Washington State Legislature enacts law allowing citizens to establish public port districts to develop and operate harbors in March 1911.

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In March 1911 the Washington State Legislature passes a bill authorizing the establishment of public port districts. The Port District Act, which allows citizens to end private monopoly control of urban harbors, is a victory for progressive and populist reformers then at the height of their influence in Washington. Voters in Seattle and Grays Harbor create the first two port districts later that year and many more are established in succeeding years.

Before statehood, most port facilities in Washington were privately owned. Although the 1889 state constitution preserved all remaining tidelands in public ownership, many critical port facilities were already in private hands, allowing those who controlled them to monopolize key transportation routes and set prices accordingly. In Seattle, for instance, railroad companies had controlled the harbor since 1874, as a result of concessions granted to lure railroads to the city.

In the early decades of the twentieth century the progressive movement, which advocated public ownership of facilities and utilities, was a powerful force in Washington politics. Passage of the Port District Act climaxed a lengthy struggle for public control over harbors and waterfront commerce.

Seattle voters were the first to take advantage of the new law. On September 5, 1911, they approved the Port of Seattle and elected Hiram Chittenden, Robert Bridges, and Charles Remsberg as Port Commissioners (a position that by statute was unpaid).

Voters in the Aberdeen-Hoquiam area followed on December 12, 1911, approving the Port of Grays Harbor by a vote of 1,961 to 562. Frank Lamb, a machine works owner and timber company president who played a major role in passage of the Port District Act, led the successful Grays Harbor effort, overcoming opposition by mill owners, timber interests, and inland taxpayers. Lamb was elected a Port Commissioner, along with A. C. McNeill and Billy Patterson, and served for 40 years.

By the end of the decade, public port districts had also been created in Vancouver, Bremerton, Kennewick, Brownsville, Tacoma, Everett, and Kingston, and more followed in subsequent decades. In 2004 there were 76 public port districts in Washington.

Sources:
"Port History," Washington Public Ports Association website accessed October 5, 2004 (http://www.washingtonports.org/port_information/ portinformationcover.htm); "Grays Harbor," Ibid; "History Time Line," Ibid; HistoryLink.org Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History, "King County voters create Port of Seattle on September 5, 1911," (by Walt Crowley), http://www.historylink.org/ (accessed November 3, 2004); 1911 Wash. Laws, ch. 92.

By Kit Oldham, February 01, 2005

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Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)

Port of Seattle, ca. 1911
Courtesy Lawton Gowey