1850 American Gold Tycoon

Duwamish Harbor was the precursor to the city of Seattle.

In 1851, Arthur Denny and a group of explorers who loved scalping discovered a place called Duwamish among the Indians.

When they first arrived in the area, it was home to tribes of Duwamish, Suquamish, Swanenam, and other Indian tribes from the Puget Sound region.

After discovering that this was an excellent natural deep-water harbor, they chose to establish a settlement here and expelled the local Indians.

However, the good times did not last long. Later, the pro-China Indians received assistance from Liang Yao, and the first batch of white explorers who arrived in the Duwamish area basically died and walked away.

Duwamish was back in Indian hands.

It wasn't until the remnants of Portland's Democratic Party moved north to near Puget Sound and received aid from the British that the whites regained a foothold in the Duwamish.

The governor's mansion of Governor Stevens of the Northern Oregon Territory was located in Duwamish, but now Stevens has left here and moved inland with his white immigrants, looking for a new settlement.

After Stevens left, Duwamish fell into depression again. It was said to be a port town, but now the town has only a little more than a thousand residents.

Due to the sharp decline in population, most of the shops in the city are closed and all industries are depressed. Only a small grocery store next to the square remains open.

"The land is flat, with rivers and shipping routes, and there are abundant natural resources nearby. The development prospects here are very broad. It may become the next Jinshan Bay metropolitan area." Liang Yao inspected near Duwamish for a while. After thinking about it for a while, I came to a conclusion.

The Los Angeles metropolitan area, the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan area, the Seattle metropolitan area, the San Diego metropolitan area, and the Portland metropolitan area are all large metropolitan areas on the west coast of the United States in later generations, and they concentrated most of the population on the west coast of the United States.

The geographical conditions in North America are very good, and the resources within the territory are rich. There are few areas with bad terrain. It can be said that God will provide food for them. Even though Tianhu started with a good hand, the Indians just played a bad hand.

It is not easy to develop the economy of the West Coast region. Even if you copy the work of later generations, you can still achieve pretty good results.

Liang Yao's idea is also to build several metropolitan areas on the west coast as the core and basic base. As long as the west coast is stabilized, there will be more choices in the future.

The Los Angeles metropolitan area and the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan area have gradually taken shape. After the second Mexican-American War, it was only a matter of time before San Diego and the former Mexican border city of Tijuana integrated to become the third largest metropolitan area in California.

The Portland metropolitan area is already on the agenda. A few months ago, the first batch of Chinese immigrants crossed the Columbia River and arrived on the north bank of the Columbia River.

What was left in the end was the Seattle metropolitan area that would come to be known as his feet.

The Puget Sound area has great potential. If it can be implemented, it can become the third largest metropolitan area on the West Coast after the Golden Bay metropolitan area and the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

"You may be curious why I, the mayor of San Francisco, who has done a good job, suddenly resigned. I will tell you now that I developed the Puget Sound area on behalf of the American Group at the request of our boss."

Former San Francisco Mayor Levi Strauss stood up and said.

As the first mayor of San Francisco, Strauss handed over a satisfactory answer to the citizens of San Francisco.

The Jinshan Bay Metropolitan Area was planned by Strauss under the instruction of Liang Yao.

Strauss has also done very well in attracting investment and developing industry. The San Francisco Industrial Zone can gather almost all industrial categories except the chemical industry. Strauss deserves a lot of credit.

Due to his achievements during his tenure, Strauss himself is also known among California's upper class as being good at developing the economy.

Liang Yao let Strauss take charge of the development work in the Puget Sound area, which also sent a positive signal to other people in the California consortium, indicating that he attached great importance to the development of the Puget Sound area and attracted more investment.

Of course, Liang Yao mobilized troops here this time to solve the border problem and clear the final development obstacle for the development of Puget Sound.

"It's just that I heard that the Indians here are very fierce." Fair said.

"Back then, Bernat, and now Stevens thought about scalping them every day to exchange for dollars. How could they not be cruel to you?" Liang Yao said.

"We are not scalping the Indians. I have invited the chiefs of the local Indian tribes to attend our gathering. Hearing is false and seeing is believing. Whether the Indians are vicious or not, you will know in person when you get to know them."

"Too."

Fair felt that he was overly worried. The Indian tribes in the west coast area regarded Liang Yao as their chief. Liang Yao had a high prestige in the eyes of the Indians. It was Liang Yao who single-handedly promoted the development of the Puget Sound metropolitan area.

Just because the Indians don't give Stevens face doesn't mean they won't give Liang Yao face.

Liang Yao and Stevens had completely different attitudes and policies towards the Indians. One was to exterminate them all, and the other was to assimilate them.

"The biggest problem is transportation. It's good here, but it's still too far away from California. Do we need to raise money to build a railway first? The California Railway is building the Pacific Railway, and the Atlantic Railway Company has already undertaken the construction of the Garde Railway. You Do you still have the energy to build another railway?”

Sartre looked around, and what he saw was either the dilapidated and monotonous wooden houses in the city of Duwamish, or the vast, endless green virgin forest outside the city.

"I really don't have the energy to build another railway, but Lord Fremont has just established a Pacific Railway Company, and he himself is also interested in undertaking the construction of the railway project from Portland to Duwamish." Liang Yao replied.

