Klondike Gold Rush: Seattle Gets Rich Selling Shovels
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Transcript
Seattle did not need to find gold in Alaska and Canada to profit from the Klondike Gold Rush.
It needed to convince prospectors to shop here first.
In July 1897, ships arrived on the Pacific Coast carrying miners with spectacular quantities of gold from the Klondike.
News triggered a stampede north.
Seattle's merchants immediately marketed the city as the gateway to Alaska.
Prospectors needed almost everything.
Food.
Boots.
Tools.
Warm clothing.
Tents.
Transportation.
Canadian authorities required entrants to carry roughly a year's supply of provisions, turning outfitting into a huge commercial opportunity.
Seattle businesses sold complete packages and advertised aggressively across the United States.
Most stampeders did not become rich.
Seattle did.
The boom injected money into banks, shipping, retail and construction at a crucial moment after the national depression of the 1890s.
The city strengthened its role as the commercial center for Alaska even after the Klondike rush faded.
This is one of America's classic “sell the shovel” stories.
A resource boom creates fortunes not only for people extracting the resource but for cities that supply transportation, information and equipment.
Seattle learned that lesson early and repeated it in later industries.
The national historical park here is unusual because much of the Klondike story happened far away.
Seattle's artifact is the gateway economy.
For tourists, that helps explain why a gold rush belongs in a downtown building.
For locals, it reveals a civic talent that never disappeared:
Seattle became very good at making distant frontiers economically pass through Seattle.