The Shift from Tacoma to Seattle
Jesse J. Ashton moves the Pacific Navigation Company headquarters to Seattle, citing the city's growing commercial dominance.
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.
Jesse J. Ashton, president of the Pacific Navigation Company, arrived in Seattle yesterday and will make this city his headquarters hereafter, as the offices of the company have all been moved over from Tacoma. Speaking of business matters generally last evening, he said: 'There is no question but that Seattle is really the only place for us to make our headquarters, as we receive more business here than at any other point on the Sound, and the location is also better, as we are not so much at the end of the line as formerly, but more centrally located. Of course, the steamboat business is like all other branches these days, with not very much activity, but I do not look for any great change for some time, although I think by next fall we may see an indication toward the better, as our lumber industries will be moving by then, and I look for a heavy trade in that line also to South America and Australia.'
“There is no question but that Seattle is really the only place for us to make our headquarters, as we receive more business here than at any other point on the Sound.”
This reflects the long-standing tug-of-war for regional dominance between Seattle and Tacoma. While today's economic rivalries often play out in the tech sector, in 1894, the battle for control of Puget Sound trade was fought in the docks and headquarters of shipping firms.
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