The Great Sound Mill Slowdown of 1879
A secret price-fixing agreement in San Francisco forces local mills to cut production, threatening the livelihoods of workers across the region.
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.
A special dispatch to the Oregonian dated, Seattle, Nov. 28, says: 'By reason of a combination recently formed at San Francisco through the Pine Lumber Manufacturing Association, looking to a reduction of the lumber product, all the mills on the Sound will commence running on two-thirds time on Monday next, excepting the Milton mill and probably one or two others, subsidized to close down entirely for an indefinite length of time. It is asserted that the mill companies have been manufacturing lumber at an actual loss for the past year, and the combination in question was formed a year ago, but not put into effect on account of the new constitution agitation in California.'
“All the mills on the Sound will commence running on two-thirds time on Monday next, excepting the Milton mill and probably one or two others, subsidized to close down entirely.”
This 1879 report echoes the vulnerability of Seattle’s economy to distant corporate interests and market consolidation. Just as workers then faced sudden reduced hours due to a 'San Francisco combination,' modern Seattle remains acutely sensitive to global economic shifts and the cycles of boom and bust in the local industry.
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