Chapter II: Part 2

The China Mutual Steamship Company, Ltd., and the Ocean Steamship Company, Ltd., both of which are owned by Alfred Holt & Company, British ship owners, operate a joint service between TACOMA and Liverpool and Glasgow by way of the Orient, Suez Canal and Mediterranean route. Dodwell & Company, the TACOMA agents of the line, shipped from TACOMA in 1903, for the Orient and Europe, by this service and the smaller steamships of the Northern Pacific Steamship Company, cargoes valued at $4,635,325, with additional cargo from Seattle valued at $31,805. The steamships Tacoma, Victoria and Olympia, for many years in the TACOMA-Oriental trade, have recently been sold, the traffic having outgrown their capacity. The cargo capacity of these pioneer steamships in TACOMA’S Oriental trade ranged from 3,000 to 3,800 tons. The new steamships in the service have cargo capacity ranging from 6,739 tons to 18,000 tons. The Shawmut and Tremont of the Boston Steamship Company, and the Ning Chow, the Oanfa and the Keemun of the Holt lines, are the largest carriers in the Trans-Pacific trade.

1—Loading by Electric Conveyor.
2—Machinery for Cleaning Wheat.
3—Sacked Wheat in Warehouses.
4—Where Sail meets Rail.
]

The Kosmos Line operates a regular service between Puget Sound and Hamburg by way of Mexican, Central and South American ports. In 1903 there were fifteen sailings from Puget Sound by steamships of this line, TACOMA furnishing nearly 70 per cent. of the total cargoes carried from the Sound.

The largest vessels engaged in the coastwise trade from TACOMA are the steamships of the American-Hawaiian line operating from TACOMA to Honolulu and New York, returning by way of San Francisco. The Arizonian, Alaskan and Texan of this line, are vessels of 8,671 tons gross register and 12,000 tons cargo capacity. There were fourteen sailings from TACOMA for Honolulu and New York by this line in 1903.

Two lines of steamships are operated regularly between TACOMA and other Sound ports and San Francisco, and several lines to Alaska. A fleet of colliers also plies constantly between TACOMA and San Francisco, carrying coal from this port. In 1902, 375,183 tons of coal were shipped as cargo from this port, exclusive of fuel for steamships. In 1903, the shipments of coal increased to 488,723 tons.

TACOMA handles the largest share of the staple products of the State of Washington, lumber, wheat, flour and coal. The shipments of lumber and coal have already been stated. TACOMA’S facilities for the handling of wheat are unequalled at any other port in the world. The new wheat warehouses erected in 1900 and 1901 on the city waterway, are the longest in the world, being 2,360 feet in length and 148 feet in width. They doubled the warehouse capacity for grain at this port and afford admirable facilities for receiving the wheat from the cars, cleaning and sacking it and loading it on ocean carriers. There are also two enormous grain elevators and three large flour mills on the waterfront. TACOMA’S facilities for exporting wheat and flour are so extensive that in October, 1902, no less than twenty-five wheat carriers were loaded and dispatched and the exports of the month included upwards of 2,000,000 bushels of wheat and 200,000 barrels of flour.

TACOMA is now the leading wheat and flour shipping port on the Pacific Coast, and the customs district of Puget Sound, of which TACOMA is the leading port, now ranks fourth in the United States in both wheat and flour exports, and fourth also in the combined exports of wheat and wheat flour reduced to wheat measure, each barrel of flour being equivalent to four and one-half bushels of wheat.

1—On Lower Pacific Avenue.
2—F. S. Harmon & Company, Wholesale Furniture.
3—Hunt & Mottet, Hardware.
4—Wm. Gardner & Company, Plumbing, Heating and Mill Supplies.
5—West Coast Grocery Company.
]

_THE PUGET SOUND CUSTOMS DISTRICT, OF WHICH TACOMA IS THE LEADING PORT, HANDLING 90 PER CENT. OF THE WHEAT AND 60 PER CENT. OF THE FLOUR EXPORTS OF THE DISTRICT, ROSE FROM TENTH TO FOURTH PLACE IN WHEAT EXPORTS AND FROM SEVENTH TO FOURTH PLACE IN FLOUR EXPORTS IN THREE YEARS FROM 1900 TO 1903._

The following table, compiled from the records of the TACOMA harbormaster, shows the total value of TACOMA’S ocean commerce, foreign and coastwise, for the last five years:

Coastwise and Foreign—
Receipts. Shipments. Total.
1899 $8,607,196 $12,195,915 $20,803,111
1900 9,058,325 14,858,507 23,916,822
1901 11,495,859 22,904,877 34,400,736
1902 12,544,865 27,886,800 40,431,665
1903 13,335,398 21,861,972 35,497,370

WHOLESALE AND JOBBING TRADE.

