Seeking inspiration for a nonpolitical column running in print on Thanksgiving, I went back in the archives.

All the way back to The Seattle Daily Times Thanksgiving Day story of 1897.

I felt for the writer. It was a corker but ended up on Page 8.

The story described how the city was thankful to be emerging from the 1896 depression. It accurately predicted that a surge of business from the Klondike gold rush would set Seattle on course to becoming one of the “great cities of the Earth.”

It nailed the region’s casual fashion sense, 41 years before REI was founded, and the roar generated by Seattle football fans.

The story also foreshadowed today’s newspapering, with a heavy emphasis on the weather, same-day news (published in that evening’s edition) and a subhead (“Why are You Thankful?”) written to goose reader engagement.

Seeking inspiration for a nonpolitical column running in print on Thanksgiving, I went back in the archives.

All the way back to The Seattle Daily Times Thanksgiving Day story of 1897.

I felt for the writer. It was a corker but ended up on Page 8.

The story described how the city was thankful to be emerging from the 1896 depression. It accurately predicted that a surge of business from the Klondike gold rush would set Seattle on course to becoming one of the “great cities of the Earth.”

It nailed the region’s casual fashion sense, 41 years before REI was founded, and the roar generated by Seattle football fans.

The story also foreshadowed today’s newspapering, with a heavy emphasis on the weather, same-day news (published in that evening’s edition) and a subhead (“Why are You Thankful?”) written to goose reader engagement.

Pursuant to the proclamation issued by William McKinley, President of the United States, and John R. Rogers, Governor of the State of Washington, the people of Seattle, in common with the inhabitants of every state in the Union, are today abstaining, for the most part, from the ordinary avocations of life, and are, either in letter, or in spirit, letting their thanks ascend for their manifold blessings of the past year.

Seattle, while not decked in holiday attire nor wearing gala dress, gives evidence that this is not an ordinary day. There is an unusual air of quiet pervading the streets and the faces of the passersby indicate that their owners are either happy over what the past year has given them or joyous over their hopes of what the future has in store for them.

It is clearly evident that the much-abused gentleman who presides over the destinies of the United States Weather Bureau is taking a holiday and as a consequence the gentle rain has not descended and Old Sol has been permitted to show his lustrous countenance once again. The weather this morning was ideal and if it continues this afternoon the crowds who attend the football game will be permitted to sit on the grand stand and shout themselves hoarse in behalf of their favorite team without wasting any portion of their lung power in anathematizing the weather.

Last year Thanksgiving Day in Seattle was more or less marred by the gloom of business depression. The citizens of Seattle had not yet been permitted to see the ray of sunshine that was almost ready to show through the cloud of hard times and scarcity of money. But now all is changed. Where last year existed discouragement, gloom and a fear of what the future might have in store now abides faith in the ultimate restoration of the old days when the problem of how to keep the wolf from the door was never presenting itself for solution and when everyone had enough and to spare.

The business men of Seattle are giving thanks today for the discovery of the great quantities of yellow metal in the frozen North, which has been the direct cause of turning the eyes of all the earth to Seattle as the gateway of that region where gold is plentiful beyond the dreams of avarice. They are thankful that next year will, unless every sign shall fall and every indication be deceiving, witness the rush to Seattle of people from every corner of the earth — here to spend their money for an outfit and push on to the North. They realize that this means the city where they have cast their lot and for which they have spent their time, money and energy to build will be numbered among the great cities of the earth.

That edition actually had several holiday stories.

Another urged Washingtonians to be thankful “that this great Commonwealth is free from all turmoil, internal dissensions and famine — conditions which prevail in many other of the nations of the earth.”

Among the audience was the grandfather of America’s next president. In the 1890s German immigrant Friedrich Trump operated a Pioneer Square restaurant with rooms for prostitutes, the first of several gold rush real estate ventures that seeded the Trump dynasty.

But that risks breaking the no-politics rule.

The archives, back to December 1895, are available online to Times subscribers.

Some, reflecting attitudes of the time, make you wince and appreciate how far we’ve progressed. Others read like a Jack London novel.

Sensational coverage of foreign affairs in the 1890s was also deeply problematic. But it’s still remarkable to see how much international news was in a local paper in the boondocks in 1897, especially compared to today’s ghost newspapers. They have modern standards but a relative paucity of news.

It’s hard enough to get people to read any newspaper nowadays, much less old ones in digital file cabinets.

But the archives are worth a visit for those who enjoy newspapers and history. Especially if you’re needing a break from the gloom, fearing what the future might have in store and waiting for Old Sol to reappear.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is excerpted from the free, weekly Voices for a Free Press newsletter. Sign up to receive it at the Save the Free Press website, st.news/SavetheFreePress. Seattle Times’ Brier Dudley is the editor of the Free Press Initiative, which aims to inform the public about issues facing newspapers, local news coverage, and a free press. You can learn more about the Free Press Initiative, or sign up for a newsletter, at https://company.seattletimes.com/save-the-free-press/.