The Pioneer Shingle-Packer of Snohomish County
A young woman who made waves in the male-dominated world of shingle mills at Getchell has moved on to a new role as a teacher.
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 pioneer lady shingle packer of Washington has resigned. A couple of months ago she made her appearance at the mill of Stephens & Monohan, at Getchell, and modestly inquired for 'the boss.' He was dug out of the sawdust around the machine, where he had been knot sawing, and as soon as he took a cupful of sawdust out of his eyes he gallantly asked what he could do for her. She modestly stated that she wanted a job packing shingles. The announcement stopped work for the day, so astonished were the shingle weavers, but the next morning Miss April (for that is her name) was unconcernedly at a packing frame making the shingles fly. She was quick-handed and led the male packers a merry race. People used to come miles to see Miss April manipulate shingles, and Stephens & Monohan were figuring on putting a special brand on the market called 'April No. 1,' when she suddenly resigned. She gave no reason, but a week afterward it was learned that she had secured a position as school teacher in the Kellogg Marsh district. Of course teaching school is a much nicer employment for a young lady. And there are men at Getchell heartless enough to say that Miss April, in her new occupation, ought to be a successful wielder of the rod and intimate that the retirement she worked in the mill was to learn this very same thing. But the truth is that Miss April is no idler, and preferred to earn pin money during vacation instead of discussing the latest fashions as some of her less enterprising sisters would have done.
“She was quick-handed and led the male packers a merry race.”
Women entering industrial trades like shingle-packing in 1893 were viewed as novelties or 'pioneers,' often facing public scrutiny and workplace skepticism. Today, while labor demographics have shifted significantly, the tension between traditional gender roles and women's agency in the workforce remains a persistent thread in Pacific Northwest civic discourse.
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