Around the Horn With a Hold Full of Salmon
Seattle shipping men launch a regular Cape Horn service to New York and Philadelphia, betting on the Panama Canal to put salt water on equal footing with the railroads.
Seattle, Nov. 2. — The first sailing in a regular line of steamships from Puget Sound and San Francisco to New York and Philadelphia will be made with the departure of the steamer San Mateo. The San Mateo will carry around the Horn a full cargo of canned salmon.
It is thought the intention of the shipping men behind the enterprise is to work up a strong traffic connection in anticipation of the completion of the Panama canal, when, with that shorter and quicker route, water carriers will be able to compete with railroads on a more even basis.
“It is thought the intention of the shipping men behind the enterprise is to work up a strong traffic connection in anticipation of the completion of the Panama canal.”
Puget Sound's economy was built on getting goods out past Cape Horn, and this voyage was a gamble that the Panama Canal — still years from opening — would rewrite the map of Pacific trade. It did: the canal cut the run to New York by thousands of miles and made Seattle a gateway rather than an outpost. The same wager is being made today as Northwest ports, rail corridors and canal traffic jostle over who moves the freight.
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