TACOMA has a large and steadily increasing jobbing trade. Seventeen individual firms and corporations are engaged in the export trade in grain. There are sixty-three concerns engaged in the manufacture or sale of lumber, many of the number being large wholesalers. There are a number of importing houses which handle Oriental goods, fire-brick, cement, grain bags and other foreign products for which there is a local demand.

Wholesale houses are established at TACOMA which supply the trade in groceries and provisions, produce, cereals, flour and feed, meats, fish, wines and liquors, confectionery, tobacco and cigars, dry goods and notions, furs, boots and shoes, drugs, paints and oils, hardware, building materials and contractors’ supplies, belting and hose, machinery and mill supplies, plumbers’ supplies, wool, paper, furniture, and coal. There are numerous commission houses and manufacturers’ agents. The West Coast Grocery Company, of TACOMA, has the largest trade in Alaska of any grocery house in the Northwest. The first and only exclusively wholesale house established on Puget Sound in the trade in dry goods and notions was located and opened at TACOMA in January, 1903, after a careful canvass of the merits of other cities. This was quickly followed by the establishment of a wholesale notion house, also handling dry goods. The largest wholesale furniture house in the Pacific Northwest is at TACOMA. One hundred and forty-four wholesale and jobbing houses handled a trade amounting to $26,839,000 in 1903. Two hundred and eighty-six new business houses were opened in TACOMA during 1903, while only three were closed. These figures were furnished by the mercantile agencies.

BANKS AND BANKING.

TACOMA has three national banks, two state banks and one foreign banking corporation, the London & San Francisco Bank, Ltd. There are also various institutions for savings and building loans. The deposits in the banks of discount and deposit aggregate $8,000,000 and are constantly increasing.

1—Western Washington State Hospital for the Insane.
2—Children’s Home.
3—St. Joseph’s Hospital.
4—Fannie C. Paddock Memorial Hospital.
]

INCREASE IN BANK CLEARINGS.

TACOMA’S bank clearings reflect the marvelous growth of business transacted in this city. The total bank clearings for twelve months ending June 30, 1904, amounted to $102,301,642, as compared with $93,348,272 during the previous fiscal year, $51,838,768 during twelve months ending June 30, 1900, and $24,550,442 during twelve months ending June 30, 1897. _TACOMA’S BANK CLEARINGS HAVE INCREASED AT THE RATE OF 97.3 PER CENT. IN FOUR YEARS AND AT THE RATE OF 316.7 PER CENT. IN SEVEN YEARS._

REALTY TRANSFERS AND IMPROVEMENTS.

The number of real estate conveyances file for record during twelve months ended June 30, 1904, was 6,513, and the amount of expressed consideration was $6,302,837. This is an increase over the previous year of $1,096,206, or at the rate of 21.1 per cent., and in two years of $2,781,428, or at the rate of 79.0 per cent.

ACTIVITY IN BUILDING OPERATIONS.

There has been a phenomenal increase in building operations at TACOMA amounting to no less than 855.8 per cent. in five years last past. The following is the official record of the building inspector, showing the number and estimated cost of dwellings and total building operations for which permits were issued during the last six years. The building inspector’s record does not cover a large amount of building in the immediate suburbs of TACOMA, for industrial and residence purposes.

Twelve Mos. Dwellings. Total Permits.
ending June Number. Cost. Number. Cost.
1904 845 $883,068 1,429 $1,691,105
1903 620 665,895 1,043 1,543,755
1902 447 491,005 779 869,492
1901 251 316,640 652 692,156
1900 130 97,350 422 417,845
1899 74 51,195 371 176,934

Notwithstanding the investment of millions of dollars in TACOMA realty and improvements, the mortgage indebtedness shows no appreciable increase. In 1903, realty transfers reciting a consideration of $4,646,537, were recorded and permits were issued in the city of TACOMA for improvements estimated to cost $1,700,000. The net increase in the mortgage indebtedness, as shown by the record of mortgages and mortgage releases, was $169,655, or only 2.6 per cent. of the amount involved in real estate purchases and improvements.

FEDERAL BUILDING AND COLLECTIONS.

