The Tide Marsh Farmer's Million-Dollar Pitch
A La Conner entrepreneur calls for local investment to stop the exodus of grain wealth, offering land to any miller willing to set up shop.
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.
J. L. Conner, the tide marsh farmer of La Conner, informs us that over $20,000 annually is sent out of the country in the vicinity of that place for flour which can just as well be saved at home by raising their own wheat and having it ground at home. Beside all this, there is an almost unlimited amount of wheat, barley, and oats that could be ground into animal feed and readily sold at a good profit to the mill owners. To any good, responsible man who will start a flouring mill at La Conner, with not less than two run of stone, Mr. Conner will not only give them a suitable mill-site, with plenty of water for steaming purposes, but will assist them liberally in other respects. Probably Messrs. Calhoun, Whitney, and other leading farmers would also liberally aid the enterprise. Who will improve this favorable opportunity?
“Over $20,000 annually is sent out of the country in the vicinity of that place for flour which can just as well be saved at home.”
This 1878 plea highlights a foundational economic struggle in Washington: the desire to control local supply chains rather than exporting raw goods to be processed elsewhere. It mirrors modern debates about Snohomish County's economic development, where the tension between exporting raw resources and keeping processing jobs local remains a persistent theme.
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