The Rebirth of Seattle's Idle Mill
A dormant Seattle sawmill gets a new lease on life under San Francisco capital, signaling an era of rapid industrial expansion for the town.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The proprietor has leased this splendid mill in this city, which has been lying idle for the most of the time for the past year, to the wealthy and enterprising firm of Preston & McKinnon, of San Francisco, to be under the superintendence of Mr. J. M. Coleman, an experienced mill man. This arrangement will greatly add to the business prosperity of the town, not so much by the additional employment it gives as by the increase of the business medium it will furnish. The Coal Company has added about $300,000 to the commerce of this city; the new active operations of this mill will add as much more, which together will make a business equal to that of most places of 5,000 inhabitants, in addition to its retail and jobbing trade drawn from the surrounding country.
“This arrangement will greatly add to the business prosperity of the town, not so much by the additional employment it gives as by the increase of the business medium it will furnish.”
This 1872 report captures a pivotal moment when Seattle transitioned from a small frontier outpost to an industrial hub fueled by outside investment. Just as this mill revitalized the local economy 150 years ago, modern Seattle continues to grapple with the tension between local industry and the influx of external capital, proving that the city's economic identity has always been forged in the crucible of rapid, outside-led expansion.
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