Six Hours, Sixteen Thousand Feet: Puget Sound's Lumber Boom
A correspondent touring the Sound in 1860 marvels at new sawmills at Utsalady and Port Gamble, where wild country is being turned into lumber camps and the Territory is already boasting of a manufacturing future to rival the older states.
Aug. 26, 1860.—Our last trip around the Sound gave us an opportunity of witnessing the enterprise of our capitalists and the genius of mechanism, brought to a focus at different points, which cannot fail to inspire the humblest citizen with patriotic pride in the prospects of our infant Territory. Judging the future by the past and present, the progress of the last four years predicts a growing importance in our mechanical, commercial, and mining history that must ere long vie with many of the older States.
Four years ago there was no mill at Utsalady. Here it is now: with the money and enterprise of Messrs. Craney & Green, and the mechanical genius of Dr. Park, a mill has been erected which a few days since sawed and delivered to a ship 16,000 feet of lumber in six hours—ample proof that the Utsalady company has done much to enhance the mechanical and other interests of the Territory. The country about [illegible] was lately in a state of wild nature; now the enterprise of Messrs. Williamson & Co. appears in bold relief, with a structure capable of delivering 90,000 feet of lumber daily. The Port Gamble Company has increased its facilities with a substantial circular saw mill and is now building [illegible]. G. A. Meigs has also constructed works to develop the mineral resources [illegible].
“Four years ago there was no mill at Utsalady. Here it is now.”
The timber economy celebrated here became a foundation of Washington's growth, drawing capital, workers, and company towns into the forests around Puget Sound. The same booster confidence still echoes in modern debates over mill jobs, resource extraction, and environmental limits.
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