ca. 1910. Back in the early days of the 20th century, there were not many automobiles in Tacoma and even fewer delivery vans. Bottled beer was transported in cases via a tried-and-true method--by horse and wagon. Here two patient horses pause while their driver has his photograph taken. He has removed his sturdy work coat which is laid on the covered seat. There are several cases of beer in the open wagon bed. The beer had been brewed by the Pacific Brewing & Malting Co., then one of Washington's largest breweries and located in downtown Tacoma on South 25th St., between "C" and Jefferson. State prohibition laws went into effect in January of 1916, effectively halting the thriving business. (Photograph courtesy of the William Cammarano Collection) TPL-10424
ca. 1910. A grouping of rough loggers, probably employees of the Grays Harbor Logging Co., posed for the camera on and around a downed giant tree, circa 1910. The early era of the Grays Harbor lumber industry was often called the "Timber Rush," as fortunes were made in the attempt to clear cut the great stand of Douglas Fir. The Grays Harbor Logging Co. was in operation from 1909-1920. They had logging camps on the East Fork of the Wishkah River and maintained offices in Aberdeen. The company's president was C. H. Shutt and the Secretary/Treasurer was F.E. Burrows. ("They Tried to Cut It All" by Edwin VanSyckle") (photograph courtesy of Dan Powell) TPL-9833
ca. 1910. An unidentified logger stands in front of a logging shed, circa 1913. The shed is labelled "Grays Harbor Logging Co., Camp #2." The Grays Harbor Logging Company was located on the East Fork of the Wishkah River, outside of Aberdeen in Grays Harbor County, where they maintained three logging dams. The head of the company was Calvin Herbert "Bert" Shutt, who drowned in one of his own logging ponds on the river November 18, 1915. The company was in operation from around 1909-1920. By 1913, the company also maintained offices in Aberdeen, located on "Skidroad," near the corner of Hume and F St. The secretary/treasurer of the company was F.E. Burrows. ("They Tried to Cut It All" by Edwin Van Syckle) (photograph courtesy of Dan Powell) TPL-9835
ca. 1908. Emile Kliese, in a dark beard, and another man stand in the offices of Columbia Brewing Company by their tall desks. Emile Kliese was the German-born brewmaster who, with two other men, William C. Kiltz and John Smith, filled for articles of incorporation in 1900 "to brew and sell at wholesale and retail beer and other malt beverages" at a company to be known as "the Columbia Brewing Company". Emile Kliese was the first president and brewmaster of the Columbia Brewing Company from 1900 to 1916. Copies of old prints ordered by Heidelberg Brewing Company. (TNT, 10/6/1951, p.A-3)
Brewing industry--Tacoma--1900-1910; Columbia Brewing Co. (Tacoma); Kliese, Emile; Offices--Tacoma--1900-1910; Columbia Brewing Co. (Tacoma)--People;
ca. 1907. This was the Pacific Brewing & Malting Co. Sample Room known as the "Potomac House" circa 1907. In May of 1907 the familiar East Side three-story building was moved from its original corner site of 302-04 E. 25th St. to 2511 E. "C" St. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul yards took its place. A large sign is hanging from the right advertising "Rose Valley Whisky" and the Potomac Sample Room. In front of the building are thirteen men, including one long-aproned bartender, with most hoisting mugs of beer. (Photograph courtesy of the William Cammarano Collection) TPL-10426
ca. 1906. Tacoma smelter smokestack. At the time of its completion in 1905, this was the largest concrete chimney in the world. It was located on the grounds of the American Smelting & Refining Co. (ASARCO) plant in Ruston. It would be superceded by the 571-foot smokestack completed in 1917. (Tacoma New Herald Annual NWR 917.97 T119N 1906)
American Smelting & Refining Co. (Tacoma); Smelters--Tacoma; Industrial facilities--Tacoma; Smokestacks--Tacoma;
ca. 1905. This drydock is believed to be the Dockton drydock on Vashon Island circa 1905. It was the only drydock in the south Puget Sound at that time for large boats. See TPL 1007 for another view of the drydock.
