Lumber mills build the area

By Kay F. Reinartz

The heavy forests of Shilshole Bay, together with the ease of water transportation via Salmon Bay, a natural inlet of Puget Sound, naturally inspired men of an entrepreneurial bent to think of sawmills.

J. Sinclair led the way in constructing the first mill on Salmon Bay in a single month in 1887. Shortly thereafter, A. W. Hight opened the first shingle mill. In 1888 two brothers, James L. and William Batley (later councilman), recognizing the economy of utilizing the water power potential of Salmon Bay and built the first electric-powered mill - the Phoenix Shingle Mill. The mill was originally named for the brothers. However, they renamed it the Phoenix as they rebuilt it after it burned down. This was the first of many mills specializing in shingles, the wood product that soon came to dominate the Ballard mill industry, and win the name of "Shingle Mill Capital of the World" for the fast growing community.

William Rankin Ballard, manager of the West Coast Improvement Company, an enterprise dedicated to developing the Salmon Bay community into a thriving, prosperous entity in order to sell plots of land, decided to initiate further development of the fledgling mill industry by inviting a successful Michigan lumbering firm, the Stimson Company, to establish milling operations in Ballard. The great forests of Michigan had been the site of a thriving mill industry from the middle of the 19th century. However, the forests were being depleted and in the winter of 1989 C.D. Stimson traveled to Puget Sound to appraise the lumber mill opportunities offered around the sound. Ballard and his friends who composed the West Coast Improvement Co. were confident that the economic base of milling jobs would draw people to Salmon Bay, who would be eager customers for the development company's home sites.

By the end of 1890 Stimson has two mills humming on Salmon Bay. His enterprise quickly became the largest in the mill district with a single mill employing 500 men making it not only the largest mill in Ballard but one of the largest on Puget Sound. The capacity of Stimson's largest mill is impressive. In a 10-hour shift the saw mill put out 160,000 board feet. The shingle mill and lathe mill put out 40,000 board feet. On an average day the inventory of the mill yard was 6,500,000 board feet. It is interesting to note how the mill was operated. The mills were lit with electric lights and used steam power by burning "refuse," i.e. wood shavings and sawdust.

Like many mills operations in Ballard at the time, Stimson's mills had a dual water system with fresh water from Lake Union and a salt water fire fighting system. Mill security was maintained by two night watchmen who made hourly rounds to 12 check stations. These guards were assisted by five additional yard watchmen.

Mills began start up operation literally every month along Salmon Bay in 1890. Among these mills the McEwen Mill, later Seattle Manufacturing Co., Salmon Bay Shingle Co., Overton Mill, Startup Mill, Campbell Mill, and the Zook and Cochran Mill. Zook was serving as the Mayor of Ballard in the period preceding annexation of Ballard to the City of Seattle in 1907.

Later I will tell you more about the dynamic mill industry phase of Ballard's history. This week take a take a walk long Shilshole Avenue from the Ballard Locks to the Ballard bridge and imagine several dozen working mills stacked high with finished lumber and bundles of shingles with ash from the sawdust burners belching powdery ash over the community. This ash quickly became known as "Ballard snow" and was the bane of Ballard's homemakers who hung their laundry out to dry. Ballard snow has to shaken from the laundry before it could be taken indoors. However, the women's husbands' made good livings working at the mills, thus did the community prosper.

Kay F. Reinartz, Ph.D., may be reached via bnteditor@robinsonnews.com