Westward to Alki: the story of David and Louisa Denny chronicles the grueling overland migration and foundational pioneer settlement of the dense, rain-drenched coastal basin of Puget Sound. Newell details how the region's formidable physical barriers—an unbroken, towering expanse of old-growth timber extending to the very edge of the tidal flats—strictly dictated the precarious survival of Seattle's earliest founders. By mapping the Denny party's initial, desperate winter encampment on the storm-battered, exposed shores of Alki Point and their subsequent, strategic relocation to the deeper, protected anchorages of Elliott Bay, the narrative highlights the immense physical labor required to carve a permanent foothold in this unforgiving maritime environment. The utter lack of viable overland routes forced these early homesteaders into a complete reliance on the deepwater highway of the Sound, immediately anchoring their economic survival to the arduous extraction of coastal timber for marine export. Ultimately, this biographical record serves as a deeply localized spatial history, demonstrating how the severe winter climate and heavily forested, deeply indented aquatic topography of the Pacific Northwest inherently forged the resilient, strictly maritime-dependent origins of Washington's central metropolis.

Biographies, Biography, Denny, Denny, David Thomas, Denny, Louisa Boren, Frontier and pioneer life, Frontier and pioneer life Washington (State) Seattle, Seattle (Wash.) Biography, United States, Washington History, Washington (State) Seattle

Introduction: Smaquamox Londonderry to the Shenandoah From the Shenandoah to the Mississippi From the Mississippi to the Platte From the Platte to the Columbia From the Columbia to Puget Sound Birth of a city New York Alki Timber and muscle Sweetbriar bride Indian War Aftermath The later years Epilogue: Return to the wilderness

Includes index

Includes index