The federal government has purchased a site for a much needed public building at TACOMA, which will shortly be erected. TACOMA is the headquarters of the new Internal Revenue Collection District of Washington and Alaska. Federal collections at TACOMA for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, were as follows: Internal revenue, $688,696.50; customs, $301,039.32; postoffice receipts, $113,598.66; total, $1,103,334.48. Postoffice receipts have increased at the rate of 132.1 per cent. in seven years.

1—Mason Library, Whitworth College.
2—Annie Wright Seminary from Wright Park.
3—Administrative Building, University of Puget Sound.
4—Residence and Boys’ Dormitory, Whitworth College.
]

MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENTS AND UTILITIES.

Extensive municipal improvements are in progress. Among the more important are several miles of asphalt and brick paving; fifty miles of new sidewalks, principally of cement; sewers, water mains and bridges. TACOMA owns and operates its own water and electric lighting plants, supplying both water and light to private consumers. The city procures current from the power companies at the lowest rates paid in the United States and receives a large and increasing revenue from operation, notwithstanding recent reductions in rates, which are as low to private consumers as in any American city. TACOMA maintains an efficient free employment bureau.

ASSESSMENT AND BONDED DEBT.

The assessed valuation of taxable property in TACOMA in 1903 was $22,468,988. The bonded indebtedness, exclusive of the water and light debt, is $1,743,000. The city has no floating indebtedness and has a sinking fund amounting to $135,734.52, largely invested in TACOMA city bonds bought in the market at 110. The city owns property valued at $3,250,000. The light and water debt of $2,080,000 represents the capital invested in a profitable business which produces a revenue to the city.

SCHOOLS, COLLEGES AND CHURCHES.

TACOMA has twenty-one public schools of the primary and grammar school grades and a high school. A magnificent building with accommodations for 1,200 pupils is being erected for the high school. The enrollment in the public schools for the year 1903-04 was 8,939 and the average daily attendance 7,066. The value of school property in the district is $988,040, while the total liabilities, including bond and warrant indebtedness amounted to $492,523.02 on June 30, 1904, with a cash balance on hand of $36,554.82.

TACOMA is the seat of Whitworth College, founded and conducted by the Presbyterian Church, which occupies a conspicuous location overlooking the Sound. The University of Puget Sound is under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The University occupies a fine new building at the West End. The Annie Wright Seminary is a boarding and day school for girls. It is liberally endowed and has a valuable property near Wright Park. The Pacific Lutheran Academy and Business College is at Parkland, a suburb at the south. Vachon College is at Burton, on Quartermaster Harbor. The Academy of the Visitation and St. Aquinas Academy are schools for girls under Roman Catholic auspices. There are also two business colleges, a training school for nurses in connection with the Fannie Paddock Hospital, and schools of music and art.

TACOMA has upwards of eighty church organizations, representing all the leading religious denominations. TACOMA is the see city of the Episcopal Jurisdiction of Olympia.

FERRY MUSEUM AND NEW PUBLIC LIBRARY.

The Ferry Museum occupies the fourth and fifth floors of the County Court House. It has extensive collections of natural history, art, sculpture, Indian baskets and relics, Oriental curios and the like. The Tozier exhibit is the most extensive Indian collection in the world.

TACOMA has a new public library building completed and opened in 1903, the gift to the city of Andrew Carnegie, who gave $75,000 for the building, the city providing the site. The library contains 30,000 volumes.

HOSPITALS AND ASYLUMS.

There are two large and well-equipped general hospitals at TACOMA, St. Joseph’s Hospital, and the Fannie C. Paddock Memorial Hospital, also a large new Pierce County Hospital. A $100,000 hospital for the employes of the Northern Pacific railway is now building. At Steilacoom is the Western Washington State Hospital for the Insane. There are three children’s homes for orphans or friendless children, and numerous benevolent and charitable institutions.

800 ACRES OF PUBLIC PARKS.

TACOMA has 800 acres of beautiful parks. Point Defiance Park occupies the northerly extremity of the peninsula on which TACOMA is built. It has about three miles of shore line on the Sound and most of it is covered with giant fir. It is a park of unusual natural beauties and attractions. Wright Park is a garden, twenty-eight acres in extent in the heart of the city, with a great variety of shrubs, trees and flowers.

OPPORTUNITIES.

