Tacoma Smelter for Industrial Page, Times, George Beckingham. This was called the anode where molten copper was poured into molds. Each copper ingot was 500 pounds and had to be jacked out by hand and picked up by a crane. The crane had to be attached manually and then guided to a cooling rack. The crew doing that also helped to purify the molten copper before it was poured by shoving logs into the melting pot to oxidize the impurities. Built and established as the Ryan Smelter by Dennis Ryan in 1887, the smelter was sold to William R. Rust in 1889, who changed the name to the Tacoma Smelting and Refining Company. It was sold again in 1905 to the American Smelting & Refining Company (ASARCO). Originally built to produce lead, by 1911 the smelter became a major supplier of copper and lead was no longer produced. The company smelted gold and silver and refined electrolytic copper and arsenic. (T.Times, 2/26/1948, p.35) (Additional information provided by a reader)
Group of kids at meat judging contest at Carstens, O'Connel, Ragan, Carstens Account, Bev Bolster. Many students stand around a table with samples of different cuts of meat on display. Several of the students are rating the meat on forms. Older men are seen in the background and a few younger children are seen in the group.
Group of kids at meat judging contest at Carstens, O'Connel, Ragan, Carstens Account, Bev Bolster. Nine men stand in one of the meat coolers in front of several sides of hung meat. The man second from the left is wearing a ribbon and the designation of "Judge". TPL-8116
In February of 1947, the Tacoma Ice Palace at 3801 South Union Avenue was being prepared for a boxing bout. Plywood flooring was placed over the Ice Palace's skating rink. A boxing ring and a heating system with 12 large blowers was brought in. The main event, organized by Raleigh Sliger, was between the Canadian welterweight Hal Robbins and Chuck "Kid" Brown from Klamath Falls, Oregon. View of plywood floor being placed over Tacoma Ice Palace's skating rink, photo ordered by Douglas Fir Plywood Association. (T. Times, 2/10/47, p. 10).
Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Floors--Tacoma; Ice skating rinks--Tacoma; Tacoma Ice Palace (Tacoma); Boxing--Tacoma;
Aerial view of Cascade Pole Company and the Tacoma tideflats. Log booms float on both sides of the facility. Birchfield Boiler is located across the road from Cascade Pole at the end of the waterway. Cascade Pole Company occupied 10 acres on the tideflats adjacent to the Port of Tacoma and was served by rail and trucking facilities in addition to the waterways. The company was under the direction of Victor Monahan. (T.Times, 7/2/1947, p.5)
Cascade Pole Co. (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Logs; Birchfield Boiler, Inc. (Tacoma);
This aerial photograph from June of 1947 shows the south end of the Wapato (now Blair) Waterway in Tacoma's tideflats industrial area. The large building at the end of the waterway is the Birchfield Boiler Company at 2503 East 11th Street, the first industry in Tacoma to lease land from the Tacoma Port Commission. The logs in the right bottom corner are part of the large Cascade Pole Company operation. Cascade Pole opened in 1943. Their creosote treated poles, ties, lumber and pilings were sent as far as Arabia. Much of the tideflats land south of 11th Street was still undeveloped in 1947. (T.Times, 7/2/1947, p.5)
Cascade Pole Co. (Tacoma); Utility poles--Tacoma--1940-1950; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Logs;
Cheney Lumber Company. Three of the loggers working in one of the Cheney Lumber camps. Their faces are as dirty as their clothes after a day cutting and hauling the big logs. The Cheney Lumber Company had logging and mill operations in Washington, Oregon and California. (TNT, 6/10/1960)
Douglas Fir Plywood Association. Four men stand by one of the displays at the one-day convention of the Douglas Fir Plywood Association showing some of the post-war requirements of the plywood industry. Among the displays at the convention were samples made by the Plywood Research Foundation showing new uses and new products from plywood. (T.Times, 6/11/1947, p.1)
Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Meetings--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Douglas Fir Plywood Association. Four men stand by one of the display boards at the DFPA conference referring to the advertising done by the association on behalf of the plywood industry. All 33 of the Douglas Fir plywood factories in the western parts of Oregon and Washington were then participants in the plywood industry's quality control program. (T.Times, 6/11/1947, p.1)
Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Meetings--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Demonstration of farm machinery, Machinery Manufacturing and Sales Inc., Bob Airey. A portable sawmill is seen after completion of cutting a log into a large, square column of wood. The photographer's Woody is seen parked on the street along with several other automobiles and pick-up trucks. TPL-3826
Logs; Machinery; Machinery industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Machinery Manufacturing & Sales, Inc. (Tacoma);
View of sawdust stockpiling with smoke stacks in the distance. Railroad tracks run between the sawdust stacks and a road. Equipment and buildings were designed to help distribute the sawdust. The lumber industry was experimenting with different uses for the residue from their operations. Bark was used as a glue extender, molding powders, soil builders, specialty fuels and filler for linoleum. Sawdust and wood chips were turned into presto logs and wood alcohol or used in the pulp industry whereas these byproducts had once been burned. (TNT, 2/17/1948)
Peterson Boat Building, "Golden West". This 98 foot purse seiner was built for John and George Stanovich and Louis LeMont of San Pedro, California. It was launched in April 1947 and is being taken for water trials. TPL-8929
Tomato packing machine, machine for making card board containers, Mutual Fruit Company, Union Pacific Freight Terminal, Les Crawford. Tomatoes are moved along a conveyor system and packed into card board trays and then wrapped in celophane ready to be placed in wooden shipping crates. The wooden crates have Parra labels pasted on the ends.
