The High Cost of a Pole: Seattle’s Timber Boom and the Workers Who Cut It
As thousands of telegraph poles flood the market from Thurston County, local laborers face volatile wages and dangerous conditions in the logging camps that fuel the city's infrastructure.
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.
TIMBER POLKS. — The number of poles shipped from Thurston and the adjacent counties since the first of December last has aggregated more than sixty thousand, at an average price of $21.50 to those engaged in preparing them for market. They were sold in San Francisco from $6.50 to $7.50 per thousand, the price depending on the length and quality. They are cut four to eight inches in diameter, six feet six and six feet nine inches in length, shorter lengths being less desirable; and the larger poles are used for lime barrels.
No approximate estimate can be made of the future of these timber poles as the size of the growth rapidly increases, and the subsequent lots are superior to the first, occurring naturally and more regularly.
THE OREGON COMPANY. — The Oregon Company recently sold to the Willamette Transportation Co. their wharves at Oregon City, warehouses, etc., for the nominal consideration of $1. As the Oregon Steam Navigation Company own a controlling interest in the latter corporation, it is virtually master of the river commerce.
PROBATE COURT. — The following wills were filed in the Probate Court last week: In the estate of William Powell, bill of James W. Engles and Holmes; bill of F. V. Snyder & Co.; bills of W. W. Wood and D. M. Case & Co.; bill of Mary J. Gilliam, bill of S. P. Audrain and C. G. Clift; bill of S. R. Hall & Co. An order was made by Judge York for the sale of Mr. Gilliam's residence on Third Avenue last Thursday afternoon.
EMIGRANTS COMING THIS WAY. — A letter from Mr. Hodgson, late of this city, now of Davisville, Cal., informs us that they have in California a heavy immigration being the East, but the immigrants find it a hard task to secure homes in that State. Mr. Hod states that applications have been called upon him for information in regard to Puget Sound and prospects for obtaining work; and acquiring homes, and that he has given them all encouraging information. He says there will be a large immigration to this Territory, the coming autumn, from California. Three families left this town in the beginning of May for Puget Sound and more follow.
This 1870s report on the 'timber pole' boom highlights how Seattle’s early economy was built on raw resource extraction and export, with laborers facing precarious wages dependent on distant markets like San Francisco. The mention of immigrants fleeing California's housing shortages to seek opportunity in Puget Sound mirrors modern migration patterns driven by affordability crises, showing that the search for a foothold in Washington has always been a push-pull dynamic.
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