Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 14, 1909)
THE STKDAT OREGONTAN. PORTLAND. -3IARCn '". ,1909. BIG PACKING PLANT AND SAWMILL WILL BUILD UP PENINSULA Abattoir for Swift & Co. That Will Cost $3,000,000 Will Add to the Value of Both Lots and Acreage. ' BY ERNEST STGAFPKT. EVERY realiy great commercial en terprise has a pioneer phase about it. It Is something calculated to startle the mind, arouse the interest and nx the attention of those who flrst view -its signs and appreciate to the lull its significance. When Robinson Crusoe saw the mysterious footprints on the eands of Juan Fernandez he saw what shook him to the core the evi dence of the coming and going of mankind.- When Cortez, with his men, stared at the Pacific in a wild surprise, he saw as yet unruffled waters where later he sails of every Nation would whiten against the sun. And so the visitor who now treads the shores of the Columbia Slough will- see the sign manual of human heraldry along the sands and mark, with fancy's vision the sails and smoke of many a vessel and steamship coming and going. After all, romance has not fled before the inception of the age of Iron and steel the exploiting of immense indus tries, the world-wide cycles of trade and commerce. The Swft Packing Company, controller of the Union Meat Company, has planned and begun on the lower peninsula adjacent a Port land a project which is the most im portant industrial movement as yet started in the Pacific Northwest. It is not alone'in the scope of the scheme; nor in the number, size and importance of the buildings to be erected; nor In the amount of capital to be invested, large as that is. It is rather in the pioneer "blazing of the way" in new fields and forests, the stamp of com mercial approval upon an advantageous site for a city of industry, the estab lishing of ait outpost which in days to come will be a landmark on the road to progress and a place of steady em ployment for a force of from 1200 to 1500 men. The men behind this splendid enter prise have all the necessary equip ment to make it a success. They have the nerve, the enthusiasm, the perse verance and the money. They have grasped' the situation and the possi bilities with an iron grip, and are im bued with a resolve that cannot fail to accomplish wonders. As one of the men high In the councils of the com pany says, "from the head of the com pany to the office boys themselves, each man is bending every nerve towards the completion of this enterprise, and we have set July 1 next as the time within which it must be done." Must be done. And how? By turn- ing night into day if necessary. By sending up to the dusky skies shafts of electricity which will make a mid night sun for brawny toilers to work In. By shifting from day to darkness, working continuously during the en tire 24 hours, bringing up the reserves of labor, attacking the vanguards of Nature's opposition, making it a battle royal with all obstacles, winning, as it must win, however hard-earned the victory. Today the stumps of freshly-cut trees scattered among crumbling logs and tang'ed brush-heaps mark the last Btand of the wilderness spaces against the changing influences of civilization. Steadily and surely the continuous rush of sands comes in from the big bridge In the slough, washes in and around these Btumps, rises, circles, coils about them like some huge constrictor around its prey, coats them with a saliva of sand, ewallows thorn and moves on with in satiate greed. ' Where the stumps disappear the eand lies, fathoms -deep, and gradually set tling to a solid embankment. Here will toe at last acres of 5-inch thick concreted yards, built on the healthiest and best, foundation possible, alive with tossing horns, and masses of sheep and swine, colored with the gaudy handkerchiefs about the necks of broncho-mounted cow boys, picturesque with the hundred and one incidents of a busy stockyard. Here, both by train and steamers, the livestock will be brought In, housed, fed and turned over to the slaughtering pens or their metamorphosis Into beef, pork and mutton. Here will be the market (for all and more than all of the steers, swine and sheep that the entire North west can raise for years to come, and here will be carried on the manufactures of those byproducts which have made the packing industry so famous the world over, and which will mean the gain of millions to the farmers and stockraisers of the Pacific Northwest. No one, unless thoroughly familiar with the tremendous extent end variety of the packing industry can Imagine what the location of such a plant as this means to every Individual citizen of this sec tion of the Coast country. It means Increased population, - more work, better markets, cheaper supplies,- more railroad facilities, greater activity in water trans portation, less waste of raw material, an Infusion of new and fresh blood into the veins and arteries of trade, a revivi fying of the entire Industrial body. Consider for a moment, in detail, just what this project means in the way of a list of buildings alone. There will be the mam building, 200x140 feet, and six stories high. This will be built of the best pressed brick, slow-burning construc tion, und will con-tain complete facilities tfor slaughtering and manufacturing, be sides smokehouses, packing, shipping end storage. In itself this building will be a miniature city, a beehive of human in dustry, a .combination of mechanical in genuity and manual skill