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Everett's waterfront around the peninsula
Everett was known in the early days as the "City of Smokestacks", and "Pittsburg of the West". Industrialists from New York City, Charles Colby and Henry Hewitt, teamed up with the Rucker brothers and John D. Rockefeller to create Everett. The New York investors funded four industries:
- A Smelter for the Monte Cristo area mines 40 miles east in the Cascade Mountains, located in NE Everett.
- A Barge Works, making "whaleback steamers", designed by Captain Alexander McDougall, a close friend of Charles Colby, just east of the Smelter.
- A Nail Works, located on the bay side.
- A Pulp Mill, located in the existing town of Lowell.
Meanwhile, the Great Northern Railroad, led by James J. Hill, forged its way from St Paul, Minn. Investors and speculators hoped the GN western terminus would be in Everett, and bid up real estate prices. But Hill chose Seattle for that terminus. Most of the early industries failed in the 1893 economic bust.
Rockefeller wanted out, and with help from Jim Hill who thought lumber was a better industry for Everett, the new city became Mill Town. Rich with giant trees all around, Everett was one of the largest cedar shingle mill towns in the world. In later years, pulp and paper, and lumber reigned as the entire peninsula was ringed with mills. But most of the local trees were cut, and now nearly all the mills are gone.