The Price of Seattle's Coal Wars
A Senate committee interrogates local coal barons on why Washington's abundant resources are being undersold and exploited while labor conditions stagnate.
The story, cleaned up
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Mr. W. McNeill, resident manager of the Oregon Improvement Company, testified that the mines of his company were located at Newcastle and Green River, with average shipments of 1,200 tons per day. He stated that the price of Seattle coal in San Francisco was $5 per ton, while British Columbia coal sold for $7 to $9 because it was of a better quality. McNeill argued that if the coal companies of Washington were not wealthy corporations, they would not survive the competition from Australia and British Columbia. When asked by Senator Pugh regarding wages, McNeill noted they paid $1 per yard of coal, with miners at Vancouver making $3 to $4 per day. Senator Pugh pressed him on the dismal living and labor conditions, noting that workers were far from the mines and questioning why capital should continue to invest in such a failing, loss-making operation. McNeill admitted that the company lost money on the coal business in 1888 and that he had instructions to 'wind the business up' if it did not turn a profit this year.
“If the coal companies of Washington were not strong and wealthy corporations, they would not stand up against the competition of British Columbia.”
The late 19th-century struggle for the Pacific Northwest coal market highlights the same corporate anxieties that plague today's Seattle tech and real estate markets: the squeeze of global competition, the reliance on massive capital investment, and the prioritization of corporate viability over worker stability.
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