seattle was established as a shipbuilding center during the klondike gold rush
thomas fawcett was the gold commissioner and temporary head of the klondike administration at the start of the gold rush he was accused of keeping the details of new claims secret and allowing what historian kathryn winslow termed carelessness ignorance and partiality to reign in the mine recorders office
 the port of seattle which also operates seattletacoma international airport is a major gateway for trade with asia and cruises to alaska