In 1875, Seattle pioneer lumberman Henry Leiter Yesler (1810-1892) was property-rich but cash-poor, so he came up with a plan to liquidate much of his property by holding a lottery. The lottery had been authorized by the territorial legislative assembly the previous year in an act that stipulated 10 percent of the proceeds should be used to finance construction of a wagon road over Snoqualmie Pass. Unfortunately Mr. Yesler's plan to sell 60,000 tickets fell far short in a county with a population of only about 3,500 people. In addition, other hopeful lottery operators had drained away many potential customers and sharpened the opposition of anti-gambling forces. The lottery was never held and no prizes were awarded, although an unknown number of tickets were sold. Mr. Yesler was later convicted on the gambling charge by District Court Judge J. R. Lewis, but punished with only a relatively small fine and court costs.

The blank form pictured here is pre-addressed to Mr. Yesler and was intended for use by Mr. Yesler's agents selling tickets on his behalf.

Caption information source: "Henry Yesler, charged with violating gambling laws with his Grand Lottery of Washington Territory, pleads not guilty on September 5, 1876," by John Caldbick, HistoryLink.org Essay 223.