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Port Gamble is a small town of a hundred and two residence nestled in Puget Sound area of Washington State. In the 1850s, due to an influx in the demand for timber needed to settle the Oregon Territory, a mill was established in the Gamble Bay. Soon after the mill’s construction, a town rose up to house the owners, workers, and their families. The history of Port Gamble’s founding, which is synonymous with the rise of the lumber industry, allowed for settlement of the Pacific Northwest and the creation of a blooming economy in the Pacific Northwest with trade networks all over the globe. The mill remained a basic part of the town from its development and continued after being sold to a larger company.

Port Gamble, the beginning
In 1849, William Talbot and Andrew Pope arrived in San Francisco from East Machias, Maine in hopes to take part in its shipping and lumber industry, for the shipping of lumber to the rapidly growing Western United States was becoming a very lucrative business. Pope and Talbot quickly realized that the lumber shipments from New England were not enough to meet the growing demand for building materials in the West. After hearing about the dense forests in the Oregon Territory, William Talbot and Andrew Pope, along with partners Josiah Keller, and Charles Foster, formed the Puget Mill Company to harvest the much-needed lumber for the expanding West. In the summer of 1853, William Talbot, after searching the Puget Sound for the best possible site for a mill, spotted a sand spit at the mouth of the Gamble Bay as a excellent location, for it provided a location near the abundant trees of the Oregon Territory and a port for shipping the cut lumber to California. Soon after arriving, Josiah Keller sailed up the coast to join him with the boiler, engine, and muley saw for the mill. By September, the new mill was cutting logs into lumber.

Although they had a ready and working mill, Pope, Keller, and Talbot had difficulty finding enough workers to run the mill. During the 1950s, the Pacific Northwest was frontier territory with little population. With the help of their partner in Maine, Charles Foster, the mill was able to recruit experienced mill workers from East Machias to come West to Gamble Bay. In their new and labor intensive environment, workers quickly became homesick for the lifestyle they had left behind in Maine. As houses were constructed for workers’ and company executives’ families, the designed reflected their desire to feel at home as the architecture looked like that which could be found in New England city. This new little town that grew up by the mill was named Port Gamble after the name given to its location on Gamble Bay, which given by the American Explorer Commodore Wilkes in 1842.

The founders of the mill of Port Gamble, however, were not the first to occupy the Gamble Bay, the S'Klallams, or Nux Sklai Yem, had been living in the Puget Sound basin since 2400 B.C. On January 26, 1854, not six months after William Talbot arrived, the Treaty of Point No Point was signed, ceding the land around Port Gamble to the United States and relocating the S’Klallams across the Bay to Point Julia. As part of the treaty the S’Klallams were given jobs at mill and lumber to build their new homes, community facilities, and a new school. The new little town across Gamble Bay became known as Little Boston.

Working Environment
Over the years the Puget Mill Company, later known as Pope & Talbot, Inc., had many different workers, starting with the few men who created the mill in 1853 and reaching a peak of 1,000 workers in 1927. Some of the workers for the mill came from the nearby S'Klallam tribe, they would canoe across the bay in the mornings and head home after their shifts. A steady supply of experienced workers came from East Machias, Maine, where the founders of the company were born. Especially during times such as the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 when men were unreliable and would often leave to seek their fortune in Alaska. Men from East Machias were offered a six month contract in which they would pay off the price of their voyage. These men often wrote home of the steady work they found in Port Gamble, because the mill in Maine was water powered it would shut down during winter while the mill in Port Gamble ran year round.

The Puget Mill Company provided housing for their workers. Barracks were built for the single men that worked at the mill. For men who brought their families and were more likely to stay permanently the company built family houses. Andrew Pope, one of the founders of the company, once wrote “We have really got some very valuable men here, and if we can make them contented by laying out a few hundred doll[ar]s I think it is a good investment.”

The town of Port Gamble continued to grow and expand along with the mill. The Puget Mill Company built housing for its managers, a general store for everyone that lived there, a hotel for tourists and visiting managers, a community hall, a dance hall, a church which was modeled off of the one found in East Machias, a school for the children of workers families. Seeds were even brought from the trees in Maine and planted along the streets to help remind those from Machias of home.

The Port Gamble mill was the oldest continually operating saw mill over its span of 142 years, Pope & Talbot, Inc. closed down the mill on November 30th, 1995. However, the town of Port Gamble is still maintained as a historic example of a company town. In 1966 Port Gamble was put in the National Register of Historic Places for its role in the heritage of the area.

