing ourselves to the people doing business in Siberia, China, Japan, the China Archipelago, the Philippines and Hawaii, and to eventually open a way by which closer trade relations may be promoted, that this book has been published. The subjects treated are in no instance overdrawn, but are secured by direct contact with the people interested, and are plain matter of fact statements of affairs as they exist in Seattle and in Western Washington. The illustrations shown are the best procurable, and will afford the reader a fair idea of what can be found in the metropolis of America's great Mediterranean. Such a showing as the following pages make cannot help but impress even the most casual observer that Seattle has a future before it of very great magnitude. Unquestionably it is destined to become the largest city upon the Pacific Coast. It has every material advantage to make it so; it has almost every imaginable resource upon which to draw for support; it is the center of one of the greatest lumbering sections in the world; it 'has inexhaustible coal mines; it is the central point from which the gold fields of Alaska and the British Northwest Territory are reached; it is practically the center of all the mineral wealth of the Northwest; and it is moreover the natural geographical entrepot for the great Oriental markets, a fact which in time will make it the greatest shipping port in the United States. An attempt has been made to enumerate its varied resources in succeeding pages, and a story has been told which will prove both interesting and instructive. It has been the aim of the writer to take up the industrial side of Seattle and portray a condition as near the actual as possible.