Memoirs of Puget Sound compiles the vivid frontier correspondence of early missionaries David and Catherine Blaine as they navigated the raw, heavily timbered shorelines of Elliott Bay during the earliest days of Seattle's settlement in Washington Territory. The letters extensively document the profound physical isolation and harsh climate of this nascent maritime encampment, detailing a muddy, stump-littered topography backed by an impenetrable wall of old-growth coastal forest. By recounting their reliance on the deepwater harbor for outside supply ships and their eventual flight to naval vessels during the Puget Sound War of 1855–1856, the Blaines highlight how precarious survival was on this remote territorial edge. Ultimately, this firsthand collection provides an invaluable geographic record of the rugged Puget Sound wilderness just as it began its dramatic transformation into a major coastal seaport.

David Blaine was the first Christian minister in Seattle, Washington Territory, and founder of the Methodist Episcopal Church (now First United Methodist Church) in that city

Blaine, Catherine, 1829-1908, Blaine, David, 1824-1900, Christian biography, Methodists, Methodists Northwest Pacific Correspondence, Methodists Northwest, Pacific Correspondence, Pacific Northwest, Personal correspondence