Seattle: 1900-1920 -From Boomtown, Through Urban Turbulence ...

Shipyard Strike: “Thunder on the Left”151waiting for the market to generate itself. Ross, for example, had excitedly told Mayor Gillabout the new electrolytic smelting process, exclaiming that City Light “can get ore fromMinnesota for steel and reduction furnaces that will supply ship building.” Seattle might atlast get its longed-for industrial base and win the chamber’s support in the effort.Puget Sound Traction, Power and Light’s strategy of filing claims on every potentialwaterpower site available ran counter to the aggressive industrial development policy thatRoss pushed so hard for. If PSTP&L succeeded in blocking out City Light, the kind ofgrowth sought by Ross would be stifled. The company unfolded its strategy by filing aclaim on the Skagit River site in 1913 through its subsidiary, the Skagit Power Company.In 1917 the company also purchased claims at Sunset Falls on the Skykomish River andthe Hebb property on the White River. It filed a squatter’s claim to the Cushman site onthe Skokomish River as well. By taking these measures, the company was closing offprospective sites to City Light. But Ross, learning that no development work had been doneon the Skagit site, contested the company’s permit. The U.S. Forest Service had previouslyextended the permit, but it was now up for renewal.Ross wrote to the Northwest District Forester, George Cecil, that PSTP&L hadblocked City Light from acquiring other prospective power sources and that it would beunable to meet the growing demand for power unless it had the site on the Skagit. Rossoptimistically contended that 25,000 kilowatts could be generated in eighteen months,thereby lowering the demand for fuel oil. The U.S. Fuel Administration had been urginghim to conserve fuel oil—the war was expected to last until 1920. On 22 December 1917 theSecretary of Agriculture, David Houston, revoked the Skagit Power Company’s permit.On 18 January 1918, Houston gave City Light the right to call for bids for atemporary wooden crib dam on the lower Skagit;he also gave it until 15 May to file a developmentplan. At its 29 January meeting, the Board of PublicWorks approved a bond issue, but constructioncompanies refused to accept the bonds unless theCapital Issues Sub-Committee of the Federal TradeCommission approved them. Further complicatingthe matter was the need for the city council to declareits intent to develop the Skagit site. Its decisiondepended upon councilman Oliver Erickson. Heforced Ross to agree to continue clay puddling atthe Cedar River dam as a condition of his support.Ross conceded and won the council’s unanimousapproval. Ross next had to persuade the federalCapital Issues Sub-Committee.Edward Nash Hurley, President Woodrow Wilson’s choice tochair both the U.S. Shipping Board and the Emergency FleetCorporation. On the subject of building ships, Hurley trumpetedin The Post-Intelligencer 22 December, 1917, “Seattle leads theworld.”