Puget Sound Timber Kings Eye the Isthmus
Lumber interests lobby for a canal in Nicaragua, hoping to slash shipping costs and boost the value of Washington's vast timber reserves.
The Commercial Club of Tacoma has forwarded to President Harrison a strongly-written appeal in favor of congressional aid to the Nicaragua canal. The benefit of this canal to both Washington and Oregon can hardly be exaggerated. The construction of this canal would enormously develop the lumber trade. It is estimated that the forests of Washington contain not less than 175,000,000,000 feet of uncut yellow and red fir. Lumbermen of Washington estimate that the opening of the Nicaragua canal will add $2 to the value of every thousand feet of lumber standing around Puget Sound. The building of this canal will reduce the water distance from New York to the Pacific ports, now 13,000 to 14,000 miles, to 4,500 to 5,000 miles.
“Lumbermen of Washington estimate that the opening of the Nicaragua canal will add $2 to the value of every thousand feet of lumber standing around Puget Sound.”
This reflects the era's obsession with global infrastructure as a lever for local resource extraction. While the Nicaragua Canal was never built, the agitation illustrates the massive economic ambitions of Seattle and Tacoma’s early industrial boosters.
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