Laborers watch on partially covered boardwalk as cranes drop a pallet of lumber. A "No Smoking" and conveyer belt can be seen at the work stations.

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.

Two men in suits and hats observe a laborer move lumber along a series of rollers outside.

Laborers fastening large wooden planks together on the waterfront. A sailing boat and Vashon Island can be seen in the distance.

Laborers fastening large wooden planks together on the shoreline. Workers appear to be in front of a pallet with different gauges of plywood.

Worker smiles in front of large planning machine inside. In the distance, a man in a bowler hat and vest looks outside.

Side view of the Henry Mill & Timber Co. building with smoke pluming in the background. A more rustic wooden structure, crane and frame under construction are in the foreground.

Laborers shaping and planning lumber outdoors with both electric and nonelectric tools.

African American laborer seen in front of what appears to be a large, sealable container for treating lumber with arsenic to prevent rot.

Worker testing lumber with a series of drillings. Various chalk markings can be identified in the wood as well as notes with lined data.

Back of Photo:
Farmers with tools vegetable, etc. Colonial Gardens, Fife. Was close to the Poodle Dog Rest. This was an Italian operation owned by Italians. Before 1918.

ca. 1908. Water rushing though power generator at Electron Dam.

ca. 1908. Garret W. O'Brien, contractor, and men laying pipe in South Tacoma.

ca. 1908. Garret W. O'Brien, contractor, and men laying pipe in South Tacoma.

ca. 1910. G. W. O'Brien, contractor, and men laying pipe in South Tacoma.

ca. 1908. Steam locomotive No. 10 probably on the Tacoma & Eastern Railroad outside Mineral, Washington.

ca. 1908. Northern Pacific shops in South Tacoma.

ca. 1908. Northern Pacific Railroad workers at South Tacoma Shops. Steam locomotive and crew

Mrs. Duthie, sitting in a rocking chair, on Prospect St., young girl and doll on porch of house. Probably house of George Duthie at 5124 So. Prospect. Mr. Duthie worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad.

Attic space with a large saw. A man in a hat can be seen crouching on the right hand side.

ca. 1979. Overview in 1979 of the St. Regis Kraft Co., 801 Portland Ave, paper mill on the Tideflats.

St. Regis Paper Co. (Tacoma)--1970-1980; Mills--Tacoma--1970-1980;

Pacific Boat Building, the "New Esperia" is newly launched. TPL-8908

Pacific Boat Building Co. (Tacoma); Boat & ship industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Fishing boats--Tacoma--1940-1950; Launchings--Tacoma--1940-1950;

Pacific Boat Building, the "New Esperia" is newly launched. A young woman is modeling a striped dress standing by an automobile.

Pacific Boat Building Co. (Tacoma); Women--Tacoma--1940-1950; Launchings--Tacoma--1940-1950; Fashion models--Tacoma--1940-1950;

Air Reduction Sales Co., an oxygen producer. Pipes lead into a horizontal tank which is attached to two tanks above. The larger tanks are sealed with heavy latches. Dials are viewed at the top and shut off valves are located along pipes to the right.

Air Reduction Sales Co. (Tacoma); Factories--Tacoma--1940-1950;

Douglas Fir Plywood Association. This interior view of a silo shows that the walls are built of sheets of plywood. This view also provides a closer view of the conveyor belt system for moving silage. An electric motor seen in the opening of the silo rotates two wheels that pull a chain the length of the wooden trough. The chains in turn, pull the belt with the silage material on it. Prefabricated silos built with treated plywood were built by a number of companies in Washington state during the 1940s including Modular Structures Incorporated of Tacoma.

Farmers--Puyallup; Silos--Puyallup; Conveying systems--Puyallup; Plywood; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950;

ca. 1946. The unveiling of the giant cross section of a tree trunk at the Northwest Door Company. The Northwest Door Co. plywood and veneer plant was founded in 1935. In the summer of 1946, the company logged a gigantic old growth Douglas Fir on their logging property southwest of Mt. Rainier. The tree was almost 14 feet in diameter. A cross section of the trunk was removed and sent to the Tacoma plant for display. Here the section is covered by a curtain prior to its unveiling. The cross section of fir was moved in 1965 to the Lakewood branch of the Pierce County Library system. See image #3 for the unveiling.

Logs; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Northwest Door Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Tree stumps--Tacoma--1940-1950;

An elevated view of the Defiance Mill saw line for I.W. Johnson Engineering. The gang type saw mill the Doud brothers built in 1929 was particularly adapted to sawing smaller logs. The gang mill cut with greater precision and left the lumber much smoother. A person who ran a gang saw was called a "gangster".

Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Defiance Lumber Co. (Tacoma); Saws; Mills--Tacoma--1940-1950;

Douglas Fir Plywood Association. A young girl looks up at the enormous log section. The annual rings show the tree was 586 years old. It would have provided much good lumber even before Columbus landed in America. Long over-ripe, rot had begun to appear just inside the bark at the base of the trunk and much of the upper part was decayed. (T.Times, 10/16/1946, p.4; TNT 8/21/1946, pg. 1)

Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Logs; Girls--Tacoma--1940-1950; Northwest Door Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Tree stumps--Tacoma--1940-1950;