Tree Farms
As the Port Gamble mill continued to expand and increase its’ production of lumber their need for suitable logging areas increased. The Puget Mill Company continued purchasing viable timberland, and by 1892 had ownership of 186,000 acres. With the depletion of forestland in other states more and more companies turned to Washington to supply the growing need for timber, by 1906 there were over 900 lumber mills of various sizes in Washington alone.

As Washington's old growth forests were dwindling the need for new sources of lumber became readily apparent. On June 12, 1941 the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company designated the first certified tree farm, the Clemons Tree Farm in Washington state. The Puget Mill Company, now known as Pope & Talbot, Inc. soon followed suit, forming the Hood Canal Tree Farm in 1946 and having 75,000 acres in the tree farm by 1953.

The intentions of tree farms are to provide stable sources for wood products. As Gifford Pinchot, First chief of the USDA Forest Service once said “Wood is a crop, Forestry is Tree Farming." (American Tree Farm System) This relates trees to other crops, such as corn and wheat, and makes people realize the connection and understand that trees cannot continue to be cut down and not replaced without consequences.

Global Economic Influence of Port Gamble
During the mid 1800s, California experienced a drastic economic boom and an increase in the population from the California gold rush. The gold rush opened the door to a vast unknown of resources and fortune. The constant flow of settlers into the frontier and expanding economic influence demanded a high-level of resources to maintain stability and growth. California then looked to tap into the high abundance of timber and mining in the Oregon Territory. This called for three explorers to set sail up along the Pacific Coast to explore the unknown territory. When William Talbot, Andrew Pope, and Josiah Keller washed up on the sandy shores of the Hood Canal they discovered the fortune of timber along the Olympic Peninsula. Talbot, was a lumber merchant from the San Francisco area and partnered with Pope who was an experienced sea captain, both dominated the lumber industry in North America. The characteristics of the two men drove them through the ups and downs of global economic woes and stiff competition, especially their eventual counterparts in the Oregon Territory. After the founding of Port Gamble, these three men established the longest working lumber mill on the North American continent and influenced the entire world in the timber industry.

Port Gamble established itself as an industrial power house globally. The Puget Mill Company became a source of lumber all around the world from Shanghai, China to Cape Town, South Africa. Trees coming straight from the Olympic Peninsula were shipped to 37 other ports around the world. By 1862, the Puget Mill Company owned a fleet of ten vessels and was shipping almost 19 million board feet of lumber to foreign outlets. Ports around the world who received Lumber from Port Gamble: Yokohama, Japan; Shanghai, China; Manila, Philippines; Jakarta, Indonesia; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Sydney Australia; New Zealand; Numea, Caledonia; Anchorage, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska; San Francisco; Oakland; Los Angeles; San Diego; Houston; Honolulu; New Orleans; Philadelphia; New York Harbor; Ponce, Puerto Rico; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Mayaguez, Puerto Rico; Colon, Panama; Maracaibo, Venezuela; Lima Peru; Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; Montevideo, Uruguay; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Cape Town, South Africa; Dakar, Senegal; Saudi Arabia; Naples, Italy; Istanbul, Turkey; Holland, Netherlands; Liverpool, England; Bombay, India. During the turn of the century, The Puget Mill Company and the Pope and Talbot Lumber Company shipped their lumber from Port Gamble lumber across the Atlantic Ocean to be used in the British, French and Russian navies for their sparing around the world [8]. Captain Keller took hold of the shipment plans for the Pope and Talbot Lumber Company and created routes along the Pacific Coast to help supply the large demands of the California Gold Rush. This transportation of Lumber opened the door for shipments to the China and South East China. Because Talbot and Pope resided from the state of Maine, their connections to the East Coast and constant travels back to their hometown, many of the ports along South America and the West Indies experienced contact from the Port Gamble shipments.

The Sale of Puget Mill Company
In July 1925, the board of directors for the Puget Mill Company, including William H. Talbot, George A. Pope Sr., Talbot C. Walker, John Deahl and A.G. Harms met in an office to discuss the sale of the company. A little over a year earlier in May of 1924, William Talbot had already reached his own decision regarding the future of the Port Gamble mill. In a letter to Northwest Operations Manager, E.G. Ames, Talbot mentioned that it was “suicidal to continue operating the Port Gamble Mill.” He also informed Ames that production of lumber at the mill must cease once all remaining orders had been filled. When the board of directors met over a year later it took only a few minutes for them to decide that selling the company was the only option. After the meeting had concluded, Talbot met with Charles McCormick of the Charles McCormick Lumber Company. McCormick agreed to purchase the Puget Mill Company for $15 million. This was a significant period in the history of Port Gamble and the Puget Mill Company. For almost a hundred years the Puget Mill Company had been owned and operated by the descendants of the Pope and Talbot families, but this sale meant that the mill would no longer be operated by the descendants of the men that had helped establish Port Gamble. William H. Talbot was reluctant to sell the company, but the early 1900s were a trying time for the Lumber Industry. The troubles for the company began in 1907, when the state of Washington instituted a tax increase on timber acreage held by mill companies. This combined with inefficient operations, outdated equipment, and increasingly dilapidated facilities became too much of a burden for William Talbot. Despite the sale of the company Talbot devised a way to ensure that the Port Gamble Mill would remain operational. In the agreement with McCormick, Talbot specified that McCormick must build a brand new mill at Port Gamble.

