The Silent Arrival of a Manufacturing Giant
Byron Jackson establishes a massive agricultural implement factory in Walla Walla without fanfare, signaling a shift in the region's 'old fogy' business culture.
There arrived in Walla Walla some two months ago a quiet gentleman, Byron Jackson of San Francisco. He began to make inquiries regarding land adjoining the machine shop on lower Main street. Suddenly a large building began to loom up, and it was discovered that Jackson had established a branch manufactory. All this was done so quietly that we had an $80,000 agricultural implement manufactory in our midst before some of our citizens were aware of it. No flourish of banners or sounding of trumpets, but determined work. The Jackson factory and the Marshall & Roberts machine shops are now a bustle of activity. Mr. Alfred Noack, the manager, stated they would be exclusively employed in manufacturing Jackson's patent-right machinery, including derrick forks, self-binders, and the celebrated California windmill. Orders have come in so fast that carpenters are now working from daylight till dark. Walla Walla is making rapid strides toward becoming the grand manufacturing center of the Pacific Northwest.
“It is just such men as Byron Jackson that Walla Walla has long needed, and such men as he will eventually revolutionize the close-fisted and old fogy business system in vogue here.”
This story highlights the 'Company Town' phenomenon and the rapid, often quiet, industrialization of the American West. It illustrates the late 19th-century transition from agrarian localism to regional manufacturing hubs.
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