Erastus Brainerd

During the Klondike Gold Rush, he was the publicist who "sold the idea that Seattle was the Gateway to Alaska and the only such portal".

[1][2] Born in Middletown, Connecticut to Norman and Leora (Campbell), Brainerd attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University, from which he graduated at the age of 19.

He served as curator of engravings at the Boston Museum of Arts, then traveled to Europe, where he promoted a tour for "lecturing showman" W. Irving Bishop.

In 1897, as secretary and executive officer of the newly founded Bureau of Information of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, he became the most prominent figure in the publicity campaign that established Seattle's preeminence as a mercantile and outfitting center for the miners headed to the Yukon.

[5] He briefly and unsuccessfully attempted to make a living as a "mining consultant" before becoming editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.