Sprague's Railroad Shops Import 120 Workers—and Lose Others to Canada
As old hands quit for the Canadian Pacific, the Baldwin works send a fresh corps of machinists and engineers to eastern Washington.
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.
A great many of the old hands have quit the shops, and are going to the Canadian Pacific. One hundred machinists and twenty engineers have been ordered to the Sprague shops from the Baldwin engine works at Philadelphia, Pa. The company are preparing to do a rushing business here the coming summer, in the way of repairs and construction. This will necessitate enlargement of the shops, and more machinery added to the works.
“One hundred machinists and twenty engineers have been ordered to the Sprague shops from the Baldwin engine works at Philadelphia, Pa.”
Sprague was a railroad boomtown whose shops drew skilled labor from across the country; when the work moved, so did the workers. The same competition for skilled manufacturing jobs—and the fragility of one-industry towns—plays out across Washington today.
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