University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
PH0649
Baker, Charles H. (Charles Hinckley), 1864-1924
Snoqualmie Falls in
Harness: Souvenir of the Visit of the Commercial Club of Chicago
March 21, 1901
1 album (36 photographic prints)
Collection
materials are in
English.
Photograph album
documenting the1901 visit of the Commercial Club of Chicago to the Snoqualmie
Falls Power Company and additional Washington locales.
Charles H. Baker was born November 30, 1864, in Chicago, Illinois.
After graduating from Cornell University as a civil engineer in 1886, Baker
began work the following year for Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad in
1887. While traveling past 276-foot Snoqualmie Falls, he began formulating a
plan to harness its energy, and after the economic Panic of 1893 left him
unemployed, Baker convinced his father to finance his idea for the Snoqualmie
Falls Power Company. His father, William T. Baker, was a wealthy businessman,
president of the Chicago Board of Trade, and organizer of the 1893 World's
Columbian Exposition. Work began in 1898, and the plant was opened in July,
1899. 1903 was disastrous year for Baker and the plant due to a destructive
fire and the death of William T. Baker. Estate lawyers refused to recognize
Charles H. Baker as a partner of the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company because the
company had been under his father's name only. In 1908, the Snoqualmie Falls
Power Company was sold to the Seattle-Tacoma Power Company, forerunner of Puget
Sound Energy.
The Commercial Club of Chicago was founded in 1877 by a small group of
businessmen who wanted to help shape the development of Chicago. In the early
1900s, the club played an instrumental role in the development of an urban plan
for the city. In 1907, the club commissioned internationally renowned architect
and city planner Daniel H. Burnham to develop the plan, which was published in
1909 as Plan of Chicago . It was one of the first
comprehensive development plans designed for an American city. As of 2004, the
Commercial Club of Chicago exists as a large membership organization of leading
Chicago business and civic leaders.
The Commercial Club of Chicago donated the photograph album of their
visit to the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company and surrounding environs to C.H.
(Cornelius Holgate) Hanford. Hanford was born in 1849. In 1855, he was carried
as a young child into the Seattle blockhouse serving as a fort during an attack
by Native Americans. As an adult, Hanford served as a lawyer, judge, and public
official. In 1889, he was appointed the last chief justice of the Washington
Territory. Most notably, Hanford served as the U.S. circuit judge for the
western district of Washington State from 1898 to 1912. In 1912, an impeachment
trial began to look into allegations of drunkenness and misconduct, but he
resigned before the trial's end. Hanford became a writer and editor of
historical fiction and nonfiction before his death in 1926.
The collection consists of one album of photographs taken during a
trip by the Commerical Club of Chicago to the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company in
March, 1901. The photographs document the company's power station building and
intakes; substations in Seattle, Issaquah, and Renton; and the construction of
power lines near Racing River, Cedar River, Preston, Issaquah, and Renton. Also
shown are Snoqualmie Falls, Snoqualmie River, Port Blakely Lumber Mill, Port
Orchard Naval Yard, and salmon at a Seattle pier.
Charles H. Baker probably took photographs 1-30, but photographs 31-36
were probably taken by another photographer, possibly John D. Cress.
Handwritten on first page of album: "Hon. C.H. Hanford. Compliments of
Chas. [Charles] H. Baker Seattle March 21, 1901."
Collection is open to the public.
Request at UW
The Commercial Club of Chicago donated the photograph album to C.H.
(Cornelius Holgate) Hanford.
Source: Fairlook Antiques, 2003.
Processed by Noella Natalino, 2004.
See:
Alan J. Stein,
<emph render="italic"> Snoqualmie Falls
generators begin producing electricity on July 31, 1899 </emph>
,
HistoryLink.org (2001).
Visual Materials Collections (University of Washington)
Baker, Charles H. (Charles Hinckley), 1864-1924
Commercial Club of Chicago--Photographs
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard--Photographs
Iowa (Battleship)--Photographs
Snoqualmie Falls (Wash. : Waterfall)--Photographs
Rainier, Mount (Wash.)--Photographs
Electric substations--Washington (State)--Photographs
Hydroelectric power plants--Washington (State)--Photographs
Electric lines--Washington (State)--Photographs
Photographs
Seattle
Washington (State)
Business, Industry, and Labor
Photograph albums
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in
the collection.
1
1
Snoqualmie Falls
and buildings near top of falls
2
2
View of Snoqualmie
Falls
3
3
Members of the
Chicago Commercial Club posing in front of Snoqualmie Falls Power Co.
sign
4
4
Intake and
buildings on the north side of the Snoqualmie Falls Power Co.
5
5
Top of Snoqualmie
Falls, "view from balcony"
6
6
Grounds east of
Snoqualmie Falls Power Co. intake with two women posing by water's
edge
7
7
Winter scene at
Snoqualmie Falls
8
8
Snoqualmie River
below the falls
9
9
Crest of
Snoqualmie Falls
10
10
Diagram of the
headworks of the Snoqualmie Falls Power Co.
11
11
Diagram of the
subterranean power station
12
12
Cavity switchboard
of the Snoqualmie Falls Power Co.
13
13
Doble waterwheel
for exciter power supply
14
14
Interior
transformer house of the Snoqualmie Falls Power Co.
15
15
Route cut through
forest for power lines, 3 miles from Snoqualmie Falls
16
16
Route cut through
forest for power lines near Raging River
17
17
Route cut through
forest for power lines at the Raging River crossing
18
18
Route cut through
forest for power lines near Preston, Washington
19
19
Route cut through
forest for power lines near Issaquah, Washington
20
20
Route cut through
forest for power lines crossing Issaquah Valley
21
21
Gilman substation
of the Snoqualmie Falls Power Co., Issaquah, Washington
22
22
Man standing next
to small wooden station in front of power line pole with a sign attached
advertising a reward [Rimrod? Station]
23
23
Route cut through
forest for power lines, west of Issaquah, Washington
24
24
Route cut through
forest for power lines near Renton, Washington
25
25
Bridge and power
line poles crossing Cedar River
26
26
Renton substation
of the Snoqualmie Falls Power Co.
27
27
Men in suits
standing beside machinery in the interior of the Seattle substation of the
Snoqualmie Falls Power Co.
28
28
Seattle substation
of the Snoqualmie Falls Power Co.
Signs on building read: M. Furuya Co., Seattle Cataract Co., and
"Snoqualmie Power for Any Use in Any Amount."
29
29
View of Mt.
Rainier and power line poles probably from the direction of Tacoma,
Washington
30
30
Snoqualmie Falls
Power Co. card showing the heights of other tall objects as compared to
Snoqualmie Falls
31
31
Port Blakely
lumber mill, Bainbridge Island, Washington
32
32
Fishermen with
piles of salmon at Seattle Wharf
33
33
Man and boy in
Washington forest
34
34
Dry dock at Port
Orchard Navy Yard (now Puget Sound Naval Shipyard)
35
35
U.S.S. Iowa in dry
dock at the Port Orchard Navy Yard
36
36
Mount Rainier and
river