Reddit reviews Sons of the Profits: There's No Business Like Grow Business. The Seattle Story, 1851-1901

This brings up my weekly reminder to read Sons of the Profits, by Bill Spiedel, former Seattle Times editor and creator of the underground tour.

From that book, I learned that the railroad companies made their real money by creating towns they owned. They were able to buy up Tacoma real estate for nothing, and plopped their west coast terminus station there, expecting they could slay Seattle and take its crown, making a mint as they turned barren farmland into downtown real estate. The Northern Pacific Railroad commissioned the Olmstead Brothers, premiere architects of their age, to draw up a city plan, which was summarily rejected due to curvy streets, too much green space, and avenue names such as Orinoco.

Tacoma was essentially a planned and marketed product of a city. However, Seattle had momentum. And hookers.

Read: Sons of the Profits is a pretty good book about the origins of Seattle, and most of the Underground Tour (worth going on) is cribbed from it.

Podcasts: See this thread.

Businesses: In general, please patronize the scruffy older business we have. It's easy to always go to the newest or trendiest spot, but do try to support places that have been there for years (shoutout to Cortona Cafe ). Avoid Storyville Coffee (they're the business arm for a really regressive church that likes to pretend its hip), Cherry Street Coffee (the owner decided there needed to be a 'healthcare surcharge' on every receipt after the ACA was passed), and don't rent anything from a guy named Hugh Sisley.

Etiquette: We are polite to a fault. We're really chill. We tend to be indirect and studiously avoid confrontation(snark, not snarl, ya dig?). It will be hard to make friends with 'locals' b/c we already have social networks and there aren't so many of us around anymore, but patience/persistence pays off. Join a group activity and keep showing up if you want to get 'in' with a crowd.

I read a history of Seattle called "Sons of the Profits". It explained early Seattle was built on Alki but after a couple of winters they moved it to it's current location.

Sons of the Profits: There's No Business Like Grow Business. The Seattle Story, 1851-1901 https://amazon.com/dp/0914890069/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_ybJEub185NSTG

there are bunches, here's a few ive read recently:

Sons of the profits. a little dry but packed with facts and fills you in on the history of the people that built the city, along with their struggles and trials doing so.
https://www.amazon.com/Sons-Profits-Business-Business-1851-1901/dp/0914890069

canoe and the saddle: goes back to when there was next to nothing here. half neat story, half educational to the area in the mid 1800's. i recommend the book with all the explanations noted to help follow along
https://www.amazon.com/Canoe-Saddle-Critical-Theodore-Winthrop/dp/0803298633/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502831073&sr=1-1&keywords=the+canoe+and+the+saddle

the good rain. i just love this one. it bounces all over, but i still love it. it also covers everyones favorite drunk climber, fred beckey (http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/PJ-BD708_beckey_DV_20111109195435.jpg) !

https://www.amazon.com/Good-Rain-Terrain-Northwest-Departures/dp/0679734856/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502831144&sr=1-1&keywords=the+good+rain

Sons of the Profits

http://www.amazon.com/Sons-Profits-Business-Business-1851-1901/dp/0914890069

It's been this way since the first outsiders arrived. Read about how this all got going... https://www.amazon.com/Sons-Profits-Business-Business-1851-1901/dp/0914890069

Please, Portland is not the underdog. or at least they didn't start out as the underdog. Seattle has a better deepwater port sure, but you have to go past the mouth of the Columbia and down through the sound to get to it from San Fransisco, and even then Tacoma has a better one and they had the railroad first.


Portland existed before Seattle, has better access to river commerce and has been a bigger city for a very long time. Seattle is just very good at taking advantage of what we've got. our civic boosterism is second to none.


Alaska is funded entirely by the oil companies, where do you think they get the money to subsidize every single resident of the state from? it is no more authentically wild than anywhere else. and it has Sara Palin, the biggest deluded phony in America today.


I take more objection with your obsession with authenticity than anything else, what the hell does that even mean? the frontier is closed, it has been for a while, while it was open Oregon was a destination for settlers but those who pressed further ended up in Washington, does that not make us more of a frontier state than you?


also, not all of Oregon is like Portland, so to, not all of Washington is like Seattle. much of the state is rural, conservative, poor, and has a meth problem. to speak of the culture in Seattle as even being emblematic of all of King county is stupid, let alone the whole state.


TLDR, no such thing as the old west anymore, sorry. also Seattle rules, Portland drools.

Here is a good book about the growth of Seattle called Sons of the Profits. I recall that it said that the railroads wanted Tacoma to be the major city in the area because they owned a lot of land there, but they restricted the prostitution and gambling houses more than Seattle did. That caused Seattle to grow fast during the critical time and led to Seattle being the major city in the region. https://www.amazon.com/Sons-Profits-Business-Business-1851-1901/dp/0914890069/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493693958&sr=8-1&keywords=sons+of+the+profits

You should read the book "Sons of Profits". Seattle actually has a pretty fucked up history - including hookers, lumberjacks, killing Indians and construction policies just as fucked up as the 520 bridge :D

If you like to read, check out Sons of the Profits. It gives a nice narrative of the beginnings of the city, with details on the political and social intrigues of the time.