which will be a marvel to all beholders. The miracles of the packing Industry must be seen to be appreciated. There Is no such word as waste in the vocab ulary of the packing world. Everything In a steer is utilized but his bellow, every- ining in a sneep is made to pay a. divi- dend but his 'ba-a!' and there is nothing - lost in the transition of hog to its "least common commercial denominator" except ing its squeal. ...... i eontimiB with the buildings: There ia ihetankhouse, 70x50 feet, four stories high and fireproof. This will be used in rendering lard and tallow and the man ufacture of fertilizing products, poultry ana biock xooas. .etc. An engine-room comes next on the list. 110x50 feet, with ice machine capable of producing a first-class quality of pure icp, ana containing the boilers which will be used in conducting the business of trie plant. Then will come the wool pullery. 75x50 leet, two stories high, brick built, and to be used exclusively for wool pulling. What a chorus of woolly expostulations -win come i rum xnis eaitice when oper ations are going on there at full blast. An additional building will be the glue factory, 50x50 feet, which will take care of all the hoofs, horns, etc.. of the live stock, and transform them into mer chantable glue. The exchange building for commission men will be 110x70 feet in size, and will contain all the - comforts of any home and many more than the average place or resilience, unices, barber shop, news stand, bootblacklng booth, telephone booths, telegraph facilities, and every possible accommodation necessary to sucn a ouuaing. There will be a hotel, English inn style. two stories nign, ana as complete in every detail as the finest modern hotel in America. There will be baths, shower baths and toilet accommodations for ea.cn room, . ana - there will be no con vcnience, nor even luxury, which this jf' yw. v,: toWM jj 1 V J f Bray syBu(7 - tsasx F f, x I ? - T WLLAPPEA& WHEW COWtTTEO, hostelry will not afford to its guests. The cuisine will be of the finest, the ap pointments complete as money and taste can make them, and there will be no plant of this character in America which will boast of as thorough preparation for its visitors as this hotel. Buildings of lesser importance, such as hay barns, horse barns, a garage, etc.. will be provided, and the stockyards proper will be plentifully furnished with modern covered pens, and a carefully planned and adequate water and sewerage system. A pumping station, containing four large pumps for fire protection and water supply is another interesting fea ture of the Swift plant, this being con structed of concrete, and fully equipped with all necessary apparatus. The town of .Kenton, which will ho the center of the business district of the peninsula, is already connected with the company's industries, and will be im proved by the company for the purpose of furnishing building sites for the homes of its employes. Kenton is already building up rapidly and will In Itsplf make a handsome suburb when the plant gets into run running oDeration. Other surface connections have been projected. mm mere is no aouDt Dut what there will eventually be a number of trolley lines running from Portland to the Peninsula and to the plant. A highway which will be suitable for automobiles, is already In process of construction, and will, when finished, be as fine a piece of motoring highway as there is in the country. It will lead to the heart of the Swift nlant. and fhi. enable visitors from all parts of the country to view the plant, and see the extent and possibilities of the industry at Kenton, with ease and convenience. j.ne piant will be on the main line of the Northern Pacific, on the Spokane Portland & Seattle Railroad and the Ore gon & Washington line, giving unequaled transportation facilities by rail, and tap ping the country in all directions for livestock. Spurs and switches connecting the plant with all these railroad facilities win ue constructed to enable the coin. pany to ship Its products everywhere iwun win carry them. in the way of transportation by water the situation Is one which Is deserving of special mention. From the company's docks cargoes may be shipped to any part of the known world. Wh naes 01 tne seven seas ebb flow the sails of outgoing and and in- coming vessels may pass and re pass in their . journeys to and from the company's business center. Liverpool, Hongkong, Alaska no land too far, no voyage too perilous Tor the ships and men who will put forth from the docks by the Columbia Slough. Paring out to ad venturous days and nights, a modern commercial expedition In search of the golden fleece. Of these masts and hulls crowding on sail to the poles or the tropics might well be prophesied: Ton deep bark goes - Where traffic blew. From lands of un to lands of snow: This happier one Its course has run. From lands of snows to lands of sun. Here indeed, in the last analysis. Is the glamour and the picturesqueness of modern commerce. The flags of myriad countries at the docks, the language and patois of numberless foreign tongues mingling in trade's babel, the motley at tire of different peoples, the panorama presented and the tableaux 'enacted. To far lands and lonely ports out-bound, from the uttermost points where prows rise and dip, arrive and depart the cara vans of the deep, and in their wakes the mystery and peril of those who go down to sea in ships follow on. The Stars and Stripes will mingle with the