A Global Timber Tycoon Eyes Bellingham
A millionaire shipowner from Chile secures control of the long-idle Bellingham mill, hinting at the international stakes in Washington's lumber boom.
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.
Whatcom, Aug. 27.—The Post-Intelligencer correspondent is reliably informed this evening that Capt. C. Langdon, the millionaire shipowner and lumber dealer of Valparaiso, secured control of the Bellingham mill here, and that the mill will resume operations in a few days. The business will be conducted under the name of the Bellingham Mill and Lumber Company, of which Capt. Langdon, who arrived this week from Chile, is president, and George K. Atkinson superintendent. The mill has been idle over two years. Mr. Atkinson, the superintendent, was until recently manager of the Cornwall mill at Whatcom.
“The mill has been idle over two years.”
The transition of mills from idle assets to active export engines reflects the 'boom and bust' cycles that defined the early economic history of Washington. Today, these waterfront industrial sites have largely been repurposed for urban residential and commercial use, erasing the physical footprint of the timber-centric economy.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.