- May 24th [of 1853]. After hard rowing in the hot sun we passed the north end of Vashon’s Island, and reached a place known as New York, on Elliott Bay13, and encamped on a hot sandbar. There is only one house at this point. The scenery of the Sound is not conspicuously marred by civilization, as this is the first house we have seen since we left Steilacoom.
- I was introduced to a Mr. Terry, the proprietor of this claim, which is beautifully situated and will probably develop into a town. Seattle is further up the [Elliott] bay and is more protected. On the whole this is a magnificent sheet of water.
- Mr. [Charles Carroll] Terry was the town proprietor of New York [Alki], which never grew beyond one house. The first settlers of Seattle located there. They soon moved over to Yesler’s saw mill, on Elliott Bay, and with that for a center, they radiated along the shore, into the woods and over the hills to Lake Washington, laying the foundation of the Queen City of the Sound. We crossed over to Seattle on the 25th before continuing on our way, and there we saw the saw mill and a few blockhouses for the mill hands. These were situated several blocks back from the wharf line of the city, as established after the great fire of 1889.
- Elliott Bay (Wikipedia)
Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound. It is in the U.S. state of Washington, extending southeastward between West Point in the north and Alki Point in the south. Seattle was founded on this body of water in the 1850s and has since grown to encompass it completely. The waterway it provides to the Pacific Ocean has served as a key element of the city’s economy, enabling the Port of Seattle to become one of the busiest ports in the United States.
