Murray Cromwell MorganCritiques

Spectacular narrative history of Tacoma & South Puget Sound

Published in 1979 by a writer born the same year as my grandparents, with a perspective of a life-long Tacoma resident.

Many 'work' tie-ins for me, from a Leschi hideout in a swamp on the Green River with two mountain escape routes that drove me to check the archeological survey for the GRFF, to a James Swan cameo as Port Townsend's town drunk (from Winter Brothers).

There is a chapter on the Northern Pacific and Stampede Pass. A Coxley's Army appearance at Palmer, and a short description of Tacoma's purchase of the Green River Headworks.

Histories are often "dry" but this one isn't. Each chapter is a story in itself and each focuses on one or two individuals key in the development of Seattle.I really enjoyed the early chapters--the latter ones dried out a little. It's a good, solid, history that covers the good and the bad, the sleazy and the churchy. The stories of Seattle's good ole' days.

Sweeping history of the first century of Seattle, ending at the World's Fair in 1962. Wobblies & Teamsters on the original Skid Road - Yesler Way. Bought World's Fair reissue paperback at The Globe Bookstore, downtown Seattle. In great shape for more than 50 years old.

Puget's Sound tells the history of Tacoma, Washington and the surrounding area from first contact with George Vancouver's expedition in 1792 through the start of the 20th century.

In grade school, I lived just down the street from Morgan and once interviewed him for a school project. During the interview, me and my partner quickly forgot the questions we had and ended up just listening fascinated as Morgan wove a story of the early history of Puyallup, a nearby Tacoma suburb. I brought along my dad's copy of Puget's Sound for an autograph, but hadn't gotten around to reading it until now, more than twenty years later.

Morgan is a great story teller and his history of Tacoma is a series of interwoven stories of the people, both locally and from distant Railroad and Wall Street board rooms, who shaped the city from a marshy rival to Seattle for the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad to a thriving industrial city.

Much has changed in Pierce County in the thirty years since the book was written, but the stories of the early settlement are still fascinating and I'd recommend this for anyone who is interested in the early history of Tacoma.½

Morgan doesn't just tell the history of Seattle with one event following another. Each chapter is a story in itself and each focuses on one or two individuals. It was the first history book I ever read like that: history as experienced by specific people at the time. A wonderful read.

Morgan narrates the career of the CSS Shenandoah. The Shenandoah was a merchant raider, launched in Britain near the end of the war. Her captain decimated American whaling fleets and threatened the west coast of the United States, before learning the war was over. It's one of those strange, but true stories of wartime.

Morgan disusses the difficulty of actually finding and retaining a crew, the nature of shipboard life, as well as narrating the actual voyage. Accessible and easy to read.

This tasty little book, by the master storyteller of the Northwest is a great collection of vignettes of Seattle History. From Doc Maynard and the Mercer Girls, to Dave Beck and Big Labor, Morgan focused on important folks in Seattle history and the important issues surrounding them.

Narrated by the estimable Murray Morgan, One Man's Gold Rush features a collection of period photographs by E.A. Hegg. Many of the photos are breathtaking and dramatic. Doubtless you have seen many of them: the long line of men climbing Chilkoot Pass, the results of a blizzard along the trail. It makes for an interesting story.