When Puget Sound Timber Built the World
In 1890, Seattle and Washington’s mills weren’t just fueling local growth—they were exporting millions of feet of fir to every corner of the globe.
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.
Among the great industries of the state of Washington, the lumber industry is the greatest. The result for the year 1890 is as follows: The total cut of all mills was 1,222,830,042 feet. In presenting the figures, the period includes the twelve months beginning December 1, 1889, and ending November 30, 1890. The past has been an ordinary year for the lumber industry, and the cut is slightly in excess of 1889. In that year, the rebuilding of Seattle, Spokane Falls, and Ellensburg, which were destroyed by fire, created an extraordinary home demand. But during 1890, there was unprecedented building activity all over the state, in which new railroads cut a considerable figure. Prices were steady and the business remunerative. There was the customary large and steady demand from both sides of the South American continent, Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands, Australia, and China. Conservative England, which took a sample cargo of Puget Sound fir in 1888, continues to be a regular customer, and Northern Germany during the past year has become a buyer. Builders in the remotest quarters of the globe are learning what is well known all over this Coast, namely, that no lumber in the world equals Puget Sound fir for the construction of bridges, warehouses, and all structures which are required to sustain great weight or strain.
“Builders in the remotest quarters of the globe are learning what is well known all over this Coast... namely, that no lumber in the world equals Puget Sound fir.”
In 1890, Washington’s identity was defined by the global reach of its timber, with local mills pivoting between rebuilding fire-ravaged Washington towns and shipping infrastructure to Australia and Europe. Today, while the industry looks different, the tension between 'home demand'—fueled by our current housing crisis—and external economic pressures remains the central narrative of Washington's development.
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