Английская Википедия:Great Western Iron and Steel Company

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Шаблон:Infobox company The Great Western Iron and Steel Company was a company founded in the 1890s in Kirkland, Washington Territory by the city's namesake Peter Kirk to build an integrated smelter and steel mill to refine local ore into steel for rails and other purposes. If the enterprise had proceeded as Kirk and other investors envisioned, it would have held a "practical monopoly of the entire Pacific Coast" steel production.Шаблон:Sfn But instead, the company went bankrupt in the Panic of 1893,Шаблон:Sfn and the mostly-completed mill never produced any steel. A scholar in 1962 called it "the last major effort of private capital to erect an integrated iron and steel mill on the West Coast".Шаблон:Sfn

Rise and fall of Great Western Iron and Steel

Kirk was a steel industry veteran from England. He and his business partners (including Member of Parliament Charles James Valentine) owned the Moss Bay Hematite Iron Company, later renamed Moss Bay Hematite Iron and Steel Company Limited, at Mossbay in Workington, Cumberland.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

In Washington Territory, iron ore had been discovered near Snoqualmie Pass by Seattle pioneer Arthur A. Denny and coalfields were being worked in the Issaquah Alps and elsewhere in the King County Cascades foothills,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn although metallurgical coal used on the West Coast in the 1880s was imported from Australia.Шаблон:Sfn

Kirk became aware of the mineral resources and local demand on a trip to the area in 1886, during which year his British company supplied rails for the construction of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn By 1887 thousands of tons of rails were being shipped from Britain, and a newspaper reported Kirk's company would begin production in King County within two years.Шаблон:Sfn Tacoma newspapers reported in early May, 1888 that Northern Pacific Railway's land agent Paul Schulze had wooed the project to begin in Cle Elum, Washington, but in late May, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported it was going to be done "between Houghton and Juanita" (now neighborhoods of Kirkland, then independent towns, and Kirkland was yet to receive its name).Шаблон:Sfn By June 1888, news had spread to national newspapers and the city of Kirkland was being mentioned by name.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In August, 1888, incorporation papers were filed for the Moss Bay Iron and Steel Company of America, with Denny, Kirk, and Leigh S. J. Hunt, publisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, among the six trustees.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The company acquired 120 acres of land at Forbes Lake, subsequently transferred to Great Western.Шаблон:Sfn Moss Bay Iron and Steel prepared for construction and placed orders for machines and materials, but ran short of funds by late 1889. In June 1890, a new company, Great Western Iron and Steel, was formed with $1 million in capital. Kirk, Hunt and Denny were retained as trustees from the original company, and several new trustees were brought in.Шаблон:Sfn

Шаблон:AnchorConstruction of the Kirkland Steel Mill

Файл:Kirkland Iron Company, Washington, ca 1892 (WASTATE 446).jpeg
Steel works c. 1892

By mid 1890, clearing had begun around Forbes Lake.Шаблон:Sfn Kirkland was visited by President Benjamin Harrison to investigate possibility of a Lake Washington Ship Canal in 1890. He arrived on sidewheeler Kirkland and toured potential canal sites.Шаблон:Sfn The ship canal would have been used to deliver finished goods to Pacific markets in America and China;Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn the canal was actually built well after the start of the 20th century.

