The boundaries of this claim were West Barrett to West Armour Street, and 16th Avenue West to 20th Avenue West.11 The beauty of the country struck him profoundly. He wrote about it often in his later life in poetic form in journals, some of which were published.12

Young Smith, working on logic, rumors and discussions with fellow settlers such as David Denny, seemed more and more vindicated in his choice of property for the potential railroad land. Smith determined that this cove was the perfect spot for shipping docks and a natural tidewater terminus for a transcontinental railroad that would someday reach Puget Sound by way of the old Indian trail across the mountains. More than 40 years later the Seattle, Eastern, Lakeshore Railway Company did reach Seattle. The great shipping piers Denny and Smith envisioned at Smith’s Cove subsequently became a reality also.

More Than Expected

Smith brought his mother and sister to his new land. “His mother staked a claim a bit to the north. He built a two-story frame house, with lumber which was brought to the cove on scows from Yesler’s mill and then by ox-teams to the building site.”13 This luxury illustrated that Smith was a little better off than one would imagine given his age and life experiences to date.

Smith, now with a reputation as a “visionary” and the common sense of a businessman, could also see the probability of a canal connecting lakes and Salmon Bay to Puget Sound. With the bay located next to his claim, this provided potential to make financial gains.

The most “official” portrait used for Dr. Smith.
UW Special Collections #UW 18650.

By now, Ellender had married Charles Plummer, a wealthy town merchant, and Smith’s mother kept house at Smith’s log cabin, while he built her another home in the orchard near the burnt remains of the one previously destroyed.15

Ione wrote about her parents: “In 1862, Henry Smith married Miss Mary Ann Genevieve Phelan of Portland Oregon, a red cheeked brunette with a lithe figure . . . and a very gracious manner. Her father had immigrated from the County Cork Ireland, first settled in Madison, Wisconsin where he acquired large land holdings.”16

At Grand Boulevard (now West Dravus Street) and 15th Avenue West, Smith decided to establish a medical practice and built an infirmary on the side of his home, continuing to grow plenty of fruits and vegetables, and raising animals. When his practice slowed down, he recognized the local population’s good health. Clarence Bagley, a historian and contemporary of Smith, wrote: “They afforded him too little sickness to realize any profit on medicine, he had better work a piece of land like everyone else.”17

Eventually, he built a fine reputation as a doctor who treated both Indians and white settlers. From then on, a medical practice of some sort continued at all three of his homes, w h e re no one was ever turned away. If they couldn’t pay him, they could help clear land. According to Smith: “They wouldn’t have any money, but they always promised to send me some. I found that promises to pay didn’t get much farther than their lips, so I tumbled to the scheme of setting them to work clearing up my 800 acres until they had settled their bills.”18

Smith had a certain respect for the Indians as human beings and took the time to try to learn their language. Smith is quoted as saying, “Many persons are honestly of the opinion that Indians have no ideas above catching and eating salmon, but if they will lay aside prejudice and converse freely with the more intelligent ones . . .”19

Smith has been credited with the translations of Chief Seattle’s speeches, and had those versions printed in papers such as The Seattle Star. (Questioned are Smith’s ability to translate Seattle’s true native speech and the possibility that the translations included Smith’s own prose style. This is under study at the university level and by those in post-graduate study and research. )

The US Army Corps of Engineers map shows the piers and railroad Smith envisioned many years before the reality came near Smith's Cove.