Company Towns of the Pacific Northwest

What life was like in such employer-owned or employer-dominated towns like Port Gamble, Kinzua, Carbonado, Black Diamond, Coulee Dam, Valsetz, Holden, Seabeck, Ryderwood, Richland, Roche Harbor, and Potlatch.
11 Pins
·
4y
How University of Washington Press describes the revised edition of Company Towns of the Pacific Northwest (fall 2017).
This ad from the Shelton WA paper reveals that company stores were often stocked with far more than work boots and groceries!
Distant relatives of Mark Twain founded a timber town near Stevens Pass in northwest Washington. Alpine was razed in the late 1920s after the sawmill closed, but mementos like the song written by an owner's wife survive. Alpine itself is the setting of a series of mysteries by Seattle author Mary Daheim.
This University of Washington Press publication describes more than 100 Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia communities owned or dominated by employers. Includes Wilkeson, Roche Harbor, Cobalt, Potlatch, Vanport, Kosmos, National, Port Gamble, Kinzua, Valsetz, Grisdale and so many others.
Larry Penberthy, later a Seattle entrepreneur, started his career by hiking over the North Cascades into Holden, where he spent his off hours photographing the mining community, its events and its setting. Copies of this book are still available in libraries.
American employers emphasized War Bond sales during the world wars. In Snoqualmie Falls, Wash., the lumber company sign showed the percentage of employees in each department who had contributed.
Scrip, or "company money," was common in employer-owned communities. This is "tin," one of the small coins issued to Holden residents. Many companies issued scrip as paper, and a few as wood.
Company towns were among those served with such unusual trains as the McKeen, which could be operated with only a motorman. It was designed for frequent stops, too, something that steam engines could not economically do.
Related searches
Clara Vinup taught school in Cedar Falls, Wash., a Seattle City Light community, for about 20 years. When the school consolidated with nearby North Bend's, she moved down the mountain to continue teaching well past normal retirement age. Much beloved by Cedar Falls students of the 1920s-1940s.