The Mill That Left Town: Snoqualmie's Hope Goes to Portland
After a December fire, the town waited for a rebuild. Instead, Park & Lacy is hauling the machinery south, closing a $75,000 chapter.
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.
SNOQUALMIE, July 20.—[Special.]—Since the burning of the sawmill at this place last December there has been a hope among our people that it might be rebuilt, but this is now improbable, as the Park & Lacy company has decided to move the entire machinery to Portland. The contract for repairing the bridge across the Snoqualmie and moving the machinery has been awarded to Asa Gardner, who has started to work with a crew of men. The contract price is $500, and with other extra work will bring the expense up to $1,000. The work is to be completed by September 1. The mill was one of the finest of the Puget Sound country, costing some $75,000.
“The mill was one of the finest of the Puget Sound country, costing some $75,000.”
Snoqualmie's lost mill is a familiar Pacific Northwest story: a town built around one extractive employer, a fire, then the machinery shipped away. The move to Portland turned a local disaster into a regional transfer of jobs and capital.
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