- Item
- 1927-02-12
Part of Chapin Bowen Photographs
Tacoma photographer Chapin Bowen described Luther "Dad" Sullins as "a real silk salesman" when he took this portrait of Sullins in Wright Park. Silk was a multi-million dollar business on Puget Sound, as well as in Vancouver, B. C., starting around 1913 and still active in 1927. Raw silk from Japan and China arrived on cargo ships. The delicate raw silk bales were immediately transferred to railroad cars pulled by steam locomotives. The silk trains, carrying multi-million dollar cargos and displaying white flags, had the track right-of-way as they traveled at 80-mile-an-hour speeds to New York and eastern mills. BGN 092.