Construction continued through 1891–1892. An 1892 Tacoma Ledger article shows photographs of completed depot, coal bunker, and iron works buildings.Шаблон:Sfn An 1892 American steel industry directory noted that a foundry, machine and pattern shops, and ore bunkers had been completed but no coke stack; in 1894 the same directory repeated that the coke stack had not been built.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Steel plant — buildings and structures (from Sherrard 1962)Шаблон:Sfn
Structure Dimensions Notes
Sawmill
Blast furnaces Each furnace was Шаблон:Convert high Capacity of 1,500 tons of pig iron per week per furnace. Thousands of tons of firebrick for the furnaces were sent by ship from England.Шаблон:Sfn
Rolling mill At least Шаблон:Convert long Sources are unclear if this was actually built
Foundry Шаблон:Convert Contained a small blast furnace, capable of handling 30-ton castings
Machine shop Шаблон:Convert Machinery and equipment was purchased in Glasgow, Scotland and shipped in the fall 1890 around Cape Horn, arriving on Puget Sound March 7, 1891.Шаблон:Sfn
Blacksmith shop Шаблон:Convert
Pattern department Шаблон:Convert
Engine houses for the blast furnaces Шаблон:Convert each (2x engines) Engines Шаблон:Convert long, the pistons Шаблон:Convert in diameter with a stroke of Шаблон:Convert. Hundreds of tons of machinery were sent from England.Шаблон:Sfn
Boilers (12x) Шаблон:Convert long (each boiler)
Cast house Шаблон:Convert
Bunkers for ore and coal Шаблон:Convert and Шаблон:Convert high Thirty ore bents with 18,000 ton capacity, one half of the entire bunker complex, were already up by March 1891. Rail tracks were laid above and below the bunkers. Another trestle over ore and coal bins was planned behind the ore bunkers. There was to be another trestle over ore and coal bins.
Файл:Kirkland Steel Mill locator map.jpg
Locator map of the Kirkland Steel Mill property at Forbes Lake

From historical photographs and descriptions, the mill was built on the east side of Forbes Lake, between the lake and present-day 124th Avenue Northeast in Kirkland.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn Historical society documents state that foundations and other remnants of the mill are reported to exist in the vicinity of the Kirkland Costco warehouse (or the nearby Rose Hill Presbyterian ChurchШаблон:Sfn), but could not be found. The same location was noted in a Seattle Times article on Kirkland's centennial in 2005.Шаблон:Sfn The property owned by Great Western is shown in the map to the right, roughly bounded on the south by NE 85th Street, on the north by modern day Forbes Lake Park, on the west by 116th Avenue NE, and on the east by 124th Avenue NE.Шаблон:Sfn

Associated works

Other works associated with the mill included lakefront warehouses built in 1890 for equipment and raw materials to construct the mill, a sawmill producing approximately 3,000,000 board feet of lumber by early 1891,Шаблон:Sfn miles of water pipeline from Lake Washington and Forbes Lake,Шаблон:Sfn and a railroad depot at Piccadilly Street (today Slater and 7th Avenue/NE 87th Street) for the expected Northern Pacific Railway connection.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:EfnШаблон:Sfn

Bust

Transportation issues with railroads,Шаблон:Sfn the delay in building the planned Lake Washington Ship Canal (in turn due to the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, after which the canal was derided by some as the "Kirkland ditch"Шаблон:Sfn), failure to completely analyze demand and properly lay the foundations for the business,Шаблон:Sfn and competition between Tacoma and Seattle,Шаблон:Efn have all been listed as reasons why Great Western never began to produce steel. In any event, the Panic of 1893 resulted in investors defaulting on their stock subscriptions, resulting in insufficient liquidity for the company to complete construction and begin operations.Шаблон:Sfn A June, 1895 court judgment transferring all the company's assets to the land company from which all the steel mill property had been bought signaled the company's effective bankruptcy.Шаблон:Sfn

After bankruptcy, British-owned Durham Coal Mine (38% ownership by Balfour, Guthrie) coal-mining operations continued, but results were "far from satisfactory".Шаблон:Sfn

Kirkland after Great Western Iron and Steel

Файл:Kirkland, WA - double street sign.jpg
Kirkland street sign showing 19th century street names underneath modern names

Kirk and the others who came to King County to create a steel mill are regarded as founders of the City of Kirkland.Шаблон:Sfn Although the steel mill no longer stands, the city retains historic homes and commercial buildings associated with it, including Peter Kirk's own 1891 brick office building, the Peter Kirk Building,Шаблон:Sfn the oldest commercial building on the Eastside of Lake Washington. The downtown area's 1888 street grid and house lots remain those planned for the company town by the founders, with Шаблон:Convert plots on the 1880 plan of the Pullman District in Pullman, Illinois,Шаблон:Sfn the first planned industrial community in America. The city's downtown area bears dual-named street signs, with both the modern names and the original names referring to 19th century American presidents (e.g. Monroe) and English culture and steel industry (e.g. Piccadilly, Victoria and Sheffield).Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Notes and references

Notes

Шаблон:Notelist

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

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