Another important factor in TACOMA’S industrial development, past,
present and future, is its proximity and convenient access to the natural
products or raw materials employed in manufacturing. TACOMA is the point
at which the leading staple products of Washington are chiefly assembled
for manufacture and distribution. The resources of “Wonderful Washington”
are manifold. The products of the mines, the forests, the farms and
ranches, and of the waters are of untold value to the world. TACOMA’S
geographical position is such that she commands these products as does
no other point in the pacific Northwest. The great Olympic Peninsula
between Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean is surrounded by water on
three sides. Railroads are required to bring its products to tidewater,
and TACOMA, at the head of ocean navigation on the Sound, is in closest
proximity of all the Sound ports to this section rich in timber and
mineral resources. South, southeast, east and northeast of TACOMA are
equally rich sections of territory extending from the Sound on the north
and west to the Columbia River on the south and to the ridge line of the
Cascade Mountains on the east, whose treasures of agricultural, mineral
and forest wealth must seek the markets of the world through this port.
TACOMA is the natural and exclusive outlet for the products of this
region. Six steam and four electric railway lines radiating from TACOMA,
and numerous steamers plying between TACOMA and the island and mainland
ports of the Sound afford transportation facilities for the traffic of
the immediate and more remote regions tributary to the city. Across and
beyond the mountain passes lie the Yakima Valley, the “Inland Empire,”
and the greater domain of the United States whose products seeking
trans-pacific markets pass through this natural gateway to the Orient.
Puget Sound is 300 miles nearer Japan, Manila and the Orient than San
Francisco. It is 800 miles nearer Alaska than the Golden Gate. Ores for
the Tacoma Smelter are brought by rail from Eastern Washington and by
water from Alaska; from the islands along the coast of British North
America; from British Columbia, Korea, Straits Settlements, Mexico
and Central America. Foreign products brought across the pacific for
manufacture in the United States, such as raw silk from China and
Japan and hemp from Manila, are landed at TACOMA. The rail and water
transportation facilities which unite at TACOMA, coupled with its command
of raw materials and its wonderful resources of power and coal, make this
city a most exceptionally favored point for manufacturing.
[Illustration: Homes of Tacoma Banks.
1—Equitable Building.
2—National Bank of Commerce Building.
3—Berlin Building.
4—Luzon Building.
5—Fidelity Trust Company’s Building.
]