Seattle Merchants Push for Direct Steamship Line to the Orient
Local Chinese and Japanese business leaders argue that a direct shipping route to Asia would transform Seattle into the Pacific's premier port.
The views of President Hill of the Great Northern Railroad regarding the establishment of a steamer line between Seattle and the Orient have aroused considerable interest among Japanese and Chinese merchants long established in this city. They are unanimous in the belief that such a line of steamers plying directly between this port and Japan and China will open up such a vast commerce that it is sure to pay from the start. Charles Sasaki, a Japanese merchant on South Second Street, stated that a direct line of steamers would at once open the Japanese market for the great lumber interests on Puget Sound. 'Japan, with its 148,000 square miles of area, is barren so far as trees are concerned, and every foot of lumber for the use of its people has to be imported,' he said. Woo Gen, agent of the A Chong Company, added that the project was a grand one and that the present steamers from Tacoma were not satisfactory, being too small for the purpose. He noted that China is waking up to its importance and that the war has opened the eyes of the nation to the wisdom of opening its doors to foreign improvements and products.
“The Japanese are great beer drinkers. In fact it is the fashionable drink. There are many breweries there but all their hops are supplied from Germany. By all means give us this new steamer line.”
This 1895 report captures the moment Seattle began its aggressive pivot toward becoming a global trade hub, leveraging its geography to bypass Tacoma. The reliance on trans-Pacific shipping remains a cornerstone of the city's economy, though the specific commodities—lumber, flour, and raw silk—have shifted to modern tech and aerospace logistics.
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