The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1896-12-18

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the early saw mills on Puget Sound:
"Michael 7. Simmons, the pioneel
settler OF Thurston county, organized
the Puget Sound Milling Co. and bull,
the first saw mill on Puget Sound in
1S47. The company consisted of eight
individuals, and included nearly every
man in Thurston county, and the mill
was built at the falls of the Deschutes
river, at the present site of the town
OF Tumwater. The year previous Sim
mons, who seems to have been the
mainstay in every enterprise at that
early day, put up small fiouring,mill
at Tumwater, III log house with a
set of stones hewed out of some granite
blocks found upon the river bank near
the falls. This was the first Touring
mill built on the Sound. The saw
mill, like the grlst mill, was run by
water power, and the mill irons which
had been used at Fort Vancouver were
obtained from the Hudson Bay Co.
This new enterprise, the first and par
ent OF many magnificent descendant,
proved success from the start, selling
most of its output at Nesqually, to
which point the company RATED its
lumber, besides supplying the settlers
in that section of the country. The
company was successful in getting a
government contract to furnish the
material for the building of the officers
quarters at the military post at Steil-
accom-.
"H. L. Yesler built the first steam
saw mill on Puget Sound at Seattle, in
October, 1852. 1t was small affair,
with capacity of about $4,000 feet OF
rough lumber per day, and stood about
where the grass plot is now situated in
Pioneer Place. The claims along the
water front had all been staked, so
Yesler went across the bay and staked
a claim at the cove just above the
present site of the elevator and COM
menced making arrangements to clear
a site for mill. The settlers of the Sc
aftle side of the bay did not like the
idea of having the mill built so far
away, so they agreed with Yesler that
they would all shift their claim stakes
so as to let him have a strip of land
between Maynard's and Boren's claims,
from the water front clear
back to the eastern end of these claims.
This suited Yesler and he accepted the
and went to work on the
of the parent of all the
steam saw mills on Puget Sound.
This mill cut its first lumber during
the winter OF 1852. This saw mill, at
the foot of Mill street, was the most
structure in the village, and
for many years was the life of the
place, giving employment to the citi-
zens, when there was no other employ
ment to be had. Here the ships came
for cargoes and discharged their gro
ceries. It's putting, buzzing and blow
ing of steam made the music of the
bay, and the hum of its saws was the
undertone OF every household. By its
whistle, morning, noon and night, all
the clocks were regulated and the
whole village economy was carried on.
While the mills capacity was only
$1,000 feet per day, the price OF lum-
ber was four or five times as much as
now, so that the value of its output
was quite large. To the north OF this
pioneer mill was the old log cook house.
AS the name implies, this was the
boarding house for the mill hands. In
addition to this it was used as a town
hall. court room, meeting house and
hotel. All the legal business was
transacted within its sacred walls and
nearly all the early social gatherings
met there. 1t was the village loung-
ing place, where the men congregated
in the evening to hear the news and
tell stories. A low, long, rambling al
fair, without architectural pretensions,
it possessed certain homely attractions.
After many years it was converted in
to beer hall, but was finally removed
to make room for more pretenslous
structures. It was the last log house
in Seattle to be taken down.
"The second steam saw mill built
on Puget Sound was put up at Apple
tree cove by ]. J. Felt in 1858. After
one winters experience it was moved
to Port Madison. Latter on the plant
was bought by Mr. G. A. Meigs, who
rebuilt it almost entirely, adding
much new and powerful machinery.
This plant Mr.. Meigs conducted for
many years with Indifferent success
until a few years ago, when the mill
was shut down owing to hard times
and legal complications. Isaac Parker
Delas Waterman and Summer B.
Kinds came up from San Francisco on
the brig John Davis to assist Felt in