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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1883)
THE WEST SHORE. January, 1883, stock of this company wan taken as follows : by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, 51 per cent., being a controlling interest, and by the preferred stockholders of the railroad company in Ihcir individual capacities, the remaining 49 per wnl. Immediately following organization, the Tacoma I-and Company bought of the railroad company the 3,000 acres contracted lor hy Mr. tiniiili ami in addition. I 1.000 acres of the odd numbered sections within a radius of six miles of the terminus, paying therefor the sum of $250,000 in cash. These purchases made the commission ers make a change of headquarters from Tacoma city, near the saw mill, to the present site, a short f. t .t .11 .l i i r .1. . I (lutance luriner souin ami near ine neau ui ine oay. Here they encountered a virgin forest of large fir trees, and by their order the work of clearing was IK-L'im and continued until the trees ol a tract a mile or more snuare were cut down. The town was laid out, or planned, by Col. Isaac W. Smith, civil cneinecr, and the railroad company erected for Ukc as their headquarters, the large building on the corner of Ninth and C streets, now occupied as offices by Mr. Isaac V. Anderson, manager of the Tacoma I-and Company Many people had arrived, and were arriving for location at the terminus, and many more were on the way, when there occurred an event that staggered all enterprise of building, commerce and trade in this part of the country especially. and that was the financial collapse of the company in 1K73. This catastrophy, consequent upon the failure of Jay Cooke, fell like a withering blow on the terminus, among a thousand other interests that had experience of that misfortune. Hut there was vitality in the idea of the teiminus a vital ity llmt was only suspended for a time, not extb guUhed, and it actively responded to everv sulise. quciil movement looking to the completion of the raid. After the fust shock, deserted by thou. saniU and remaining merely a hamlet of a few huiiilicil people, 11 Marled forward m 8w ...,. and iluigged wcaiily through years until the be ginning of work on the IVnd d'Oreille division in the winter of 1S70, f,om the Columbia river at the mmilli of Snake Kiver, enstwnrd toward Idaho, and m.lil the wirvejs of t,c Cnvadr range under linn l.iigincrr la.ic V. Smith were lrgan tlv rjilv imiiiir .f iliVn I'l .1 . ' 1 "en ine place liegan lo advanre with energy and has not abated in the rapidity of ,u gmw ,),, but ha, rather moved ahea. , ' increase.! sjiecd. Tle census of inai year showed a population of only 7,0, lut n the two year, since then the x.pulalin has in erased mote than 300 per rent, king now es.. mated at fully 3.000. , which must be added consuln.ble numWr. arriving ,y ,vrry ,tfmn turn San Fianrisc.s and this noteworthy circum-sl.m-e should be ,uicd. th ,!, ,, N(.w cm. is in the hear, of the g,P.,eSt ,Bmlwri ' region ot, he woild. ye, the supply f ,uml)er name from the mountain, the company named their future city after the most prominent object the landscape about, calling it lacoma, wnicn ... . . J the Indian name signifying tne snow-cappea 11 . , ' ' 1 1"7 lumoer lurjil uw hi. r.. 1 1. - . , "7 , , J been far Mow the dunand. sonui,n ., ''-l-'cn. and reliable me . ,at ,mt for , more than we,e ,,uiIl (urim, Wi-hinfull vie. f, he ,, Commence ment bay and aUm, fifty . " outbeaM. rise. .he ony ,0 he to,, f who highes, u " , bos, ,hc level 0 then. The, , " owa took iu in is mountain. Apart from history and treating of New Tacoma as it appears to-day, we nno. 11 10 uc & v.guiuus ... . . .... and rapidly growing city, lately incorporated, sunerblv located and backed by resources, agricul luml mrhinirnV commercial and corDOrate. to an extent that may well excite the envy and fear of all its competitors. No doubt but the influence of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company is the potent factor which will build up the leading city of Puget sound, and that influence appears to be thrown decisively in favor of its chosen terminus. Admiralty inlet, a part of Puget sound, has a general direction north and south. Commence ment Bay is an off-shoot eastward from and a part of Admiralty inlet. On the southerly shore of this bay is New Tacoma. It is built on ground ascending by successive steps or plateaus from the water to the height of 300 feet, and commands extensive views of the Sound, the valley of the Puyallup river, the forest foot hills, the Cascade range of mountains in the east, and the Olympic on the west. The three plateaus rising each about loo feet have a common slope south eastward toward the head of the bay, affording easy grades for access from that direction to the highest points in the city. And what is remarkable in this rerion. the ground is of uniform and regular contour. The opportunity for drainage is excellent beyond any example that we know of. The landing place for both passenger and freight, whether coming by rail or water, is on tne company s wharf at the base of a twrnen, dicular bluff which hides the city from view rrom tins wharf the road leads by easy grade up to the top of the first bench, which is in fact the In-ginning of the place, though the corporate limits include the wharf. On this wharf .1,. irge hotel kept by Mr. W. n. Hbirku,.!, ' .1.. . " "l 'ic general superintendent's offices, the freight and passenger depot, a large warehouse just erected y iwyj i.