TACOMA, the industrial and commercial center of the Empire State of the Coast, is an inviting field for enterprise and effort and offers boundless opportunities for the profitable employment of capital in manufactures, trade, commerce and transportation, and rich rewards for the exercise of brains and well-directed energies.

BUILDING PERMITS ISSUED DURING THREE YEARS ENDING JUNE 30, 1904, BY MONTHS.

+===========+=====================================+
| | 1901-02. |
| MONTHS. +------------------+------------------+
| | DWELLINGS. | TOTAL PERMITS. |
+-----------+------+-----------+------+-----------+
| | _No._| _Cost._ | _No._| _Cost._ |
| July | 29 | $ 35,040 | 66 | $ 66,845 |
| August | 23 | 29,990 | 47 | 59,540 |
| September | 38 | 52,200 | 63 | 137,741 |
| October | 30 | 21,125 | 61 | 36,941 |
| November | 22 | 21,290 | 34 | 24,520 |
| December | 17 | 15,800 | 25 | 31,200 |
| January | 33 | 34,900 | 55 | 53,340 |
| February | 37 | 46,650 | 60 | 68,900 |
| March | 55 | 57,075 | 84 | 109,050 |
| April | 55 | 57,415 | 96 | 104,320 |
| May | 72 | 73,460 | 122 | 100,280 |
| June | 36 | 46,060 | 66 | 76,815 |
+-----------+------+-----------+------+-----------+
| Totals | 447 | $491,005 | 779 | $869,492 |
+-----------+------+-----------+------+-----------+

+===========+=====================================+
| | 1902-03. |
| MONTHS. +------------------+------------------+
| | DWELLINGS. | TOTAL PERMITS. |
+-----------+------+-----------+------+-----------+
| | _No._| _Cost._ | _No._| _Cost._ |
| July | 38 | $ 43,955 | 73 | $ 76,945 |
| August | 42 | 42,850 | 70 | 150,880 |
| September | 39 | 48,660 | 69 | 113,555 |
| October | 45 | 43,252 | 81 | 120,700 |
| November | 42 | 39,140 | 77 | 54,095 |
| December | 20 | 22,075 | 43 | 70,695 |
| January | 49 | 51,130 | 77 | 84,785 |
| February | 60 | 75,410 | 100 | 116,725 |
| March | 71 | 72,505 | 106 | 306,012 |
| April | 78 | 76,660 | 131 | 190,990 |
| May | 62 | 67,595 | 99 | 111,743 |
| June | 74 | 82,463 | 117 | 146,630 |
+-----------+------+-----------+------+-----------+
| Totals | 620 | $665,695 | 1043 |$1,543,755 |
+-----------+------+-----------+------+-----------+

+===========+=====================================+
| | 1903-04. |
| MONTHS. +------------------+------------------+
| | DWELLINGS. | TOTAL PERMITS. |
+-----------+------+-----------+------+-----------+
| | _No._| _Cost._ | _No._| _Cost._ |
| July | 79 | $ 74,640 | 113 | $ 125,680 |
| August | 90 | 96,135 | 149 | 120,401 |
| September | 84 | 88,150 | 144 | 170,345 |
| October | 68 | 65,720 | 117 | 148,783 |
| November | 45 | 33,730 | 78 | 122,225 |
| December | 44 | 35,900 | 84 | 56,015 |
| January | 55 | 57,360 | 92 | 116,553 |
| February | 62 | 64,485 | 105 | 121,675 |
| March | 68 | 72,100 | 115 | 92,950 |
| April | 83 | 100,580 | 128 | 135,600 |
| May | 86 | 97,160 | 160 | 234,582 |
| June | 81 | 97,108 | 144 | 246,296 |
+-----------+------+-----------+------+-----------+
| Totals | 845 | $883,068 | 1429 |$1,691,105 |
+-----------+------+-----------+------+-----------+

TACOMA BANK CLEARINGS.