The Creation of Pope & Talbot Co.
McCormick had very little success as the President and owner of the Puget Mill Company. The cost of building the new mill in Port Gamble along with the cost of modernizations and improvements being made to other mills quickly added to the company’s debt. In 1938, McCormick owed over $7 million to the original owners of Puget Mill, but unable to make payments, McCormick was forced to return all of the company holdings to the principals of the foreclosure suit filed against him. The principals were all descendants of the original founders of the Puget Mill Company. By 1940 the company was running under the guidance of another descendant of the Pope family, George Pope, Sr., when it was decided that the business should be renamed Pope & Talbot Mills. The entrance of the U.S. into WWII brought plenty of business to Pope & Talbot Mills. During the entire war the mills operated at full capacity. The company’s vessels were involved in transporting supplies necessary for battle to areas of conflict such as Guadalcanal and Okinawa.

Preserving the Town of Port Gamble
The town of Port Gamble cherishes its heritage as a mill town. The mill established the town of Port Gamble. Many of the buildings are well maintained historical sites. Most of the town is still owned today by the mill. There is an old church that has been restored to its original orientation. The St. Paul’s Episcopal “church on Rainier Avenue dates from 1870. Built from the same plans used for the construction of the village church in East Machias, Main, in 1836.” Many of remnants of the colonial architecture are left behind from the settlers that came from Main such as Pope and Talbot. “The National Park Service has cited Port Gamble as “the finest example of a nineteenth century Pacific Coast Logging community.” There is a museum in town that tells about the history of the town and how the Pope and Talbot mill impacted Port Gamble. The general store was the:First building [that] was constructed in 1853 on the mill site, a “rough structure” built of lumber shipped from Main and shingled with cedar split cut nearby. Employees picked up paychecks at the office. The store sold coffee, pickles, boots, crockery, brooms, windows, toys, gloves, tools and other goods to employees, settlers, sailors, loggers, and the S’kallam tribe. There is still a general store that stands in the town of Port Gamble that is newly renovated from 1916 and is still today a great tourist attraction with selling old fashion candy and old photos on the walls in remembrance of the Port Gamble mill. The town has an Old Mills Days festival in Port Gamble that keeps alive the spirit of the mill. Port Gamble gives out pamphlets out for a walking tour that anyone can pick up and read up on the historic buildings.

The preservation of the town of Port Gamble began in the mid 1960s. “Pope & Talbot recognized a rare opportunity in Port Gamble, to protect and preserve this small part of the past for future generations. Pope & Talbot rebuilt and restored 30 houses and buildings, located utilities undergrounds and installed gas street lamps.” In the year 1966 Port Gamble was declared a National Historic Landmark. “Pope and Talbot, Inc., has made a uniquely important contribution to the American heritage through its restoration of historic Port Gamble, reflecting pride in its company history and in the role forest industries have played in American history.” One of the oldest houses in Port Gamble that is still standing is the Thompson house. The Thompson house was built in 1859 and was owned by James A. Thompson. The story behind Thompson is “he sharpened saws at the mill until the day of his death in 1911…The Thompson family also built their house and paid the company an annual ground rent of $1 per year.” The mill had a great impact on the lives of the workers in the mills and were treated fairly and they lived in Port Gamble for most of their lives. In 1996 “Pope Resources acquired the town and set about refurbishing it to its glory days. In this long-term commitment to Port Gamble, Olympic Property Group is in charge of maintaining the houses, buildings, all common lawn areas, cemetery, church, museum and the water/sewage treatment plants.” The town represents the industry that changed the mill industry in the Pacific Northwest.

Port Gamble is remembered as a mill town. It had global influences across the Pacific northwest and internationally. The company provided the supplies for the United States in WWII. It created jobs in the area and is a town of historical significance. The new technology allowed the Pope and Talbot Mill to be more productive and allowed the company to be very successful. The Pope and Talbot Company showed ingenuity by creating the Hood Canal Tree Farm encouraging sustainability in the environment. The company’s history still lives on through the town that still supported through the Pope Resources maintaining the town and leasing the homes.