The Pittsburgh of the Pacific: Kirkland's Industrial Fever Dream

Kirkland is destined to be a metropolis of unprecedented mineral greatness, built upon a solid foundation of Washington iron. The happy realization of the dreams of princely iron capitalists, which was to make Kirkland the great iron city of Puget Sound—the Pittsburgh of the Pacific—has come to pass. The Great Western Iron and Steel Works is now building an extensive plant for the reduction of the ore found in the great iron deposits adjacent to Seattle. The company is expending thousands of dollars in fulfilling their promises to the people. Foundries, machine shops, blacksmith shops, and pattern shops are in the course of construction. On November 22, 1890, a ship sailed from England with 2,270 tons of fire-brick for the construction of the blast furnaces, and another large vessel has since started with a cargo of fire-brick and cement. After the furnaces are built, the rolling mills will be built. Two hundred and seventy tons of machinery have been purchased in the East and will be shipped to Kirkland as soon as needed. A contract has been let for the extension of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railroad from Salal Prairie to the mines. The Northern Pacific is likewise building from Palmer on its main line to the mines. The Lake Washington Belt Line is being graded from Renton to Kirkland and will be extended thence to a connection with the Lake Shore road near Redmond. The value of the Denny mines is greatly enhanced by the proximity of a great ledge of limestone, which in the reduction of ore is indispensable. This natural adjacency is said to exist nowhere else in the world. Freights for iron from the nearest Eastern reduction works are $15 per ton, a difference that with cheap production gives the Kirkland works a practical monopoly of the entire Coast.