Aberdeen’s Five-Year Rise from Wilderness
A progress report from 1891 celebrating the rapid industrialization of a city carved from the virgin forest.
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.
Although the still undeveloped resources of this country are vast, we are not among those who point only to the future. In spite of the disadvantage of poor communications which have hampered Aberdeen's growth, the location was too good to be overlooked and pioneer enterprise has established itself here. Five years ago the tide land on which Aberdeen is built was covered with a virgin forest; today it is the only city in southwestern Washington. In the race for supremacy, it has so far eclipsed all rivals that it is today the manufacturing, marketing and money center of the great Gray's Harbor Basin. A resume of what has been done in Aberdeen shows: four saw mills running with a daily capacity of 200,000 feet; a foundry and machine shop kept constantly busy; a shingle mill being constructed; two sash and door factories employing 35 men; a ship yard building a three-masted schooner; three salmon canneries; the best electrically lighted city in Washington; and a pay roll of $35,000 a month.
“Five years ago the tide land on which Aberdeen is built was covered with a virgin forest; today it is the only city in southwestern Washington.”
This booster-style account captures the 'get-rich-quick' era of Aberdeen's founding, when the town was being physically built atop the tide lands. It is a striking contrast to modern Aberdeen, which has long been dealing with the industrial aftermath and economic transitions of that same rapid, resource-heavy growth.
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