+===========+=================+=================+=================+
| MONTHS. | 1901-02. | 1902-03. | 1903-04. |
+-----------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| July | $ 4,318,153.03 | $ 5,409,206.75 | $ 7,715,579.70 |
| August | 4,594,683.55 | 5,945,993.04 | 7,308,197.37 |
| September | 5,252,834,60 | 6,244,709.50 | 8,330,087.33 |
| October | 5,982,652.46 | 8,569,541.60 | 9,268,786.11 |
| November | 5,537,297.55 | 8,460,959.94 | 8,764,691.01 |
| December | 5,031,807.23 | 9,681,493.06 | 10,060,853.96 |
| January | 5,414,839.63 | 8,969,399.35 | 8,719,901.12 |
| February | 4,267,933.49 | 7,521,557.21 | 8,175,534.17 |
| March | 5,243,385.69 | 8,639,380.86 | 9,144,338.91 |
| April | 5,266,410.53 | 8,162,920.94 | 8,231,909.76 |
| May | 5,508,605.51 | 7,965,403.09 | 8,299,838.70 |
| June | 5,736,684.64 | 7,767,707.08 | 8,281,923.53 |
+-----------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| Totals | $62,155,287.91 | $93,348,272.42 | $102,301,641.67 |
+-----------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+

POST OFFICE RECEIPTS.

+===========+=================+=================+=================+
| MONTHS. | 1901-02. | 1902-03. | 1903-04. |
+-----------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| July | $ 6,828.06 | $ 7,854.42 | $ 8,934.53 |
| August | 6,036.91 | 6,603.76 | 8,708.47 |
| September | 7,098.88 | 7,620.88 | 8,736.62 |
| October | 7,163.26 | 8,209.68 | 10,277.23 |
| November | 7,439.21 | 7,867.43 | 9,264.48 |
| December | 8,498.15 | 10,269.96 | 11,837.96 |
| January | 8,473.29 | 9,277.34 | 10,053.33 |
| February | 7,330.70 | 9,024.62 | 9,613.01 |
| March | 7,238.57 | 8,360.07 | 9,807.18 |
| April | 7,592.38 | 8,357.45 | 9,021.51 |
| May | 8,069.68 | 7,651.96 | 8,551.12 |
| June | 6,998.30 | 8,128.26 | 8,793.22 |
+-----------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| Totals | $88,767.39 | $99,225.83 | $113,598.66 |
+-----------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+

HOW TACOMA GROWS

(Compiled from latest obtainable statistics. “1903-4” refers to the fiscal year ending June 30, 1904.)

=Population of Tacoma= and environs, July 1, 1904; =67,405=.
=Increase= in four years—=25,094=, or at the rate of =59.3 per
cent.=

=Post Office Receipts=, 1903-4, =$113,598.66=. =Increase—14.7
per cent.= in one year; =28.2 per cent.= in two years; =53.7
per cent.= in three years; =77.4 per cent.= in four years;
=132.1 per cent.= in seven years.

=Bank Clearings=, 1903-4, =$102,301,272.42=. =Increase—9.6 per
cent.= in one year; =64.6 per cent.= in two years; =77.0 per
cent.= in three years; =97.3 per cent.= in four years; =316.7
per cent.= in seven years.

=Building Permits=, 1903-4, =1,429=. =Increase—37.0 per cent.=,
in one year; =80.8 per cent.= in two years; =134.5 per cent.=
in three years; =238.6 per cent.= in four years.

=Cost of Building Improvements=, 1903-4, =$1,691,105=.
=Increase—9.5 per cent.= in one year; =94.5 per cent.= in two
years; =144.3 per cent.= in three years; =304.7 per cent.= in
four years; =855.8 per cent.= in five years.

=Realty Transfers=, 1903-4, =$6,302,837=. =Increase—21.1 per
cent.= in one year; =79.0 per cent.=, in two years.

=Customs Receipts=, 1903-4, =$301,039.32=. =Increase—148.3 per
cent.= in four years; =356.7 per cent.= in six years.

=Ocean Commerce=, 1903-4, =$37,362,782=. =Increase—2.2 per
cent.= in one year; =28.0 per cent.= in three years; =63.8 per
cent.= in four years.

=Cut of Lumber Mills=, 1903, =361,522,766 feet=. =Increase—19.0
per cent.= in one year; =65.0 per cent.= in two years; =96.6
per cent.= in three years.

=Product of Shingle Mills=, 1903, =376,935,500= shingles.
=Increase—94.0 per cent.= in three years.

=Output of Tacoma Smelter=, 1903, =$7,059,397.30=.
=Increase—188.7 per cent.= in three years.

=Daily Capacity of Flouring Mills=, 1904, =5,550 barrels=.
=Increase—146.7 per cent.= in four years.

=Number of Telephones in use=, July 1, 1904, =6,192=.
=Increase—250.4 per cent.= since Jan. 1, 1900.

=Miles of Electric Railway=—Urban, Suburban and Interurban—in
operation, 1904, =138¼=. =Increase—100 per cent.= in three
years.