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HISTORY OF EVERETT
Reprinted from the History of Snohomish County (Page 431) Pioneer Historical Company, 1926 Continued from Volume 22, Issue 4
History of the Port of Everett
Written for the History of Snohomish County by Marvin W. SMITH, secretary to the Port of Everett.
The beginnings of the Port of Everett were built around the Snohomish River in its connection with Snohomish City, which was then the county seat of Snohomish County. The first wharf was at the foot of Pacific Avenue and accommodated not only the Sound boats running from Seattle, but particularly the boats plying between Everett and Snohomish, where everybody lived while they were getting the townsite of Everett under way, which was in 1891. As the town grew, the permanent river landing was switched to the foot of Hewitt Avenue, but remained at the foot of Pacific for many years. Some of the early boats running up and down the river and making Everett their port of call were the W. K. Merwin, which ran from Snohomish and Everett to Seattle; the Black Prince, the Marguerite, the Garden City, and the Mikado, running between Snohomish and Everett. Some of the early characters were W. K. MERWIN, owner of the Merwin, and Captain BERGMAN of the Marguerite. Logs being the heavy river commercial product, Joe MERCEREAU and Neil SPITHILL should not be overlooked as famous river drivers of those early years. For many years Everett was known mainly as a mill town and its docks were [page 432] lumber docks, and its gradual growth into a cosmopolitan city, with the shipping ramifications that go with such a development, are spread over some thirty-five years of time. The imagination of the citizenry of Everett was intrigued very much over the outcome of the building by the United States Government of what is known as the “jetty.” Over $700,000 was spent on this supposed improvement. It was calculated to make a great fresh-water harbor by causing the Snohomish River to scour its channel and bring into being a deep waterway inside of the jetty wall that would consist of fresh water and at the same time have some minor protection from the Northwest gales. The passing of time, after its completion, proved it to be mainly a failure and quite a bit of the work of the harbor authorities in recent years has been spent in various attempts to adjust their harbor development and river improvement to this jetty wall construction. One of the fortunate things for the city in its harbor history was the acquirement of what is known as the City Dock property at the foot of Hewitt Avenue on the Bayside. It came to the city as the outlet for a sewer and I doubt if many realized the far-reaching benefits that will ultimately come to the city through its ownership of this property, located as it is in the heart of the commercial waterfront district, which is also the head of deep-water navigation in its approach to the City of Everett. In connection with this city dock property we should not overlook the splendid waterways 200 feet wide lying on each side of the City Dock property, which are really public water streets or thoroughfares into which no obstacles to navigation may be built, and greatly increasing the value of the 150-foot area lying between these two waterways. When necessity requires, a dock can be built on this public property extending into deep water 1,000 feet. In passing, credit should be given to the organization known as the “Citizens’ League” for the securing of these two wonderful waterways as abutments to our water outlet on the bay front. Some of the founders and active spirits of this organization were J. J. CLARK, W. H. CLAY, Jacob HUNSAKER, E. M. METZGER and Edward F. BRYAN. The general affairs of the Harbor of Everett during the many years of its early growth were in the hands of public-spirited bodies and our municipal government; the Port of Everett, a specific municipal corporation, not being regularly organized until 1918. The first commissioners for the Port of Everett regularly elected were A. D. McADAM, C. W. MILEY and Albert BURKE, Mr. McADAM being the first president of the Port of Everett. The general area embraced in the Port of Everett district includes all that part of the Snohomish River delta and the Peninsula of Everett lying westerly of the east boundary of Ebey Slough, following form the latter’s mouth easterly and southerly to its conjunction with the Snohomish River proper, southeast of Lowell, and westerly in such a manner as to extend the port district almost to Silver Lake, and thence westward, including the Town of Mukilteo. On March 10, 1919, A. D. McADAM resigned and A. M. CHITTY was, on March 31, 1919, appointed by the commission to fill his unexpired term. Albert BURKE was elected on March 10 of the same year to the presidency of the Everett Port Commission. During the short period that these commissioners had been in office a great deal of engineering information was gathered by them concerning the soundings in front of the city and around the mouth of the Snohomish River, bearing [page 433] on the best method of developing the harbor in connection with the control of the silting up of the harbor caused by the great amount of detritus brought down by the river. J. G. SCHUCHART was appointed commissioner on July 2, 1919, to take the place of Albert BURKE, who had resigned, and on July 16 C. W. MILEY was elected president of the commission, and continued as its president until the election of F. G. TEGTMEIER to the commission in the December election, 1912. At this time A. B. CUTTER was elected commissioner to take the place on the commission of Mr. SCHUCHART, the other officer being Mr. MILEY. J. M. RHODES, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, became secretary to the commission in August, 1919. This period of the port commission engaged the activities of its officers mainly by reason of the commission’s endeavor to acquire an area of some 2,000 acres lying in front of the city and outside the jetty wall, with the intention of developing the same as occasion might require as a free port area, a law having been passed by the State Legislature giving special powers to the port commission for such improvement for free port purposes. These efforts of the commission failed, the Supreme Court of the State of Washington ruling that the comprehensive plan of the Port of Everett covering such acquisition was too “vague, indefinite and general” to permit of condemnation proceedings over said proposed free port area to bring about its enforcement; consequently the acquirement of said area was dropped. Since the free port program of the United States still lacks national legislative acts to carry it into operation, the City of Everett has lost nothing through this failure of the port commission. C. W. MILEY was reelected commissioner in December, 1920, and F. G. TEGTMEIER was reelected in December, 1921. However, Mr. MILEY resigned in March, 1922, and C. A. PURCELL was appointed by the commissioner to fill out his unexpired term. The December election of 1922 saw a reorganization of the port commission through the election to its membership of Fred C. SHOCH and Lloyd L. BLACK, who was selected as president, Mr. TEGTMEIER being the other member of the commission and Marvin W. SMITH functioning as secretary to the commission, having served since January, 1921. This period of the port commission history saw the port commission join with the other cities on Puget Sound in pressing the demands in Congress for a Government-owned dredge to be stationed on Puget Sound for the purpose of controlling the silting up of the mouths of these rivers and developing their use for purposes of navigation, though this dredge matter is still pending. |
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