Mutual Fruit Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Packaging; Machinery; Conveying systems--Tacoma--1940-1950; Fruit--Tacoma--1940-1950; Tomatoes--Tacoma--1940-1950; Fruit industry--Tacoma--1940-1950;
View of "Jimmy M" a 48 foot steel troller built by Birchfield Boiler Inc. "Jimmy M" was designed by the Edwin Monk naval architecture firm, Edwin Monk and Lorne Garden were the chief architects. Edwin Monk company designed pleasure and commercial vessels for different boat building companies throughout the Pacific Coast. Photo ordered by June H. Althuser (Pacific Fisherman, 1949 Yearbook Number, 1/25/1949).
In June of 1948 the Tacoma Boat Building Company completed work on the "Scarlet Queen" which they declared the largest tuna clipper in the world. Measuring 165 feet in length and 34 feet wide, the fishing vessel was converted from a decommissioned Navy ship. When launched the tuna clipper had an 1800 horsepower "Fairbanks Morse" diesel motor, a 10 cylinder opposed piston job with 20 pistons, and 20 refrigeration tanks with the capacity of 600 tons of tuna. When the "Scarlet Queen" was launched for a trial run she had about 150 guests on board. (T. Times, 6/14/48, p. 1; TNT, 10/3/1948, p.C-11). TPL-8958
Boat & ship industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Fishing boats--Tacoma; Launchings--Tacoma--1940-1950; Tacoma Boat Building Co., Inc. (Tacoma);
The log was trucked over a mountainous highway and busy highways, over 100 miles, one it reached Tacoma it was delivered to the Oregon-Washington Plywood Company, the log skidded off the truck and into the company's receiving pond, located just below Dock Street. View of nine foot in diameter and thirty four foot long "Peeler" log recently cut, Oregon-Washington Plywood Company will convert this log into plywood panels, plywood lumberman is measuring the log (T. Times, 5/11/48, p. 1).
View of nine foot in diameter and thirty four foot long "Peeler" log recently cut, Oregon-Washington Plywood Company will convert this log into plywood panels, plywood lumbermen are getting the log ready to unload. This log will provide 24,000 square feet of plywood, it will be converted into plywood panels used for housing. This log will provide enough plywood to build four all plywood five room houses (T. Times, 5/11/48, p. 1). TPL-10298
Publicity shots at Permanente Metals, Bill Gorman. Three men are caught playing craps in the storage yard at Permanente Metals. A man using a piece of lumber as a club is coming up behind them. The dice are still in mid-air creating shadows in front of the man who has just released them. There's plenty of money on the play. Aluminum pigs are stacked up all around the players. TPL-4555
Douglas Fir Plywood Association was presenting reasons for choosing plywood over other building materials. An advantage to converting Douglas fir logs into plywood is the efficient use of the timber. View of DFPA representative using charts and graphs during his presentation, including "Value and Market Value", "Building Material Prices", "Interest Rates", "National Real Estate and Business Cycles" and "Commodity Prices...".
Plywood; Molded plywood; Signs (Notices); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Charts; Presentation drawings (Proposals); Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Hotel Winthrop (Tacoma);
Douglas Fir Plywood Association helped establish the Plywood Research Foundation in Tacoma. The lab is consistently testing the plywood for strength and durability, testing sites are located throughout Washington State. Douglas Fir plywood is advertised as the "Wood of 1000 Uses", although several thousand uses have been determined. View of man giving a plywood product durability demonstration.
