The Plague Ship: When Bubonic Plague reached Seattle

A disease that once killed millions across the world quietly arrived in Seattle in 1907… hidden aboard ships traveling north from San Francisco.

When the first victims fell ill, doctors realized the unthinkable had happened — bubonic plague had reached the city. Panic spread through the waterfront as health officials raced to understand how it arrived and how far it had spread.

The answer lurked in the shadows of the docks.

Rats.

In this mini episode of Mysterious Pacific Northwest, we’re telling the story of Seattle’s plague scare of 1907 — the deaths that first alerted the city, the massive war on rats that followed, and the surprising way the outbreak reshaped public health in the Pacific Northwest.

Sometimes the most dangerous threats arrive quietly…

hidden in cargo holds, ship ropes, and dark corners of the waterfront.

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

Sources:

https://www.historylink.org/File/418

https://www.cdc.gov/plague/index.html

https://www.nps.gov/articles/bubonic-plague.htm

https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/black-death

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1715640115

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900%E2%80%931904_San_Francisco_plague

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_plague_pandemic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yersinia_pestis

https://streetsmartnaturalist.substack.com/p/bubonic-plague-in-seattle

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