English: Crowds at the waterfront possibly vicinity of Railroad Ave. and Madison St., 1898

English:

Shows unidentified steamships at dock

Caption on image: W&S 7842

On verso of image: Seattle Gold Rush, 1898. Madison St.

• Subjects (LCTGM): Piers & wharves--Washington (State)--Seattle; Crowds--Washington (State)--Seattle; Utility poles--Washington (State)--Seattle; Electric lines--Washington (State)--Seattle
• Subjects (LCSH): Waterfronts--Washington (State)--Seattle; Steamboats--Washington (State)--Seattle; Wagons--Washington (State)--Seattle; Central business districts--Washington (State)--Seattle

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Joe Williamson and Jim Gibbs, Maritime Memories of Puget Sound in Photographs and Text, Superior Publishing Company (Seattle, 1976, ISBN 0875642195), p. 82 shows a similar (but distinct) image and identifies the pier at right as "the old Schwabacher's Wharf," which was at the foot of Union Street (later the site of Waterfront Park). So the building at left must be roughly at the foot of University Street, or possibly just south of that, certainly north of Seneca Street. The building with the sign saying "Boats to Let" may be "the Clark and Bartette boathouse near the foot of University Street" mentioned in Paul Dorpat The Seattle Waterfront: An Illustrated History (2005), p.36 (51 of linked PDF).