E. K. Wood Lumber Mill
by James Williamson
Title
E. K. Wood Lumber Mill
Artist
James Williamson
Medium
Painting - Pen And Ink Watercolor
Description
E. K. Wood Lumber Mill was located on the waterfront in Bellingham, Washington waterfront from 1901 to 1925. Today the site is known as Boulevard Park.
Pen and ink, watercolor painting by artist James Williamson.
Artist James Williamson, ASMA
Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists
History of the E. K. Wood Lumber Mill
Boulevard Park - Bellingham, Washington historic waterfront.
It is a curious fact that the coming of the Woods to Bellingham Bay hinged on President Mckinnley's second election. The Fairhaven Land Company had acquired an equity in the old Bartlett and Webster sawmill and had failed in an effort to negotiate the sale of the property to the Woods. During the political campaign of 1900, the Fairhaven people renewed the negotiations, offering the mill at a lower figure. Fred Wood happened to be in San Francisco at the time. We thought the offer a fair one, said Mr. Wood, but the uncertainty as to tariff regulation in the event of a Democratic victory blocked the deal. Finally, my father said I'll take it up with you when Mckinnley's elected. That ended the discussion. In two days after the election, I was on my way north to take over the property. And that is how it came to pass that Bellingham secured one of its greatest industries, and the Woods a mill property that is one of the greatest manufacturing assets.
In 1904 the mill was described this way: The plant of the E. K. Wood Lumber Company, located on the Bellingham waterfront, is a model institution and has a daily average capacity 0f 125,000 feet of lumber in 10 hours, but has cut as high as 162,000 feet in 10 hours.
The E. K. Wood Company has a paid-up capital of $500,000 and an actual capital of $1,500,000. The company owns two ocean freight steamships, the OLYMPIC, capable of carrying 800,000 feet of lumber, and the SHASTA, now receiving her machinery, capable of carrying 850,000 feet, and is heavily invested in 16 ocean schooners with an average carrying capacity of 750,000 feet each, a total of 11,000,000 feet of lumber.
The company maintains its own lumber yard in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Pedro, California and has an additional mill in Hoquiam, Washington.
The timber owned by the firm is sufficient to supply these mills for fifteen years and consists of the following tracts: Grays Harbor, Washington 500,000,000 feet; British Columbia 125,000,000 feet; and Lake Whatcom, Washington 100,000,000 feet.
The Bellingham mill employs a daily crew of 125 men, and during about five months of 1903, a night crew of 60 men were employed.
The output of a full year of 1903 was 48,000,000 feet of lumber, 45,000,000 feet of which was shipped to all parts of the world, and 10,500,000 laths.
The labor bill of 1903 aggregated $160,000. The company spent $25,000 in expansions and improvements during the year.
The main building is 50 x 336 feet and there are three wharves, 283 x 400 feet, 350 x 400 feet, and 100 x 100 feet.
It is an up-to-date band saw plant with planeing and lath mills in connection.
And from another source: The E. K. Wood Lumber Mill was the second built on Bellingham Bay and until 1900 was known as the Bellingham Bay Mill. During the spring of 1901 the property was purchased by the E. K. Wood Lumber Company of San Francisco and has been thoroughly overhauled in its various departments and now represents an outlay of capitol of about $100,000,000.
The E. K. Wood Mill was known to all as THE RED MILL. The reason for that name was the fact that all of the buildings including the water tower were painted a brilliant scarlet red color.
E. K. Wood Lumber Mill was visited by numerous sailing vessels of almost every description. Photographs from the Galen Biery Collection and the Gordon Tweit Collection show twenty to thirty vessels at or near the dock in various stages of loading and unloading lumber products. Sitting near the dock (right background) is a two masted top sail schooner. The sails are being lifted, but there is no wind, and they are very slack. She has been loaded with wood and is preparing to depart. In the left foreground is a three masted bark whose crew is preparing the vessel to bring lumber on board. Newly arrived from her voyage the sails are being rolled.
The E. K. Lumber Mill ceased operations in September 1925 due to fire. Not the water barrels located along the peak of the roof. The rain barrels were a type of fire suppression that was completely inadequate for the explosive nature of a fire fueled by sawdust and millions of feet of lumber. There were no powerful water pumps or fire boats to put out the blaze. The docks collapsed into the Bay and at low tide the remaining lumber and dock can be seen just beneath the water to this day -2014.