"That being the case, what is there to say? Just like how we developed Oregon, we pooled our money to raise funds and set up a development foundation to develop Puget Sound. Mr. Liang could still trick us. Without Mr. Liang, we would not be where we are today. "Wu Yuanhua was the first to express his stance.

"That's what I've been waiting for." Liang Yao smiled.

"I will take the lead. I will invest US$1 million on behalf of the American Group. Next month, the American Group will open a branch in Duwamish. I will also ask the Coal and Steel Alliance to open a steel plant here to support Puget Sound. construction, to produce the steel needed for construction in Puget Sound.”

Everyone donated their money generously, and finally collected US$4.6 million, which exceeded Liang Yao's expectations. Liang Yao's expected goal is to raise US$3 million.

There is a successful precedent in Oregon, so spending money this time is much more enjoyable than the last time.

“If there is statehood in the future, wouldn’t this place have to have the same name as Oregon?”

Zeng Jinsong suggested after writing a huge check of US$180,000.

"Mr. Liang proposed to invest in the development of this place and made a huge contribution to this place. Moreover, the name Duwamish is too difficult to pronounce. Why not name it after Mr. Liang and rename this place Liangyao City. If it is established as a state in the future, it will be renamed What about Liangzhou?

This place was once owned by Stevens. Changing the name can also eliminate that guy's bad luck. "

Stevens is a well-known racist on the West Coast who is discriminatory and hates Chinese people. Naturally, the Chinese people here are very disgusted with this person.

It was hard to disobey the public opinion, so Liang Yao nodded and agreed to their request to change the name.

In later generations, this place was called Washington State, named after Washington, the founding president of the United States. Unexpectedly, this place has not escaped the fate of being named after a person in this life.

After everyone dispersed, Liang Yao handed the check to Strauss.

"I've collected the money for you. This place is a quasi-state area and doesn't have as many taxes as California. If it still can't develop, you will be very disappointed with me." Liang Yao said to Strauss.

"As you said, the conditions here are very good. As long as you give me 30,000 to 50,000 immigrants every year, I am sure to resettle them all.

Within five years, let this place surpass Oregon in the south, develop this place into the second most economically developed state on the West Coast, and build the Puget Sound metropolitan area into the third largest metropolitan area on the West Coast after Golden Bay and Los Angeles. "

Strauss took the check from Liang Yao and issued a military order to Liang Yao.

"Set up a temporary resettlement site for immigrants, and I will give you at least 10,000 immigrants every month." Liang Yao said.

“No transshipment from San Francisco, shipped directly here.”

"Ten thousand a month?" Strauss's eyes lit up, and then he said confidently, "Then it will only take three years for this place to surpass Oregon."

With $4.6 million in hand and 10,000 immigrants a month, Strauss has never fought such a wealthy economic battle.

Two days later, the chiefs of the Indian tribes near Puget Sound were invited to the newly renamed Liangyao City.

Just a few months ago, this place once called Duwamish was a white stronghold and a forbidden Indian territory.

Stevens, the former governor of the Northern Oregon Territory, made a bold statement: No Indian could enter the Duwamish with his scalp intact.

But now, more than 900 Indians with thick hair are jumping into this once absolutely forbidden area, talking and laughing.

Of course, these Indians are not all Indian chiefs, but elite Indian riders selected by Liang Yao from each tribe.

The terrain near Puget Sound is flat, and a large part of the area is vast wilderness. Therefore, there are many Indian tribes here who are good at raising horses and riding horses.

Horses in North America became extinct in prehistoric times, with the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century.

The horse species re-entered the American continent and spread rapidly.

By the 19th century, horses had become an integral part of Indian life, and many Indian tribes began to raise and use horses to help them hunt, fight, and move.

Liang Yao had wanted to establish a complete cavalry regiment for a long time, but he had been unable to find suitable and high-quality soldiers.

The Chinese are a good source of infantry soldiers, but most of the Chinese immigrants who come to California are southerners. Not to mention whether any of these immigrants have excellent riding skills, even those who have ridden horses are rare.

Even the younger Chinese immigrants who could ride horses were regarded by Liang Yao as high-quality cavalry soldiers and incorporated into the cavalry battalion.

Due to the difficulty in finding cavalry soldiers, the cavalry battalion is the only unit in the Western Brigade that has not implemented a retirement system so far. Even Liang Yao in the artillery battalion had a change of personnel.

Of course, Liang Yao wouldn't be able to form a cavalry regiment if he drank poison to quench his thirst. Over the past few years, there have been quite a few farmers in California who can ride horses.

If these farmers are forced to serve, they can form a cavalry regiment with good quality soldiers. However, this is peacetime, and doing so will delay California's agricultural production.

Therefore, Liang Yao set his sights on the Indians, hoping to recruit riders who were good at riding horses from the Indian tribes to form a cavalry regiment.

Liang Yao originally thought that it would be difficult to recruit soldiers from the Indians, but he did not expect that his prestige among the Indians would be so high. When he heard that he wanted to recruit soldiers from the Indian tribes, the Indian chiefs of each tribe were very cooperative, giving him soldiers and horses if he wanted. .

They only asked Liang Yao to provide them with weapons and some supplies that they could not produce, such as ironware, tools, saddles, high-quality salt and the like.

"Warchief, these are the fine horsemen of our Swanenam, as well as the Duwamish, Suquamish, and other tribes."

Seattle, the young leader of the Swaninem tribe, came to a pasture outside Liangyao City and invited Liang Yao to review the 850 outstanding Indian riders they had brought.