Henry Yesler

Henry Yesler
7th Mayor of Seattle
In office 1874–1875
Preceded by	John Collins
Succeeded by	Bailey Gatzert
15th Mayor of Seattle
In office 1885–1886
Preceded by	John Leary
Succeeded by	William Shoudy
Personal details
Born	December 2, 1810 Hagerstown, Maryland United States
Died	December 16, 1892(1892-12-16) (aged 82) Seattle, Washington United States
Resting place	Lake View Cemetery, Seattle, Washington
Domestic partner	Sarah Burgert
Occupation	Entrepreneur, Politician

Henry L. Yesler (December 2, 1810 – December 16, 1892) was an entrepreneur considered to be Seattle's first economic father and first millionaire.

Biography

Two images of Yesler's Mill and nearby buildings, 1874

The Yesler mansion, depicted here in 1900, burned January 2, 1901. At that time, it housed the Seattle Public Library.

Yesler arrived in Seattle in 1852 and built a steam-powered sawmill, which provided numerous jobs for those early settlers and Duwamish tribe members. The mill was located right on the Elliott Bay waterfront, at the foot of what is now known as Yesler Way and was then known as Mill Road or the "Skid Road," for the practice of "skidding" greased logs down the steep grade from the ever-receding timber line to the mill. In running the mill, Yesler built the city's first water system, in 1854. The system was made up of a series of open-air, V-shaped flumes perched on stilts that started atop First Hill and ran down past Yesler's home and to the mill. Later on, after complaints of dirty water, Yesler developed a system made up of log pipes and iron buried beneath the ground.

The house where Henry and his wife Sarah lived, a wooden building that resembled a store, was located near the mill, at the corner of First Avenue and James Street. When Sarah died in 1887, Henry constructed a mansion on the block between Third and Fourth Avenues at James Street, where he spent the final five years of his life.

Yesler also served in public office, at various times as a county auditor, county commissioner, and mayor.

On June 6, 1889, the Great Seattle Fire burned down the entire business district (which consisted mainly of wooden buildings), including the mill, as well as his Yesler Hall, located on the corner of and 1st Avenue and Yesler Way, and Yesler's Pavilion, at 1st and Cherry. They were never replaced. Yesler built the Pioneer Building on the same plot of land where his first home stood, now the heart of Seattle's Pioneer Square.

Yesler died on December 16, 1892, at the age of 82. He is buried, along with his wife, in Lake View Cemetery. The mansion he lived in was turned into the first supposedly permanent home of the Seattle Public Library, but burned down January 2, 1901. The King County Courthouse currently occupies that site.

Personality

Yesler's post-fire Pioneer Building, depicted here in 1900.

In his informative and tongue-in-cheek book, Sons of the Profits, Seattle historian William C. Speidel pointed out some of Yesler's negative aspects. On numerous occasions, Yesler had lawsuits filed against him. On other occasions, it was Yesler himself doing the suing. "The City of Seattle made him a millionaire," wrote Speidel, "yet he sued it...fought it...plundered it...and on two occasions he brought it to the brink of bankruptcy." Speidel also recounts how, according to courthouse records, Yesler owed John McLain, an old friend from Ohio, $30,000 for the loan that the latter set up for construction of the mill. Yesler would pay him $12,000 of it over time, and it wasn't until McLain sued him that he was able to collect on the rest.

Yesler and his wife Sarah were Spiritualists and believed in free love.

Further reading

• Speidel, William C. (1967). Sons of the Profits (There's no business like grow business: the Seattle story, 1851–1901). Seattle: Nettle Creek Publishing Company. pp. 57–80, 256. ISBN 0-914890-00-X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month=, |chapterurl=, and |coauthors= (help)
  Speidel provides a substantial biography with extensive primary sources.
• James R. Warren, "Ten who shaped Seattle: Henry Yesler struck gold in lumber and real estate", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 25, 2001.
• Junius Rochester, Yesler, Henry L. (1810–1892) HistoryLink.org ("The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History"), October 7, 1998, revised by Walt Crowley on October 17, 2002.

Writings

• Yesler, Henry (1907). Daughter of old Chief Seattle. Coast Pub. Co.Available online through the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection

External links

• Finding aids from the Special Collections, Washington State Historical Society (WSHS). Includes a finding aid on Henry and Sarah Yesler, available as a PDF or a Word document.
• Henry Yesler at Find a Grave