The End of Coal: Tacoma’s Tugboats Eye Oil

It is predicted that before many months have passed, oil burners will be installed in every tug and freight boat operating on Puget Sound. The initial step toward this end was taken today, when a representative of the Standard Oil company, operating as the Pacific Coast Oil company, came to Tacoma and spent the day with the local steamboat men. Captain Sid Barley, of the Tacoma Tug Barge company, and Captain Olson, of the Tacoma Tug company, were interviewed by the Standard representative, and are said to have expressed themselves as being favorable to the use of oil. An effort is now being made to get the owners of other boats to agree to install oil burners, if a guarantee of a sufficient supply of oil is made by the Standard. At present the price of oil in this city is said to be something over 16 cents a barrel more than it is in Seattle. The Standard Oil company proposes to overcome this extra cost by building a 50,000-barrel tank here, provided the required amount is contracted for. The oil would then be delivered here direct from the refineries at Port Richmond, Cal. Besides the boats, the Sperry flour mill, the Pacific Cold Storage company and other similar concerns are said to be contemplating the use of oil as fuel.