Union Jack at the Columbia wharves, and the tri color of France swing in the same air with the German and Russian eagles. Here, then, Js a gallant adventure, stoutly planned, bearing on surely to fruition and splendid achievement. Night and day the sands are overflowing the waste places, day and night the ring of trowel and hammer re-echoes in spaces where once the wolves howled, and the waters dashed, and where painted war riors once followed the deer or fished the streams here will rise these memo rials of the white man. consecrated to Industry and advancement. Even now the last lingering remnants of wlldness tarry in the ' more remote stretches of the Peninsula. On sloping sand-bar edges the geese float and Jangle in watchful groups, and the wings of skurrylng wild fowl cut whizzingly through timbered openings and out over sparse-growing rushes. Here the tim ber stands, making its last fight against the remorseless ax of the woodsman, and yonder the creeping skiff of a solitary fisherman makes sluggish headway across the sweeping current. Gulls lift and swerve in the sunlight. lazily settling to the water, and sands blink sleepily In tne sunshine, half-wak. ing to the sound of derrick and dredge. And steadily up from the lowlands, driven . fifes..,. -, 1U f fiL. . t'Wf 3V 3 A i f 7- - - - " . -" v 1M 1 , - -:- x ' ' -- . " .... ..... .: -:.:. ' . . 4-'' . M?: f ! "'-J r j' s ' - ' i -' .f Vj-- C r-- J . ; :. .. ; . rilliF'7 uctton. . -i- v. -ii,",'VH i" t.' ' . JRw-.:j. -,T.-::.Y 'f.lst.t"'jxr-."Vv,. -i .- - JUmW11-1 H 1 Mil I 4 - - . .. . m. .... . . t. '. : " : -ill I v; t--- y f If I ..... by the resistless powers of man's energy and resolution, a city la rising on the Peninsula, which wlU one day be a great mart, frequented by the world's mer chants; a. potent factor In the progress of the growth of Portland and the Pacific Northwest, a vantage-point for indus try and commerce, a market for the world and the world s product.. Two millions of dollurn will be ex pended In completing the Swift Plant and its surroundings. It will be a monument to Its builders, a pride to Oregon and the Northwest, a tower of strength to the City of Portland, and an Industrial achievement that will take an honored place In the history of America's true progress. DWELLINGS ARE IN DEMAND Many Residence I'roperties as Well as I Aits Bought. H. S. Rows baa purchased a quarter block on the northeast corner of East Fourteenth and Schuyler streets. Hol laday Addition, for $4500. and will erect a handsome residence. Mrs. Anna Hurd has purchased the five-room residence of Judd Potter on Carvel and Brazee streets for 12500. Mr. Potter will erect another home on the same lot. J. G Shayne. who recently arrived from the East, has purchased the home of Louis M. Head, on the corner of Tillamook street and Alton avenue for $35u0. John Lockhart has purchased six lots In Hancock second addition on Broad way and Tillamook streets, and will erect six houses at once. Seven other lots have Just been sold in the same vicinity to a contractor, who will erect houses on them for sale. Architect Otto Kleeman has pre pared plans for the alteration of the building owned by J. O. Schmidt at East Fifteenth and East Ankeny streets. Mr. Kleeman has also pre pared plans for a tenement house for Mrs. Susan O'Brien, which are now ready for figures. J. C Brent has bad nlmni nrnirii for residence to be built on Broadway and East Twenty-second streets to cost liuvv. "ter i-arK nas sold the southwest corner or t,ast r llteenth, and East uurnside streets ror 18000. The lot Is occupied with to modern residences. The Multnomah Investment Company has sold lots G and . block" 14. In Snn nyslde. for W. E. Howard, to MIkh Flor ence M. Adams for SivluO. A 12-room llna. nn tlis oronarlv. Lumber Mill 'Now Under Construction on Columbia Slough Will Employ 500 Men and Have Big Output ROM comparatively unpretentious be ginnings by t!ie Monarch Lumber Compaay. there la now murine and expanding an industrial movement on the banks of the Columbia Slough which be fore the end of Summer will mark anoth er rrt step In the commerclul progress of the lower Peninsula Tn UJi t i j surroundings now. one could never figure out the possibilities of the situation. To stand among the stumps and cordwood of a new-made "clearing" and say. "Here will be In four short months the roar and hum of machinery: the smoke of tall chimneys belching Into the clear air; the whirring of Innumerable bells; the crash, of steel-toothed saws, eating their way Into huge timbers; the forms of sweating off-bearers' bending under weighty loads, the shriek of dcafenine whistles, and all the accompaniments of mills and fac tories." is to use the speech of prophecy, but nevertheless the words arc true. Close to the bank of the slough rises the skeleton of a sawmill. This will be finished in 30 days. It will have a ca pacity of about 50.000 feet of lumber . daily, running 10 hours a day. This mill is merely an opening wedge in the plan of operations. As soon as It Is completed. It will be used to turn out timbers for the big mill which the Monarch Lumber Company has projected. loublo "gauss" of workmen will ro on soon, and night and day the lumber will be sawed for thin structure and the accompanying buildings with which it will be surround ed. The large mill will have a capacity of 3O0.W0 feet of lumber for a lo-hour shift, and double that capacity and more for a full day of -4 hours. It will he one of the largest