Fur trading in the Pacific Northwest dates back to the 1700s. The first raw fur auction in the United States was organized in Seattle in 1898, coinciding with the Klondike Gold Rush, which had started in 1896. Ohio-born Charles Theodore Wernecke had come to Seattle in 1897 and ran a store that bought raw furs, manufactured fur clothing, and catered to the miners. The 1897-1900 Seattle City Directories list C.T. Wernecke, furrier, on the waterfront at Railroad Avenue (now Alaskan Way) and Columbia Street, near Colman Dock.
Here, C.T. Wernecke (with beard) and his employees stand on the wooden sidewalk outside the store. To his right is Alice L. Esson, and to her right is Mary Stevenson. To the far right is fur cutter John Finney.
Handwritten on verso: The man with the beard is Mr. Wernecke – next to him my mother Alice L. Esson – next to her Mary Stevenson – the man at right was the fur cutter John Finnie [spelled Finney in city directories] – later he and Mary Stevenson were married and moved to Issaquah, Wash. where he operated a butcher shop and reared three sons.
Physical Description: 1 photographic print mounted on cardboard: b&w ; 7.75 x 6 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
