The Navy Bunkered Abroad While Seattle Coal Sat in the Harbor
When the USS Monterey steamed north to Puget Sound to test Washington coal, it exposed a sore point: U.S. warships had long been burning British Columbia fuel right past Seattle and Tacoma's own coal docks.
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 announcement that the United States coast-defense vessel Monterey is now on her way from San Francisco to Puget Sound to make tests of coal from the mines of the state of Washington, with the ultimate object of using this coal, if suitable, for our Pacific squadron, cannot but be gratifying to all those who are interested in the encouragement of our home industries.
For years it has been the custom to get all the coal used on the North Pacific coast by the United States government vessels in British Columbia. This custom was established in the days before the wonderful development of the country along the borders of Puget Sound made the mining and export of coal one of the leading industries of that section. The custom once established, and the coal from the foreign port seeming sufficiently serviceable, the authorities were slow to change.
The sight of our men-of-war steaming by the coal bunkers of Seattle and Tacoma, from which thousands of tons of good-grade steam coal were annually shipped to San Francisco and other Pacific ports, with power derived from coal purchased from rival ports in British Columbia, was not a pleasant one to the energetic business men of those cities. It is to be hoped that the Monterey will be successful in finding an acceptable quality of coal, and that the naval authorities will make up for their tardy recognition of the state of Washington and get their coal from a home market, when possible, in future.
“The sight of our men-of-war steaming by the coal bunkers of Seattle and Tacoma … with power derived from coal purchased from rival ports in British Columbia, was not a pleasant one to the energetic business men of those cities.”
In 1894 the U.S. Navy bunkered in British Columbia while Seattle and Tacoma coal sat in the harbor — a fight over local procurement and who profits from public spending. Today's arguments over buying local, protecting port and extraction jobs, and where the military sources its fuel ask the same question: should the government's dollar go to the home industry at its door?
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