When the Steamer Left, Thirty Jobs Went With It
The withdrawal of the Bailey Gatzert cost Olympia money and idled three dozen woodchoppers and teamsters — and left a wood dealer holding 2,000 cords.
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Few people have an idea of the detriment occasioned to this city by the withdrawing of the steamer the Bailey Gatzert. Had this been known, it is probable that her patronage would have been more liberal. It not only took away a lot of money but threw more than thirty men out of employment. John Reagh, who supplied the Gatzert with wood, was paid nearly $500 every week by the steamboat company. This will all be lost. This has necessitated the laying off of thirty-three woodchoppers and six teams. Mr. Reagh has on hand 2,000 cords of dry wood which will be sold at once at the reduced price of $3.50 per cord. It will be cut to any size and delivered immediately by leaving orders with Foster Laberee.
“It not only took away a lot of money but threw more than thirty men out of employment.”
Olympia's fortunes once rose and fell with a single steamboat's route. The loss of the Bailey Gatzert — and the thirty-plus woodchoppers and teamsters it put out of work — is an early version of the anxiety a town feels when its largest employer or transport link pulls out.
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