Puget Sound’s Expanding Trade Route to the Orient
New steamship lines between Puget Sound and Asia are creating a boom in transcontinental transit trade.
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.
The volume of merchandise shipped through the Puget Sound customs district in transit to Eastern cities from China and Japan is steadily increasing. The value of these shipments last month aggregated nearly $1,000,000. Prior to two years ago but little if any merchandise passed through this district in transit from the Orient. But since the establishment of a line of steamships between Puget Sound and the Orient, freight traffic has increased several hundred per cent. The first steamer coming across from China was hardly half loaded, but each succeeding vessel has been taxed to its full capacity. Shippers in Eastern cities are just realizing that better time can be made via this new Northwestern route than by the old lines.
“Shippers in Eastern cities are just realizing that better time can be made via this new Northwestern route than by the old lines.”
This 1893 report marks the beginning of Puget Sound’s identity as a global gateway. The 'in transit' cargo that boosted local rail and shipping interests then is the direct ancestor of the massive container volume flowing through the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma today.
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