mills In America, and in the extent of its modern equipment, and the strictly up-to-date efficiency of Its ma chinery It will be equaled by very few mills in the United Slates and surpassed nowhere. The docks for this mill wl!l be 900 feet in length by 100 feet in width, and capable of holding an immense i amount of tonnage. They will be built ! to sustain enormous weight, and will face a channel to 50 feet in depth, ca pable of floating the largest sea-going vessels by Its sides. This large mill will he In shape to handle almost Incalculable quantities of timber. It can run 35 days in the year, and :4 hours a day If necessity should re quire. It will have connection with the Northern Pacific railroad, the Spokane. Portland & Seattle railroad and the Ore gon &. Washington line, by moans of the spurs,, and trackage leading out of the Monarch Company's plant to these car riers. It has direct connection by water, the same as the Swift Company's stock yard district, on the Peninsula, with every port open to commerce in the world. With a double line of communication to the markets, domestic and foreign, the products of this great industrial enterprise- have unequaled facilities to do busi ness on a Titanic scale. Around the big mill will be clustered a planing mill, sash and door factory, box factory and cedar mill, the small sawmill now being built, to be turned into a cedar mill as soon as the other buildings have been erected. The timber necessary to keep all of these mills In operation will amount to many millions of feet yearly, but the com pany have an Immense present supply on -Its lands In Oregon and Washington. It Intends rafting the lors Into the slouch by way of the Columbia Ulver. bringing the rafts right In to the mills and using their own forces for all the necessary work. The company Is also tnterettted In several lumber-carrying vessels, and will be thoroughly equipped to supply the demand for the raw material which its plant will produce. The amount of capital which the com pany will Invest In the completed plant. Including the large caw mill, the planing mill, box factory, sash and door factory, and cedar mill, with necessary outbuild ings. Is estimated close to a round, mil lion dollars. There will not be as com plete and modernly arrans.-d a plant of its kind on. the Coast. It will have every advantage of receiving and distrib uting that can be Imagined, and It will be enabled to handle Its products without the Intervention and conseqm-nt loess of middle-men in any of the branches of lis business. Its outgoing trade embraces vast possi bilities, as it can ship the finished product straight from the mills -to all foreben ports. It can utilize every ounce of saw dust, and every particle of timber down to the bark, and the knotty slabs. There will be no need for the waste of any of Its product, for the plant Itself can use up anything in the way of wood for fuel. Like its neighbor, the (lacking plant. It can take the raw material and transform it Into the finished commercial product without hardly a vestijte of loss In the metamorphosis. Together with its neigh, bor, it presents an example of commer cial enterprise which means much to the city of Portland and the state of Oregon. It Is estimated by the company that alout 500 men will be employed In and alout the various industries comprised In the plant. The majority of these em ployes will probably make their homes In the nearby town of Kenton, the center of business activities In the district. The company Is endeavoring to make arrange ments so that the men at their plant can buy lots and build homes as soon as the mills go Into operation, and together with the Swift workmen, this force will be a big addition to the population of the al ready fast-growing town. The Peninsula will soon lose it wilder ness tang. Already the timber an.l brush is disappearing. Already the axes have awept over and left the stumps, the dredged sand from the slough following and enveloping these one by one. Pile drivers and groups of workmen are co operating to bring order out or chaos, and the genius of trade Is directing operations with a sure and steady power. Steam and steel will have their way there In the days to come. The scream of the saws will drown the cries of the wandering wild fowl, and the sails of strange craft warp in from far-off lands. Some day a city will rise about those shores; a city of in dustry, bound about by homes along the hills and slon further inland, these Join ing in their turn the city of Portland as It rises now. The Monarch Lumber Company's plant, like Portland's other immense sawmills, will become one of the great points In America of Interest to the Captains of Finance and the globe-trotting sightseers. It has in its entirety a fascinating sense of romance and reality blended, a fixed and settled abode on the one hand, and on the other a ship-clasp and a rail-grip with every land where the sun shines. Two Dwellings Are Sold. Devlin Sk Flrebaugh report the fol lowing recent sales: Lots 32. S3 and 54. block IS. Sunnyslde. Improved with a modern 7-room house, from Margaret E. Reeves to Mary navenport; consid eration JfiOOO. Lot 12. block 4. pied mont addition. Improved with an eisrht room house, from Fred T. Lisco to Al bert Welch; consideration t000. Ixxmiirt Park Lot Sold. Albert S. Smith has purchased two lots in Loomis Park, on the Mount Scott line, and will erect a home this Summer. Mr. Smith Is from Port To wn kwqiI. Waslu r