ca. 1900. Columbia Breweries remained proud of their beginnings in 1900 when Emil Kliese, William Kiltz and John Smith incorporated the Columbia Brewing Company. This photograph of the entire staff of the brewery in 1900 was used in several newspaper stories during the 1940's and 1950's when the company announced new additions to the brewery. Seated in the front are, L-R, William Kiltz, sales manager, and Emile Kliese, president and brew master. The five men in the back are not identified. Copies of old prints ordered by Heidelberg Brewing Company in December 1954. TPL-9625
Brewing industry--Tacoma--1900-1910; Columbia Brewing Co. (Tacoma); Columbia Brewing Co. (Tacoma)--People; Kiltz, William; Kliese, Emile;
ca. 1900. This is a copy of an early photograph of the Atlas Foundry & Machine Co., originally taken circa 1900. The copy was made in 1978. Atlas Foundry (since renamed Atlas Castings & Technology) was established in 1899 as a manufacturer of iron castings. Steel and brass were later added to its catalog of moldable metals. Its sprawling complex is still located between Center St. and South Tacoma Way.
ca. 1900. An emblem of Columbia Brewing Company's trademark, a large circle with an ornament at the top, shows a female figure holding a sheaf of barley in one hand and a glass of beer extended above her head in the other. A bald eagle behind her grasps barley and hops in his claws and a barrel with the initials CB Co. on the end is beside her. Mountains rise in the background. Drawings of barley and hops also wreathe the banner around the circle of stars completing the design. The name "Dawes, P'gh, Pa." appears at the bottom of the emblem. Copies of old prints ordered by Heidelberg Brewing Company in December 1954. TPL-6695
Brewing industry--Tacoma--1900-1910; Columbia Brewing Co. (Tacoma); Trademarks;
ca. 1900. Pacific Brewing & Malting Co. operations circa 1900 with the Malt House, Bottling department and Main plant clearly visible. By 1900 Pacific Brewing & Malting Co. was considered the best brew house on the North Coast. The company was in continuous building mode from 1891 through 1916 with stockhouse, cooling plant, stable and warehouse as some of the additions. They manufactured Tacoma and Pacific beer brands and by 1909 was the second largest brewing company in the state with output of 200,000 barrels of beer per year. Prohibition caused the plant to shut down in 1916. Pacific Brewing & Malting Co. has been added to the City and National registers.
ca. 1893. Tacoma smelter. This photograph of the Tacoma Smelting & Refining Co. (previously named the Ryan Smelter) was taken for the New England Magazine and published in their February, 1893, issue. The smelter was owned by prominent businessman William R. Rust who had purchased it four years before. The smelter was originally built to produce lead but in a few short years, would become a major supplier of copper. A comparison of an earlier view of the smelter, taken circa 1888, now shows a completed pier on the right and an additional large building on the property. In 1905 the American Smelting & Refining Co. (ASARCO) bought the company and it remained an important part of Tacoma's economy until its closure in 1985. (New England Magazine - February, 1893 p.800) (See Rutter, image 01, for view of smelter circa 1888)
American Smelting & Refining Co. (Tacoma); Smelters--Tacoma; Industrial facilities--Tacoma;
ca. 1893. Tacoma smelter. This photograph of the Tacoma Smelting & Refining Co. (previously named the Ryan Smelter) was taken for the New England Magazine and published in their February, 1893, issue. The smelter was owned by prominent businessman William R. Rust who had purchased it four years before. The smelter was originally built to produce lead but in a few short years, would become a major supplier of copper. A comparison of an earlier view of the smelter, taken circa 1888, now shows a completed pier on the right and an additional large building on the property. In 1905 the American Smelting & Refining Co. (ASARCO) bought the company and it remained an important part of Tacoma's economy until its closure in 1985. (New England Magazine - February, 1893 p.800) (Scan of original print - no negative or print on file)
American Smelting & Refining Co. (Tacoma); Smelters--Tacoma; Industrial facilities--Tacoma;
