The Flour Trade's Pacific Ambitions
A Spokane miller dreams of bypassing San Francisco to ship Washington wheat directly to Central America.
The story, cleaned up
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Mr. George S. Palmer, manager of the C. & C. Roller Mills of Spokane, spent some time in San Francisco looking into the matter of starting a steamer line from Puget Sound to Central America. 'I believe a line of boats should be started from the Sound to Central America, which I believe would be a paying business,' said Palmer. 'Our flour has to be sent to Tacoma or Portland and transferred for San Francisco. At San Francisco it is again handled and goes from there on the Pacific Mail steamers. Every time it is handled it costs 50 cents per ton, and is often put in with a cargo of coal and damaged badly. We are paying $12 per ton to China, but we would be willing to pay $10 per ton to Central America. The people of this state should aid any movement that will put money in their pockets, as every dollar brought in trade with a foreign country is a benefit.'
“It has been demonstrated that Washington mills can down 'Frisco on prices every time if they will give us an equal basis in freight rates.”
This reflects the early, desperate quest of Washington businesses to establish direct trade routes and bypass the dominance of San Francisco, a central theme in Seattle's economic rise.
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