-ei ir the storage of wheat, the 0. K. & N. Co's. offices shops and warehouses. n,l 11,- commission warehouse and office of Messrs. Sahm "ariow. 1 hese gentlemen do hy far the largest ... i,.e.r i.ne 01 any hrm on Puget Sound Along the base of the bluff and behind the wharf and hotel, passes the track of ih ni 1 -p grade to the coal wharf, which is a large and ,uure am. toward the huge coal bunkers "inner along and now n rnnrc. f . Th. 1 1. . . -""ciion uui ve miles long and three miles 'e, and us waters thoueh denn .nv..j , ri -."iu uouna ance of anchorage ground for the ship, of an im- Aiong this wharf the steam ship Great Eastern mipht lie i , .. h-e several fathom, of water under her keel Une of ,he slrikinc advantner r .1.:. l . . ' mougn rare, are experienced m occasional yea,, during the winte, Along ,he water front and but . short distance frm the railroad wharf U ,H , . ance 4 Co. "' 01 "atch Following the railroad f 1 d .long the the h.. f u . T "e e wulh- ,,o,heWu,here;;rrer " 7oa, me construct ion and repair shops of the railroad company, for the use of which fifty acres of ground has there' been re served. These are large wooden buildings, Wen equipped with the best tools and machinery for building and repairing cars and for repai,ine locomotives. In these shops have been manuL tured nearly all the rolling stock of the Pacific division and all the cars now in use on th p-j d'Oreille division, except a few passenger coaches wnicn were Drought out in ships from the east. A large new building has just been comolei n these grounds, designed for the use of the com pany's machine shop, and the dimensions of which are 204 feet long . by 90 feet in width. It has two railroad tracks running through its en tire length, and four pits so that four locomotives may be undergoing repairs aUthe same time. The money expended for labor of mechanics in th. shops, coming as a regular monthly disbursement is mentioned as one of the considerable resources of the business of New Tacoma. Where now hundred men are employed, it is not unlikely that there will be four or five hundred when these shops are called upon to fill requisitions for roll. ing stock for the use of the division, sure to be built at a day not far distant, eastward across the Cascade mountains to a junction with the main line on the Pend d'Oreille division in Eastern Washington, and indeed for additional rolling stock, it is expected, along the entire main line, which will be needed by reason of the largely in creasing volume of business of the road from . year to year. The iron works of David Lister & Co. com prise a large establishment which came from small beginnings within a few years by virtue, chiefly, of the energy and enterprise of the senior member of the firm. It includes a foundry and 1 well supplied machine shop, in which are skilled mechanics capable of doing any kind of work in the diiection of building and repairing machinery. They can make engines and boilers of all sizfi and patterns. The moldinc floors of their foundry have greater measurement than those of any similar establishment on the Pacific coasl. They have manufactured car wheels which have stood the test of years and nre of lirst-clnss qual ity At these works was built the; large engine now in use at the saw mill of I latch' A Co., which furnishes the power required to cut 40,000 feel of lumber per day. Manufacturing interests appear to favor the neighborhood about the railroad shops. Near by. and on the water front, cround is be ing cleared for the building of a sash and door factory and a furniture factory. In the same neighborhood is the brick vnrd. from which the present supply for this city is chiefly furnished; and also within a stone's throw, a shingle mill about to be set up. In trealine of Hanson t Co.'s large team saw mill (an illustration of which appeared in our Oct. lKSUf which Is nnrt ttnA na rolnrih terminal city, together with all of the interests clustered about it of land and water front, and otherwi. we speak of a mill which, after the completion cl certain improvements now being pushed ! With Vianr will k. nnm nt ilia 1Vrrrjct in the W0fld, bvt " " 1 Wllb UI tV . as it certainly will be the largest on Puget Sound Hr i. : in nnvertll - -tw o an iiKitiiuiiuii III wuieu iiiiiv 1 s'eam engines are tmployed of an aggregate of 770 horse power and having a capacity fortanv inrr .1-!!.. .1 . nf 42t.OOO 5 vai umiy ine enormous iiiuuni j feet of lumber. Mr. George E. Atkinson, -