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Explore stories in Northwest history through highlights from MOHAI’s collections. Search by keyword below or browse the entire online collection by entering the asterisk symbol (*). Filter your search by type of materials.

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117 results for: Mining

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Image of Birds Eye View of Seattle, 1889
Cartographic material

Birds Eye View of Seattle, 1889

Seattle in the 1880s was a rapidly growing city, aided in no small part by the 1883 connection with the Northern Pacific Railway Company. Lumber and coal were the primary industries, but the growth of fishing, wholesale trade, shipbuilding, and shipping also contributed to the town's economic expansion and population growth. The Seattle City Census of 1888 records population at…
ID Number:1957.1280.7
Date:1889
Image of Portrait of
Photograph

Portrait of "Uncle Joe" Surber, Seattle, circa 1915

Prior to the 1869 organization of the Seattle Police Department, an appointed marshal kept peace in the small but quickly growing town. William Harvey "Uncle Joe" Surber (1834-1923) is generally accepted as the city's first sheriff, purportedly appointed in 1861 by the town council. Mr. Surber had arrived in Seattle in 1858, after unprofitable attempts at gold mining in California…
ID Number:1957.1284.8
Date:Circa 1915
Image of Orion Denny and John Pritchard outside Denny Clay Mine, Taylor, circa 1895
Photograph

Orion Denny and John Pritchard outside Denny Clay Mine, Taylor, circa 1895

The Denny-Renton Clay and Coal Company was founded in 1892 by Arthur A. Denny (1822-1899) when he bought out predecessor company Puget Sound Fire Clay Company. Clay's popularity over wood as a building material grew substantially after the Great Seattle Fire in 1889. Raw material was extracted with hydraulic mining equipment from heavy glacial clay deposits in Taylor, Washington (near…
ID Number:1962.2540.5
Date:Circa 1895
Image of Portrait of Victor W. S. Denny, Seattle, circa 1890
Photograph

Portrait of Victor W. S. Denny, Seattle, circa 1890

Victor Winfield Scott Denny, Sr. (1869-1921), was born in Seattle to pioneers David Thomas Denny (1832-1903) and Louisa Boren (1827-1916). Following in his family's footsteps, he worked to develop the local timber and mining industries. Victor married Lillie Jane Frankland (1867–1931) and had three children: Victor W. S. Denny, Jr., Elizabeth Crocker (Denny) Harris, and Madge Decatur (Denny) Mathieu.In this…
ID Number:1968.4387.2
Date:Circa 1890
Image of Volunteer firemen Victor Denny and Luther Youngs, Seattle, circa 1885
Photograph

Volunteer firemen Victor Denny and Luther Youngs, Seattle, circa 1885

In the mid-1880s, Victor Denny (left) and Luther Youngs (right) were members of Seattle’s all-volunteer fire department. Denny was born in Seattle to one of the city's founding fathers, David Denny, was a student at the time of this photograph. Youngs, a carpenter, had moved to Seattle in 1883 from Kentucky. In June 1889, in spite of the best efforts…
ID Number:1969.4689.1
Date:Circa 1885
Image of Letter on birch bark, August 29, 1898
Correspondence

Letter on birch bark, August 29, 1898

The letter pictured here was written on birch bark by Joe Masters, a prospector, to his wife while traveling up the Koyukuk River in Alaska. Gold deposits were discovered on the middle fork of the river, sparking a gold rush similar to the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon Territory of Canada 500 miles to the east. In 1898 about…
ID Number:1969.4798.8
Date:1898
Image of Request for installation of electricity in home, July 7, 1906
Ephemera

Request for installation of electricity in home, July 7, 1906

In 1906, businessperson Manuel Brock Augustine (1844-1922) wrote the note pictured here to the superintendent of the Seattle Light and Water Department (now Seattle Public Utilities), Luther Burns Youngs (1860-1923), asking to have electric lights installed in his home. Mr. Augustine and his business partner, Charles Louch (b. 1850), had between them been operating grocery, wholesale, mining supply stores in…
ID Number:1969.5072.104
Date:1906
Image of Lowman & Hanford building, Seattle, 1898
Photograph

Lowman & Hanford building, Seattle, 1898

In 1882, James Lowman and Clarence Hanford joined forces to found Lowman & Hanford Stationery and Printing Company. After losing their original building in the Great Fire of 1889, the partners reopened the business at 616 First Avenue. There, they expanded into publishing, bookbinding and book selling, and even sold photographic equipment and other supplies to people leaving for the…
ID Number:1970.5046.6
Date:1898
Image of Vancouver, B.C. Daily World Headquarters, Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Seattle, 1909
Photograph

Vancouver, B.C. Daily World Headquarters, Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Seattle, 1909

The Vancouver B.C. Daily World headquarters was housed this reproduction of the Hudson Bay Company's Nanaimo Bastion. The original Bastion, in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, B.C., still exists today, and is the oldest original freestanding Hudson's Bay Company fort in North America. Although most of the Hudson Bay Company's Forts were established in for fur-trading, the Nanaimo Bastion is unique…
ID Number:1974.5868.26
Date:1909
Image of Denny-Renton Clay and Coal Company workers, Renton, 1908
Photograph

Denny-Renton Clay and Coal Company workers, Renton, 1908

By 1910, the Denny-Renton Clay and Coal Company was one of Renton's most important businesses. Company workers removed the clay from nearby cliffs using high pressure hoses. Other laborers formed and baked the clay into bricks, sewer tile, terra cotta, and other building materials. By 1917, the Denny-Renton Clay Company was reportedly the world's largest producer of street paving brick.This…
ID Number:1974.5868.227
Date:1908
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MOHAI stands on the historic and contemporary lands and shores of the Duwamish, Suquamish, Muckleshoot, and other Coast Salish Nations. We acknowledge the forced displacement of Native Communities from this land while honoring the endurance of the Duwamish people who still live here.
Address: 860 Terry Ave N, Seattle WA, 98109
Phone: 206 324 1126
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