May 7 – May 13, 2009

On the Waterfront

This week marks the 75th anniversary of the 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike, one of the most important and bitter labor strikes of the twentieth century. Longshore workers in Washington first organized in the 1880s, but the early unions were weak and their demands for better workplace conditions and pay were rarely met. After years of failed strikes, including participation in the Seattle General Strike of 1919, maritime workers reorganized under one group, the International Longshoremen's Association, which under federal accord in 1934 allowed them to bargain collectively.

When employers refused to bargain, the workers struck to demand a coast-wide contract with improved pay, an end to unfair labor practices, and the establishment of hiring halls run by unions, not bosses. The walkout began on May 9, 1934, when thousands of longshoremen and other maritime workers shut down all the major ports in Washington, Oregon, and California. Union members stopped trains from serving the waterfronts and blocked the use of strikebreakers on the docks.

By June the situation was tense. In Seattle, Mayor Charles L. Smith mobilized police to open the port, which led to violent confrontations with the strikers. On June 30, a strike leader was shot north of Seattle, and on July 9, a King County Sheriff's Special Deputy was killed during a street brawl. In San Francisco, two picketers were shot dead and many more were injured after police fired tear-gas canisters during a riot.

By this time, Seattle Teamsters boss Dave Beck tried to muscle his way in, urging the longshore workers to break ranks with union leaders and negotiate their own deal with Seattle shippers. The local ILA stood firm, siding instead with Harry Bridges, who chaired the West Coast Joint Strike Committee.

President Franklin Roosevelt's National Labor Board (forerunner of the National Labor Relations Board) arbitrated an end to the strike, and on July 31 the longshoremen returned to work. The settlement took longer, but in the end the ILA won recognition, wage increases, and union control of waterfront hiring halls, charting a course for Harry Bridges' rise to power as president of the reorganized International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union

Hold Back the Waters

On May 9, 1962, Vice President Lyndon Johnson dedicated the Ice Harbor Dam, located on the Snake River between Walla Walla and Franklin counties. The following day, LBJ traveled to Seattle to dedicate the NASA pavilion at the 1962 World's Fair, but more people were interested in seeing astronaut John Glenn, who had orbited the earth a few months earlier.

Three days after the Ice Harbor Dam was dedicated, South King County residents celebrated the opening of the Howard A. Hanson Dam, above the White River Valley. Construction began on the project in 1959, and although its progress was interrupted by a major flood, the dam's opening led to greater development in a once-soggy Kent.

Drops of History, Trickling Down

Looking Around: On May 11, 1792, Captain Robert Gray became the first non-Indian navigator to enter the Columbia River. A few days later he explored Grays Bay (named in his honor) in what is now Wahkiakum County. Nearly 50 years later, on May 11, 1841, an American survey party led by Charles Wilkes began charting south Puget Sound at watery coordinates they aptly named Commencement Bay.

Common Ground: On May 13, 1849, the U.S. Army established Camp Columbia at the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver. The fort later became home to Catholic nuns at the request of the diocese. On May 10, 1939, a historical pageant -- Flotilla of Faith -- was held to honor the church's role in Washington state history.

Sudden Departure: On May 7, 1906, Franz Edmund Creffield, the charismatic leader of an Oregon-based Holy Rollers love cult, was gunned down in Seattle by George Mitchell, the jealous husband of one of Creffield's acolytes. A sympathetic all-male Seattle jury quickly acquitted Mitchell on the grounds of temporary insanity and he was released. As Mitchell prepared to board a train at Union Depot to return to home on July 12, his sister Esther -- a devoted cult member and friend of Creffield's widow -- shot him point-blank on the platform. Seattle Police Chief Charles Wappenstein was moved to comment, "I wish these Oregon people would kill each other on their own side of the river."

Early Arrival: The May 10, 1906, opening of King Street Station gave Seattleites a rail depot they could finally be proud of. Designed by the architects who built New York's Grand Central Station and paid for by the Northern Pacific Railroad, the new brick building was a far cry from the wooden depots used up until that time. The opening of Union Station five years later added more elegance for rail travelers.

At the Podium: One hundred years ago this week, on May 11, 1909, University of Washington students attended the inaugural lecture by Reverend Herbert H. Gowen, the newly appointed chair of the Department of Oriental History, Literature, and Institutions. This department would eventually evolve to become the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.

On the Stage: This week marks the anniversaries of three theater openings within the state -- Spokane's Rex Theater in 1912, Seattle's Alaska Theatre in 1914, and the St. Helens Theatre in Chehalis in 1924. Sadly, none of these grand buildings is extant.

Boats and Birds: On May 8, 1917, the Lake Washington Ship Canal was completed in Seattle, following the lowering of Lake Washington by 8.8 feet during its construction. Glancing skyward the next day, William Boeing reached new heights when he renamed the company he co-founded after himself.

Harry's Words: On May 8, 1945, President Harry Truman announced in the other Washington that, with the surrender of Germany, the war in Europe was over. Five years later, Truman traveled to this Washington to give a speech on racial equality at Gonzaga University, and to receive a Citation of Merit.

Battle Lines: The U.S invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War had repercussions here at home. On May 7, 1970, Seattle Police "vigilantes" assaulted citizens in an effort to quell unrest in the University District, in the wake of anti-war protests. Two days later, 450 Canadians invaded Blaine to protest the war's escalation.

Making Signs: On May 7, 1993, Washoe and her family moved into the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute, their newly constructed home at Central Washington University in Ellensburg. Washoe was the first chimpanzee to communicate using American Sign Language and the first to pass on the ability to sign to another chimpanzee, her adopted son Loulis.

Big Tooth: Moxee has been called the hops capital of the world, doing its part to slake the thirst of beer drinkers everywhere. But on May 21, 2001, the remains were found of one mammoth guzzler who probably should have foregone an icy beverage to head for warmer climes.

Sad Truth: Anniversaries of some notable tragedies this week include a fire that wiped out downtown Goldendale on May 13, 1888, Seattle's first fatal streetcar accident on May 12, 1889, and Washington's worst coal mining disaster, which killed 45 miners in Roslyn on May 10, 1892.

Quote of the Week

I'm a working stiff. I just happened to be around at the right time, and nobody else wanted the job.

                          --Harry Bridges

Image of the Week

The Walla Walla Penitentiary welcomed its first occupants on May 11, 1887.