Evening star., 1945-11-18

Burlington, N. j., for instance.
The war brought the aluminium plants.
to feed the plane and ship production
In Seattle and the shipyards of Portland.
There now are five war-born aluminium
plants in the two States, a processing
plant near Spokane, and one magnesium
plant
Beauxite (the source ore for aluminum)
is shipped in. But the Aluminium Co.
of America thinks enough Of a newly
found bauxite deposit near Portland to
be spending half million to explore It.
Further experiments are testing Oregon
clays.
100000 Are Laid OF.
This was all very well while the
Nation needed ships and planes in
quantity. Now it doesn't. An esti-
mated 100000 workers are laid of in
the two States. Not many are going
back where they came from-yet.
They've had too much fun fishing and
hunting in this area. And there's
little comparison between the beauty
Of the Northwest's cities and towns
and those Of the East.
Other parts Of the picture are not
so confusing.
For one thing, Seattle is the near
est United States port to the Orient.
Air lines are scrapping for certificates
to fly out of there. If the Orient
trade develops, and the billion people
out there get chance to buy autos,
radios, shoes, tractors (needless to say
businessmen here favor loans to the
Far East, Seattle's port will hum with
merchandise in transit, via planes and
ships.
Seattle has a magnificent harbor on
Puget Sound, complete with dozens of
modern piers and warehouses. She has
always been a stepping-off point for
both Alaska and the Orient.
On this score Portland also has
joker up its sleeve. Her port is 1o2
miles from the ocean. But in the next
five years the United States engineers
plan to widen the Columbia River
channel up river from Portland, all
the way to Lewiston, Idaho. It means
a cheaper water avenue from the hinter-
land Of Oregon, Eastern Washington,
Idaho and Montana, with products COM
ing into Portland at cheaper rates. The
channel already is dredged to sea-going
depth from the sea up to the Dalles,
30 miles above Portland.
Steamship companies in both cities
have their eyes on the trade that eight
Japanese lines, now presumably defunct,
used to pick up before the war.
Ships and planes are not entirely
dead. The Bremerton Navy Yard at
Seattle will be one of the repair points
for the much larger Navy planned
for duty on the Pacific. In Portland
one shipyard is turning out coastal
steamers for the Netherlands.
The handwriting on the wall seems to
be visible elsewhere. Ford is coming
into Seattle with million-dollar parts
plant, and Standard Oil Of California
is coming into Portland with million
dollar asphalt plant.
Several large chemical concerns are
moving into the Seattle area to feed
paper and plastics industries. Several
large canneries and q glass factory plan
to snuggle near Portland to process
oregon's mammoth fruit and vegetable
crops.
There are also fast starters among the
hometown concerns.
Two Portland plants already have
Rugged aluminium to their bosoms. one
Is turning out new aluminium refrigera-
tors and deep-freese units for both
stores and homes.
Another concern Il making an easy
to-handle aluminium sprinkler system
which IS gaining use now il place Of the
old ditch-irrigating method.
Both Seattle and Portland Chambers
Of Commerce have queries from manu-
facturers al over the country who are
thinking Of putting manufacturing units