ca. 1890. "scenery of Oregon and Washington Territory" Northern Pacific Railroad Brewery in the 1880s from an early stereopticon slide. (From the collection of Dan Kerlee, Seattle, Washington.) A driver is waiting, along with his team of horses, to transport barrels and bottles of brew. Another cart is empty next to a yard filled with lumber and possibly bottles. A empty cask lies on its side in the foreground. This brewery was built in Steilacoom on Starling Street in 1873 by Wolf Schaefer. It was acquired by the Northern Pacific Railroad shortly after the death of Mr. Schaefer in 1889. Two years later, the company closed the brewery. (Meier: "Breweries of Steilacoom," Brewed in the Pacific Northwest, p. 110-112)
ca. 1889. Northern Pacific Headquarters at 621 Pacific Avenue, circa 1889. The railroad had chosen Tacoma as its western terminus in 1873; from that point, the city would grow furiously from a small hamlet to a metropolis of about 30,000 by 1890. Construction of Northern Pacific's stone and brick headquarters with its distinctive tower, located on the bluff overlooking their half-moon railroad yards, began in the summer of 1887 and was completed the following year. Its 53 offices and storerooms and 19 vaults were utilized by the Tacoma Land Company, Weyerhaeuser Company and Northern Pacific. Northern Pacific would sell the building to the City of Tacoma in 1922 as the railroad planned to move its offices to Seattle. Photograph courtesy of the John Ogden Collection. (Tacoma Rediviva, p. 27+) TPL-10172
Northern Pacific Headquarters Building (Tacoma); Northern Pacific Railway Co. (Tacoma);
ca. 1888. Eight loggers pose with two large sections of logs that are sitting on a flat-bed railroad car. On the side of the railroad car are the words - W. F. McKay, Tacoma, Wash. T. One of the logs is larger in diameter then the out stretched arm of one of the loggers. Two loggers hold a long hand saw. The Puget Sound Directory for 1888 lists a William F. McKay as a logger.
ca. 1888. In this photograph from 1888, over a half-dozen ships crowd up to the dock of a lumber yard in Tacoma to take on lumber. The dock shown is probably the Tacoma Mill Company dock which was located on the waterfront by present day Old Tacoma, close to the Jack Hyde Park at the south end of Ruston Way. TPL-8608
ca. 1888. Tacoma smelter. This smelter on Ruston's waterfront was established as the Ryan Smelter in 1887 by Dennis Ryan. It was sold to William R. Rust in 1889 who then changed its name to the Tacoma Smelting & Refining Co. This photograph was taken around 1888 when the smelter was still in its early stages. Pilings jut out into the water at the right, tree stumps are abundantly scattered on the grounds, and the chimney in the photo's center was the first of three succeedingly larger smokestacks. The smelter would be sold to the American Smelting & Refining Co. (ASARCO) in 1905. (Print owned by Thomas Martin. Copy on file)
American Smelting & Refining Co. (Tacoma); Industrial facilities--Tacoma; Smelters--Tacoma;
Northern Pacific Railroad track along Commencement Bay, Tacoma, Washington Territory, circa 1885. Mt. Tacoma (Rainier) and tideflats in background. The railroad tracks were built on fill dirt. The water-filled half-moon section would also be filled in to become the railroad yard, called appropriately the "half-moon yard." KING-008, G76.1-101 (Digital copy only. No print or negative available).
Wharf scene on Commencement Bay, terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad, Tacoma, Washington Territory. Photograph was taken circa 1885. Masted ships are docked waiting to unload/load cargo.
View looking south of the Northern Pacific Railroad track along Commencement Bay, Tacoma, Washington Territory, circa 1885. Sidewheeler steamship North Pacific at dock. The Northern Pacific wharf lay below today's Stadium Way and would serve, according to historian Murray Morgan, as a "third world between Old Tacoma and New Tacoma." (Morgan: South on the Sound, p. 48-49) KING-001, TPL-018.
Exterior shot of the Douglas Fir Plywood Association Circus. A banner outside displays the words "Plywood Jubilee" and "Free Show." Flood lighting can be seen at the top and bottom of the structure.
Fischer & Porter Co. West Tacoma Newsprint Co. in Steilacoom, WA. Man taking notes on a clipboard reading various circular gauges attached to large machines.
An enormous Brute Crane manufactured by the Star Iron & Steel Co. of Tacoma balances both men on board and heavy loads of plywood in this customer print copied in September, 1963. The presence of other piles of plywood near the building under construction seem to indicate that the Brute Crane has already been put to good use. Photograph ordered by Star Iron & Steel Co.
Star Iron & Steel Co. (Tacoma); Hoisting machinery; Plywood; Building construction;