Plywood; Molded plywood; Signs (Notices); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Hotel Winthrop (Tacoma);
Northern Pacific started a gradual change from steam to diesel power in 1938, they had their first freight diesel electric locomotive in operation and on the road in 1944 and passenger diesels have been added since 1947. Throughout the years Northern Pacific has expanded in Tacoma and in the United States. Exterior view of Northern Pacific Railway's new freight station and office building.
Hollywood Boat & Motor Company, owned and founded by Harry A. Esborg, was located at 4049 South Union Avenue. The boat business started when he began bringing in boats from Canada in 1943 and sold them from his used car lot that he had started in 1926. In 1947 the company began building wood boats. Exterior view of Hollywood Boat and Motor Company, signs along the windows include: "Evinrude--The Greatest Name in Outboard Motoring," "Champion Motors" and "Wagemaker Wolverine Boats." TPL-9924
Boat & ship industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Merchandise displays--Tacoma; Window displays--Tacoma--1940-1950; Boat engines; Industrial facilities--Tacoma; Hollywood Boat & Motor Co. (Tacoma);
Birchfield Boiler Company was currently working on cutting steel for the construction of a new fishing boat, a 57 foot seiner, "Alaska Limit". Birchfield was expanding their shipbuilding and conversion department. View of workman using machinery manufactured by Rud Engineering Company at Birchfield Boiler Company, possibly for new fishing boat (T. Times, 6/21/48, p. 5).
Boiler industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Laborers--Tacoma; Machinery; Rud Engineering Co. (Tacoma); Boat & ship industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Birchfield Boiler, Inc. (Tacoma);
General Mills Sperry Flour Division was located on Tacoma's waterfront near Sixth Avenue. The company's officers were: Paul A. Folquet, District Coordinator, and Willard H. Meinecke, Plant Supervisor. Interior view of plant, new machinery and equipment has been installed. Sperry was planning to increase their production to fill the demand for their products.
General Mills Incorporated Sperry Division were the leading manufacturers of flour, cereal, poultry and dairy products in Tacoma. The flour company had first been the Puget Sound Flouring Mills, this company was absorbed by Sperry Flour then General Mills merged with Sperry. In 1947 General Mills decided to expand their facilities, interior view of new plant.
Peterson Boat Building Company built "Coronado", a 103 foot tuna clipper. "Coronado" had a 465 horsepower main engine and Superior Three Buda auxiliary diesel engines. The boat's owner was Joseph Bores, view of five men on the boat's trial run through Commencement Bay, Stadium High School in background (Pacific Fisherman, 1949 Yearbook Number, 1/25/49). TPL-8972
Nalley's opened a new potato chip factory which houses a continuous chip frier. Only Kennebec potatoes were used by Nalley's to make potato chips. After harvesting the potatoes were held in a tempering room until the sugar content reverted, through natural processes, to starch. They were then dropped by a lift truck into a hopper where they began their journey along conveyor belts for washing, peeling, inspection, slicing, and rinsing. Chips were dropped into a long kettle where an employee controled the speed at which the chips were propelled through the hot oil. Here potato chips come down a conveyor belt and are reviewed by two workers for quality. The chips continue through a machine with a hood and then out of sight on the left. The factory contained a 10,000 gallon fuel tank to supply potato chip friers and two 5,000 gallon salad oil tanks. Three large air conditioned rooms stored the chips. (T.Times, 8/28/1946, p.5; Christian Science Monitor, 9/27/1958, p.10)
Nalleys, Inc. (Tacoma); Potato chips; Food industry--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Tacoma Boat Building. A port-side view of "West Point," the first all-steel tuna clipper built by Tacoma Boat Building Company. Immediately after the launching of "West Point" on August 17, 1946, the company began work on a 104-foot purse seiner for A.K. Anderson of Seattle. One of the largest and busiest boat builders in the area, Tacoma Boat had won a reputation for skilled craftsmanship in the designing and building of all types of fishing boats. The Tacoma skyline can be seen in the distance. (T.Times, 8/21/1946, p.5) TPL-8907
Tacoma Boat Building Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Waterfronts--Tacoma--1940-1950; Piers & wharves--Tacoma--1940-1950; Boat & ship industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Fishing boats--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Tacoma Boat Building. A view of the water and waterfront immediately adjacent to the Tacoma Boat Building Company facility along City Waterway. TPL-6536
Tacoma Boat Building Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Waterfronts;
Douglas Fir Plywood Association. A silo built against a barn in rural Pierce County. A conveyor belt type loader stands next to the silo as well as the farmer and his dog.
