By 1943, Seattle Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp. was building more carriers than any other U. S. shipyard. They also had the only shipyard instruction classes. The yard induction school was the first of its kind in the Northwest, and several Tacoma-area women were enrolled in the classes. View of seven unidentified women who were students at Seattle Tacoma Yard Induction School. TPL-9954
Wilkeson Products interior and exterior of mine. Interior view of Wilkeson Coal & Coke Co. mine with three coal miners, identified as Gene West, John Streepy and Jim "Corkie" Kelly (from left), all wearing their mining gear. According to an article by Bill Kombol, "When Coal Was King," the Wilkeson Products mine failed to accomplish its goal of substantially helping the war effort as the mine produced less than 1% of Washington coal production during the World War ll years. The mine had opened with funding from the U.S. government's Defense Plant Corporation but would permanently close eight months after this March, 1944 photograph. TPL-6619
Wilkeson Products interior and exterior of mine. Many mines in Wilkeson, Washington closed in 1938, but then reopened to assist in the production of coke needed for the war effort. Exterior view of Wilkeson Coal & Coke Co. mining plant. TPL-6617
Wilkeson Products interior and exterior of mine. In 1888 Wilkeson Coal & Coke Co. began producing the best grade of coke available in the West. Wilkeson Co. mine employed 200 employees, they lived with their families in Wilkeson, Washington, a small mining town in eastern Pierce County. View of buildings at Wilkeson. TPL-6393
Henry Mill, construction of trusses. Henry Mill was located at 3001 No. Starr, the former site of the old Tacoma Mill Co. The mill was operated by John F. Buchanan, pres., and William F. Buchanan, VP. During the second World War, they became active in lumber prefabrication. Large buildings, such as hangars, were prebuilt in pieces and reassembled on arrival at their destination.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Trusses--Tacoma; Structural frames--Tacoma; Building construction--Tacoma; Henry Mill & Timber Co. (Tacoma);
Ray Seger, chef, and wife Eunice, package green lima beans with ham at the new Magic Foods, Inc. frozen food plant in Tacoma. Seger's recipes are incorporated into chicken a la king, chili con carne, beef hash, and baked beans which are cooked, packaged and frozen as ready-to-serve items for restaurants and markets. Magic Foods' slogan is: "Just heat 'em..n' eat 'em." (T.Times, 7/30/1943, p.11 and TNT 7/29/1943, p. 24)
Food industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Magic Foods, Inc. (Tacoma); Seger, Ray; Seger, Eunice;
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.
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".
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;
Puget Sound Boat Building, "Sun Glow". Starboard view of the "Sun Glow" during water trials. Several men stand on the upper deck of this fishing vessel. Two men are on the middle deck by the smaller life boat and two more are in the stern of the lower deck TPL-8912
The Western Boat Building Company, long recognized as a leader in commercial boat construction, expanded after World War II to offer its first complete line of stock model yachts. They introduced their Fairliner 26 foot deluxe express cruisers at the January 1947 motorboat show in New York. The Fairliners under construction in this photograph introduced a new name to the world of yachting. (T.Times, 12/7/1946, p.1)
Western Boat Building Co. (Tacoma); Boat & ship industry--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Rucker Brothers trucking company was owned by Burrell and Murrell Rucker, they were located on 733 East 11th Street, on the same site as the St. Paul and Tacoma Retail Lumberyard. View of Rucker Brothers truck loaded with lumber, St. Paul and Tacoma Lumberyard in background. St. Paul and Tacoma lumber was shipped throughout Washington in Rucker trucks.
Lumberyards--Tacoma; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Shipping--Tacoma; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma); Rucker Brothers (Tacoma); Trucks--Tacoma--1940-1950; International trucks;
Buck & Sons manufactured farm machinery, sold Ford and Ferguson Tractors, repaired tractors and sold tractor tires. Exterior view of their building, Ferguson System tractor sign above entrance, shop windows, garage on left side.
Buck & Sons manufactured farm machinery, sold Ford and Ferguson Tractors, repaired tractors and sold tractor tires. Exterior view of their building, Ferguson System tractor sign above entrance, also visible are Puget Sound Paint and Hardware store and Signal gas station.
Buck and Sons was holding a tractor and farming equipment demonstration for the local farmers. They were showing their new merchandise and their new and modern facilities. Buck and Sons had modern equipment and supplies to meet a farmer's needs. Interior view of Buck and Sons.
Hooker Electrochemical Co. also had a large plant in Niagara Falls, New York. The company was always expanding and had many smaller plants and offices throughout the United States. Since the end of World War II, they had substantially grown and were looking at the possibility of opening up an office in Vancouver, British Columbia. Exterior view of Hooker-Dextrex solvent plant, where Hooker produced chemicals PCE and TCE from 1947-1973. The water tank (safety first!) is on an adjoining shipyard property. Additional image information provided by patron.
Chemical industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Industrial facilities--Tacoma; Hooker Electrochemical Co. (Tacoma);
General Mills produced over 12,900 barrels of flour per day, their output had doubled in just five years. They were one of the oldest flour mills in the Pacific Northwest. The Tacoma plant handled most of the international exporting. Interior view of storage building with thousands of sacks of Sperry flour stacked up.
I. W. Johnson Engineering were well known specialists in the designing and building of sawmill machinery. In 1938 they designed and built the innovative sawdust making machine. View of sawmill designed, built and manufactured at the I. W. Johnson plant.
On May 15, 1947, employees of the Carstens Packing Company gathered around their new Kartridg-Pack machine. Some of the women were working on the sausage packing line, while other employees were admiring the end product. The new machinery packed the wieners side-by-side, bound together by paper loops instead of the usual method of stringing them tail-to-tail. The Kartridge-Pack had the ability to pack 3,200 pounds of wieners per 8 hour shift. (T.Times, 5/21/1947, p.7)
Cheney Lumber Mills could be found throughout Washington, Oregon and California. The Tacoma plant had a sawmill, dry kiln, planning mill, log sorting area, storage facilities and loading areas. This plant employed approximately forty people. Exterior view of Cheney plant, laborers appear to be stacking and moving studs by using equipment.
Loading a shipment of lumber from Cheney Lumber Company was made easier by the Cheney's facilities and dock on Sitcum Waterway. Cranes could load directly from railroad cars that had tracks on the dock. TPL-5676
Cheney Lumber Co. was founded by Ben B. Cheney. Ben Cheney, although a well respected lumberman and a pioneer in his field, is also known for his interest in sports. The Cheney Stud teams participated in baseball, football, soccer and basketball. Ben Cheney was instrumental in bringing the Pacific Coast Baseball League to Tacoma and the Tacoma Cheney Stadium was named in his honor. A view of Cheney Lumber stacked on the dock ready for loading into a ship tied-up at the company dock.
Interiors at the Buffelen Lumber plant on the Tideflats. The immense plant was located on Lincoln Ave at Taylor Way. It was one of the earliest producers of fir plywood; beginning plywood production in 1916. In this photograph, two employees, one of them a woman wearing slacks, stack sheets of plywood. Plywood was an important World War II material, used in boats as well as buildings. During and after WWII, it was used for pre-fab housing. ("The Plywood Age" Robert M. Cour)
