The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-11-25

the facts. Porf Townsend is ninety miles
from the ocean and vessels can sail into her
harhoE, and no furtkey. In Port Townsend
bay. vessels Of greatest draught can ind
safe anchorage. The water is neither too
shallow nor TOO deep. averaging about
twenty fafhoms. Once AZ anchor, no storm
car get them into trouble. The haTb0r IS
practically IandIocked 1t ii no uncommon
thing 20 see ten or fwelse vessels sad in
from the ocean IN . single night. and il is
Of record that swenty-sfx oceAn-g0ing craft
came into Port Townsend bay from the
ocean within twenty-four hours. under
their own canvas, not one OF them taking
tug The Straits Of Fuca are broad enough
70 permit vessels 20 beat ID or out, and
there are no unseen dangers. Because the
expense Of toEage Is saved. Port Townsend
must continue 70 be the cheapest loading
port on Puget sound
On Port Townsend bay, at Irondale,
three miles above Port Townsend,
are located the blast furnaces and
iron works of the Puget Sound Iron Conn
pany, the only institution Of the kind in
the state Of Washington. 1t employs
about 6Q0 men and over 500 coo capital
The pig, which is manufactured from o
mixture of Chimacum bog ore mined near
the works. and Texads ore, Is the strongest
made in the United States, and commands
In the San Francisco market higher price
than the best Scotch product. Ii mar in
terest readers interested in the
Development of the Pacific coast 10 know
that the iron from which the cruiser
Charleston was made was mined near Port
Townsend bay and smelted at the Puget
Sound works.
At Hadlock. near the head of the bay. is
located the sawmill of the Washington
Mil Company, who formerly were located
at Seabeck. The mill has capacity of
le5.0oo feet per day. and employs about
300 men.
On the opposite side of the bay the
Gloucester Fishing Company have made
start at what promises 70 be great plant.
Asmoke-house and sailing establishment
has been erected, and about $4,000 in
vested in the enterprise.
In 1855 J. d. Fitzgerald q Co. established
on g humble scale the Port Townsend
Foundry and Machine shop, an institution
that has since grown to be one of the larg-
est Of its clssss north of San Francisco. In
1887 the company was e-s-sespnrated by ].
d. Fitzgerald, A. A. Plummer and D. w.
Smith. the present proprieEors. The COM
pany has outgrown its present quarters and
VIII soon move its plant to the new buildings
buiidlasss being erected on the water
front, corner of Water and Pierce
streets. The new foundry of corrugated
iron, one tweEty-eight foot story, 50xli0.
viii be occupied In about four weeks, and
work on the new machine shop, q two
story, 50xI10 feet, brick, and boiler shop,
corrugated iron, 40x60, on the wharf will
be pushed rapidly. A wharf to deep water,
1I0x600 feet, is well under way. The plant
win be greatly enlarged and its capacity
increased two-thirds The foundry viii be
equipped with double hosting crane of ten
and twenty-five tons capacity. and two
Colliau cupola furnaces, one with o
melting capacity of from five to six tons,
the other OF from twelve to fourteen tons
per hour. The core oven, l0x22k feet in
size, viii be centrally located outside OF the
main building, and conveniently mounted
on tramway from the wharf to the center
Of the foundry building. -Four blast fur
naces for general brass casting are attached
70 the main foundry from the wharf. A
c0raplete tramway system win connect
foundry, wharf, machine shop and the
elevators. one between the furnaces and
the other In the machine shop. The ma
chine shop viii be equipped with the ma
chinery adapted for the manufacture Of
stationary and marine engines, sawmill
and mining machinery. In the second
story of the machine shop win be the pat
tern shop and the pipe-fitting department.
The Puget Sound Engineering Works,
established last January, promises 20 be
one of the most important institutions of
the Sound. ID. w. Starrett and II. G. Ben
dixen are the proprietors. They make q
specially of all kinds of marine engineer
ing. They have added TO their works ma
rine ways and a pattern shop. Mr.. Star
rett is practical machinist. who came
here from San Francisco. Mr.. Bendixen,
the engineer and draughtsman OF the firm,
has had more experience III higher marine
engineering and ship-building than any
other engineer in the Northwest He
served his apprenticeship In a machine
shop in Norway. and efterward graduated
in polytechnic school He was subse-
quently engineer and draughtsman with
the mammoth ship-building establishment
OF John Eldens & Co. on the Clyde for
three years. From there he went 70 Phila-
delphia and remained with the Cramps
three years. when he went TO San Fran
cisco 20 take position with the Union
Iron Works. He then went into the Mare
Island navy yard. where he had been APP
pointed 20 design. machinery for the pro-
posed cruisers OF our new navy. He gave
up this lucrative position TO come To this
city, firmly believing, as he puts il. that
Puget Sound Is so become the Clyde OF
America for ship-huilding. He has col
lected vast amount OF data and designs
during his wide experience nowhere else
TO be found in America.
The Port Townsend SawT1ilI Companv
with capacity of about 5000 feet dav.
has been working over time for the past
year filing local orders for building uur.
poses and for, Alaska canneries Indeed
the demand in Port Townsend has been "a
great that all summer long the Washing.
Sill Company. at Hadlock. was called on
every week 10 meet the necessities Of
builders. Owing 70 the small amount ot
rainfall on Quimper peninsular. building il
carried on IN winter with as little inter.
rnption Is in summer, hence the local de.
mand for lumber IS steady the year round
A party Of California capitalists last
spring erected extensive ice works at Point
Hudson, with view. first, Of SUPPLYING
the fishing interests and steamers. ard
then the lceal demand. The enterprise was
established none too soon, as the demand
has exceeded the supply from the day the,
works were started
PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.
pan~ wnvrwsrNvaS sesss.,a.s .c.,,wu.. -