The Empire Sells Off the Smelter
Independent miners in the Pacific Northwest move to seize control of the Everett reduction works, breaking the stranglehold of the industry trust.
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.
John D. Rockefeller is about to dispose of the big smelter which he is operating in Everett under the style of the Puget Sound Reduction company. Negotiations are so well along that the deal may be said to have been practically concluded. The independent miners of the Pacific northwest have long sought to get out of the clutches of the American Smelting Refining company, known otherwise as the smelter trust. It is believed they are the people that are taking the Everett smelter. They are operating through Charles Sweeney, the wealthy mining man of Spokane who is heavily interested in the mines at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Mr. Sweeney has just concluded a rigid inspection of the plant here. The independent mine owners will now control a smelting plant, and be able to treat their ores without treating with the trust.
“The independent miners of the Pacific northwest have long sought to get out of the clutches of the American Smelting Refining company, known otherwise as the smelter trust.”
This 1903 corporate shuffle highlights the early 20th-century battle between regional interests and the massive industrial trusts that dominated the era. Today, as Pacific Northwest communities debate the environmental and economic legacy of these historic smelting sites, the 'trust-busting' spirit of the independent miners remains a familiar, if modernized, echo in local populist politics.
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