The Seattle-Tacoma Shipyard Feud
How Seattle’s industrial might secured a major contract for the transport ship 'Victoria,' leaving Tacoma business leaders fuming.
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.
There was considerable activity along the waterfront today, owing to the movement of the transports now in port. The Victoria, which came over from Tacoma today, docked at Moran's wharf, where work was commenced on her without delay. The opposition to the outfitting of the Victoria at Seattle has been very bitter. The business men of Tacoma organized and brought all possible pressure to bear on Capt. J. S. Robinson, and even after the order to Seattle continued to berate the quartermaster's department. Capt. Robinson ordered the vessel to be brought to Seattle because of this city's superior manufacturing and supply facilities, knowing the work would be done better and more expeditiously. Tacoma has no equipped machinery houses and could only handle the repairing of large vessels through a pool of petty dealers, dividing the responsibility and prolonging the work. This is but another evidence of how Seattle has outdone its one-time rival.
“Tacoma has no equipped machinery houses and could only handle the repairing of large vessels through a pool of petty dealers, dividing the responsibility and prolonging the work.”
This 1899 rivalry over maritime infrastructure reflects a century-long pattern of Seattle and Tacoma competing for regional economic dominance. Today, while they function as part of a joint port alliance, the ghost of this ‘bitter’ competition still echoes in debates over regional infrastructure funding and industrial zoning.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.