NW History For Sale -- Sawmill Now Just A Chip Off The Old Auction Block

PORT GAMBLE, Kitsap County - The auctioneer's voice rises and falls, much like the fortunes of the Pope & Talbot Inc. sawmill. His rapid, rhythmic exhortations to "buy" are a dirge for a bygone era.

Opened in 1853 to meet the demands of an expanding West, this was the oldest continuously operating sawmill in North America until it closed last fall. Now it is being sold - virtually piece by piece - to the highest bidders in a three-day auction that ends tomorrow.

"Everything is going . . . me included," says Don Brett, 55, chief electrician at the mill. "After 20 years on the job, I'm taking my coffee pot home and going. . . . End of July, there's no work for me here."

At its peak, the mill employed 300 people and supported a town of nearly 1,000. Some half-million board feet of lumber were cut daily.

"I used to sit right here, looking at piles of lumber, and feel the whole place moving as logs were pushed through," Brett says from his second-story office.

"Now . . . well, I'll be all right. There's a job out there for me somewhere. Things are still happening . . . just look at all the people buying pieces of this mill."

By midday yesterday, more than 500 people had registered to bid. Almost as many had shown up simply to witness the sale. Most are from the United States and Canada, but some have traveled from as far away as Ireland and Australia.

Inside the sprawling, rough-hewn mill overlooking Gamble Bay, men in worn denim jackets and work boots crowd onto creaking catwalks, listening intently to the auctioneer. With winks, waves, shrugs and nods, they signal whether they want to spend more or hold.

The public sale is being overseen by commercial auctioneers James G. Murphy Inc. of Kenmore. There's no minimum, no premiums, no items with reserve prices. The bidding, so far, ranges from a few dollars to tens of thousands. Everything bought has to go by Aug. 1.

Approximately 3,000 items are on the block. There are chain saws, circular saws and band saws bigger than a Volkswagen Beetle. Hog knives, grinding wheels, babbit jigs, hourglass and corset rolls. Computers, copiers, calculators, cabinets and oak chairs (some antique). All the buildings are for sale. Forklifts, front-loaders, self-loading logging trucks and tugboats.

Potential buyers Ed Delanty of Seattle and David Lockwood of Bellevue are downright comfortable on the stern of the 60-foot P&T Pioneer, a 1951 wooden tug.

"She's a well-made boat . . . her fantail is a wonderful place to have lunch," says Delanty, who, with Lockwood, is stretched out on the tug. "Who knows, but maybe we'll own her."

Auctioneers expect to sell the Pioneer and a newer, 37-foot tug, the Teekelett, today - along with the forklifts and logging trucks.

Everything is for sale, everything but the sawmill whistle.

"First time I woke to that whistle was March 29, 1911 . . . the day I was born," says James Thompson, 85, who followed his grandfather and father to work at the mill.

"I ran the 44-foot trimmer, sat up in a cage operating 22 saws at one time. . . . Made 26 cents an hour and felt lucky, even when I wished to heck I didn't have to get up with that whistle."

The whistle is expected to remain in Port Gamble, a piece of Washington's past still in place.

What exactly is to become of Port Gamble, the company-owned town, is less certain. But few believe its blue-collar character will survive.

The town is owned by Pope Resources, the land development company that built 800 homes, a resort hotel, a 27-hole golf course and a marina at Port Ludlow. Many here anticipate that Port Gamble will be converted to a similar upscale resort community.

"A lot of changes coming here . . . and everywhere," says buyer Paul Anderson of W.K.O. Inc., a sawmill near Vancouver, Wash. "It's sad to think of the history that's being dismantled, sold off and parted out, but times will change. Only thing to do is try and keep up."