The Iron City of the Pacific
Promoters promise a new industrial powerhouse in Kirkland as rail lines expand and iron ore production begins.
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.
Kirkland is destined to be a metropolis of unprecedented mineral greatness, built upon a solid foundation of Washington iron. The realization of the dreams of iron capitalists, to make Kirkland the Pittsburg of the Pacific, has come to pass. The Great Western Iron and Steel Works is now building an extensive plant for the reduction of ore found adjacent to Seattle. The company is expending thousands of dollars to fulfill their promises. Foundries, machine shops, and blacksmith shops are in the course of construction. Two thousand two hundred and seventy tons of fire-brick have been shipped from England for the blast furnaces. Contracts have been let for the extension of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railroad to the mines, while the Lake Washington Belt Line is being graded to connect Kirkland with the Northern Pacific. The proximity of a great ledge of limestone, indispensable for reduction, is said to exist nowhere else in the world. Several thousand men will be employed in the operation of these works.
“The happy realization of the dreams of princely iron capitalists, which was to make Kirkland the great iron city of Puget Sound, the Pittsburg of the Pacific, has come to pass.”
This 1891 promotional puff piece captured the brief, feverish 'iron boom' of Kirkland, which aimed to transform the small lakeshore settlement into a massive industrial hub. While the dream of a 'Pittsburg of the Pacific' collapsed during the Panic of 1893, the era’s aggressive boosterism and land speculation laid the groundwork for the speculative real estate culture that still drives Puget Sound development today.
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