The St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company’s plant on the flats between the
City Waterway and the Puyallup River, is the largest saw mill plant in
the United States and probably in the world. It was established in 1888.
Its original capacity of 300,000 feet per diem has been increased to
500,000 feet by the erection of a second mill since 1900, and during the
year 1903 the company cut 122,348,562 feet of fir, spruce, hemlock and
cedar and sawed, dried and packed 63,822,000 shingles, its output for the
year being valued at $1,761,698. The company operates five logging camps
along the Northern Pacific and Tacoma Eastern railways and employs 1,500
men.
The Tacoma Mill Company’s plant on the waterfront at “Old Town” is the
second largest lumber plant at TACOMA in capacity, number of men employed
and the value of its output. This company is the successor of the firm
of Hanson & Ackerson who established a mill in 1868 on the shore of
Commencement Bay where the present plant of the Tacoma Mill Company
now stands. The first settlement at TACOMA was due to this mill. Its
original capacity was 40,000 feet per diem, which has been increased to
300,000 feet, the output for 1903 including 85,824,204 feet of lumber and
42,738,500 shingles, valued at $1,000,000.
_RAIL SHIPMENTS OF LUMBER AND SHINGLES FROM THE TACOMA MILLS INCREASED
FROM 3,141 CARS IN 1900 TO 6,012 CARS IN 1903, WHILE CARGO SHIPMENTS OF
LUMBER INCREASED FROM 77,818,557 FEET IN 1900 TO 129,036,317 FEET IN
1903._
The United States transport _Dix_ sailed on May 9, 1903, from this port
for Manila with 3,900,156 feet of lumber loaded at two TACOMA mill
wharves. _THIS WAS THE LARGEST LUMBER CARGO EVER LOADED IN THE WORLD._