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

92 Part ThreeAfter the Bible, the SearsCatalogue, a.k.a. the “Wish Book,”was the most popular codex inmany American homes. Their own“book of books” made it possiblefor Sears and Roebuck’s to movein 1913 to their recently reclaimedsection of the Seattle tideflats. In1915 Sears added 800,000 squarefeet to their Seattle operationbut still the expanded plant wasused exclusively for its mail orderbusiness and one could not walkinto the place off the sidewalk tobuy a suit or appliance. At lastin 1925 the Seattle Sears storebecame the company’s second“Class-A retail space.” (The firstwas in Chicago, Sears’ home.) Bythen, many people could drive tothe store on First South in theirown cars—and there was plenty ofparking.110 employees to 858. Kempster also reported on the Oregon-Washington Railway andNavigation Company’s withdrawal of its trans-Pacific business in wheat and flour fromPortland and its shifting of four of its direct lines to Seattle and two of its direct lines toTacoma. As of March 1912, flour exports from Seattle exceeded those from New York.Puget Sound ports exported three times as much flour as Columbia River ports. The justcompletedFisher Flour Mill, near Harbor Island, was the coast’s largest flour mill; theAlbers Brothers’ mill was only slightly smaller. The city’s flour mills now numbered five.Courtesy Museum of History and Industry, Webster and Stevens CollectionFisher Flour’s great mill on Harbor Island at the mouth of the Duwamish River Waterway.