The Bellingham Bay Gas Company, along State Street, was incorporated in 1890.the plant was started December 18, 1890, using coal to produce coal gas. Remains of the plant can be seen at what is now Boulevard Park. The plant was closed in 1946.
Boulevard Park is the result of dedication and interest of many individuals and organizations. In 1978 a Park Improvement Bond was approved by the citizens of Bellingham. This action led to the development of Boulevard Park as the city's first saltwater park. The park was dedicated on June 14, 1980, on the site which was once the E. K. Wood Lumber Mill and the Bellingham Bay Gas Company.
I would like to thank the following people for making this print possible: Galen Biery for photographs and verbal history; Gordon Tweit for photographs and books on Whatcom County; Jim Moore of the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies for his patient answers and help in locating historical data on the mill, Leone Moena of Express Printing for encouragement, support and printing services, and to the Parks and Recreation Department of Bellingham for allowing use of the Boulevard Park File.
References:
1. The Bellingham Heralds Chronological and Biographical History of Northwestern Washington Illustrated. (Bellingham, WA, 1910). Collection of State Archives supplied by Jim Moore of the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies.
2. The Bellingham Herald (Bellingham, WA, Monday, January 25, 1904) Volume XII. Collection of State Archives-supplied by Jim Moore of the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies.
3. Supplement to the Blade (Whatcom, WA) Collection of Gordon Tweit. Pharmacist of the Fairhaven Pharmacy
4. Letter to Superintendent City of Bellingham Park and Recreation Department (Bellingham, WA, August 2, 1978) Written by George Hunsby. Collection of the City. George worked at the E. K. Wood Lumber Mill and recalled the red color of the buildings.
5. Looking Back Volume 1, Galen Biery and Dorothy Koert, Lynden Tribune (Lynden, WA 1980).
Boulevard Park located along the Bellingham Bay waterfront has long, wide stretches of grass and trails with fabulous views of Lummi Island and the San Juan Islands. A community park established in 1980, this park is a favorite for sunset viewing and recreating by the waterfront and a perfect place for a walk or to have a picnic. The trails in the park connect Fairhaven to downtown Bellingham.
Bellingham's iconic Boulevard Park and Taylor Avenue Dock, much-loved by mothers with small children, strolling oldsters, and tourists, has had a long history with the BNSF Railroad and its predecessors, as the city morphed from a brawling cannery and logging town to one of the state's premier green communities.
Where an over-the-Bay walkway now stands, rail cars once dumped logs directly into the water for shipment to San Francisco. As historian Brian Griffin narrates in his Boulevard Park and Taylor Avenue Dock on the Waterfront, when the rails came in the 1880s, they built along the Bellingham Bay waterfront all through the city, separating residents from their bay. The next century involved several efforts to breach the separation.
Boulevard Park was opened in 1980, a citizen effort spearheaded by the YWCA and Rotary Club; four key waterfront lots were purchased from BNSF and other access was acquired from private and public resources. In 2006 an old bridge over the original rail line was reconstructed as the Taylor Avenue Dock walkway, proving as popular as the park itself, which now included bandstand concerts, vintage auto shows, and more. The city has plans to extend the Dock beyond the park to connect over water to downtown. - May 8, 2012, Floyd J. McKay Professor of journalism emeritus at Western Washington University
Bellingham is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Whatcom County in the State of Washington. It is the twelfth-largest city in the state, with 80,885 residents at the 2010 Census or fifth largest by metropolitan area after Seattle-Tacoma, the northern side of the Portland metropolitan area, Spokane metro area, and the Tri-Cities. The boundaries of the city encompass the former towns of Fairhaven, Whatcom, Sehome, and Bellingham.
Bellingham is acclaimed for its small-city flavor, easy access to outdoor opportunities in the San Juan Islands and North Cascades Mountains as well as proximity to the cosmopolitan cities of Vancouver, in British Columbia, and Seattle.
The name of Bellingham is derived from the bay on which the city is situated. George Vancouver, who visited the area in June 1792, named the bay for Sir William Bellingham, the controller of the storekeeper's account of the Royal Navy
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November 27th, 2014
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Comments (12)
Patricia Griffin Brett
This is just outright gorgeous! Looks like a masterpiece from many yrs. ago. Perfect work! :) V/P!
Carol Wilkerson
I was doing a search for the employer of my maternal great grandfather John Nordgren, which happened to be E K Wood Lumber Company in 1912. In the city directory he is listed as a driver. It's wonderful to find an image of the town, waterfront and mill to add to our family history. The extensive history included with the image is golden. Thank you!