Northwest Steel

45°30′16″N 122°40′11″W / 45.50451°N 122.66976°W / 45.50451; -122.66976

West Shore, one of the "West" boats built at Northwest Steel

Northwest Steel was a structural steel fabricator and shipbuilding company in Portland, Oregon. During World War I the yard built cargo ships for the United States Shipping Board (USSB). Some 37 of the 46 ships ship built at Northwest Steel were the West boats, a series of 5,500-gross register ton (GRT) steel-hulled cargo ships built for the USSB on the West Coast of the United States as part of the World War I war effort.[1]

The Northwest Steel Company was incorporated in August 1903.[2]

In July 1913, NW Steel began construction of a new plant, to be complete February 1914, after its present site was purchased by the public dock commission.[3] Location of the new plant is a newly built 300x350 feet dock.[4] Planned are a 60x800-foot main shop, 50x100-foot blacksmith shop, 50x100-foot machine shop and a 50x100-foot template shop.[5]

Work on shipyard facilities began with dredging on April 1, 1916. everything built was as extensions of the existing company plant. The mold loft was begun the first week of May, the ways were constructed starting in late May. The first keel was hurried and laid down on July 9, 1916 with some improvisation in the still not fully finished yard. Eventually there was also a large rivet and bolt shop erected to handle the demand, including for boat spikes of the numerous wooden hull constructors in the vicinity, production for the boat spikes alone amounting to 14 tons a day in 1918.[6] See also: 1921 Industrial Map of Portland. The shipyard was sandwiched between the river to the east, the yard of the Columbia River Shipbuilding Company to the south, railroad tracks to the west and the Portland Lumber Company mill to the north. Northwest Steel was the largest of the 4 steel shipyards in the Portland / Vancouver region.

In May 1918, contracts were awarded for a $17,500 mold loft to be built at the company's site at the foot of Sheridan Street.[7] In July 1918, NW Steel planned to build 4 additional slipways at its plant site.[8]

In February 1919 it was announced that Northwest Steel had retired from the structural steel field. The Northwest Bridge & Iron Co., headed by W.H. Cullers, was taking over this end of the business and was looking for a new plant site.[9] In January 1920, Bridge & Iron took over the rest of Northwest Steel's business.[10]

It was headed by Joseph R. Bowles, who was indicted for bribing a government official in about 1918 and then convicted of contempt of court.[11] He was later described as a "greedy, domineering and difficult person, with no sense of civic responsibility."[11]

The first ship built at Northwest Steel was the cargo ship War Baron, originally launched on March 31, 1917, as the Cunard Line ship Vesterlide,[1] a British-flagged ship sunk by German submarine U-55 in January 1918.[12] The final ship built was the 8,200 GRT tanker Swiftwind, completed in June 1921.[1]

31 Men Tackle City Wood Yards

Thirty-one men reported this morning for work in the municipal woodyard, located in the sheds of the old Northwestern Steel Company, foot of Sheridan Street. The yard was opened upon recommendation of the mayor's committee on unemployment to allow men who need board and lodging an opportunity to earn it without loss of self respect by begging.

Oregon Daily Journal, December 20, 1921

Ships

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Names in parentheses are original names, changed before the ship was launched, or in the case of War Baron changed shortly after launch. All requisitioned ships were cargo ships of 8,800dwt.

Yard# Owner Name Engine[a] Launched[b]
1 Shipping Controller Vesterlide (War Baron) 31 Mar 17
2 Shipping Controller[c] (Vesterlen) War Viceroy 2 Aug 17
Requisitioned by the USSB
Yard# Orig. Owner Name Engine Launched
3 (Hallgrim) West Wind GE 508nhp 4 Nov 17
4 Shipping Controller (War Archer) West Shore GE 508nhp 13 Jan 18
5 (Landaas) Westland GE 508nhp 14 Sep 17
6 Shipping Controller (War Ally) Westchester GE 508nhp 5 Dec 17
7 (War Pearl) Westhampton GE 8 Feb 18
8 (Umpqua) Western Wave DeLaval 579nhp 6 Mar 18
9 French Line (Joffre) Western Ocean GE 19 Mar 18
10 (Marne) Western Chief GE 508nhp 20 Apr 18
11 (Verdun) Western Spirit GE 6 May 18
12 (Pershing) Western Light GE 27 May 18
13 (Aisne) Western Maid DeLaval 594nhp 6 Jul 18
14 (Argonne) Western Comet DeLaval 23 Jul 18
15 (Somme) Western Scout DeLaval 12 Aug 18
16 (Meuse) West View DeLaval 26 Aug 18
USSB contract
Yard# USSB# Name Engine Launched
17 1073[d] West Kyska GE 7 Oct 18
18 1074 West Zeda 26 Oct 18
19 1075 West Wauna 9 Nov 18
20 1076 West Compo 27 Nov 18
21 1077 West Modus 21 Dec 18
22 1078 West Tacook 14 Jan 19
23 1079 West Togus 28 Jan 19
24 1080 West Nohno 12 Feb 19
25 1414[e] West Cherow 28 Feb 19
26 1415 West Celeron 17 Mar 19
27 1416 West Celina 28 Mar 19
28 1417 West Chaska / Deer Lodge 11 Apr 19
29 1418 West Chatala / Tripp 23 Apr 19
30 1419 West Chatala 3 May 19
31 1420 West Segovia 21 May 19
32 1421 West Cheswald 20 Jun 19
33 2368[f] West Raritan Vulcan 6 Aug 19
34 2369 West Pocasset Midwest 18 Aug 19
35 2370 West Saginaw 6 Sep 19
36 2371 West Jaffrey Fletcher 30 Sep 19
37 2372 West Joplin / J.R. Gordon HOR2
38 2373 West Minsi / Centaurus 17 Nov 19
39 2374 West Matas / Clauseus
n/a 2375 West Croswicks cancelled
2376 West Paramas
2377 West Bomoken
by Northwest Bridge & Iron
40 2865[g] Swiftsure HOR 15 Dec 20
41 2866 Swiftarrow 18 Jan 21
42 2867 Swiftstar 5 Feb 21
43 2868 Swiftscout 12 Mar 21
44 2869 Swifteagle 9 Apr 21
45 2870 Swiftlight
46 2871 Swiftwind
  1. ^ Midwest - Midwest Engineering Co., Indianapolis, 605nhp compound turbine
    • Vulcan - 605nhp compound turbine
    • GE - General Electric Co., Schenectady, NY, 576nhp-583nhp turbine
    • DeLaval - DeLaval Steam Turbine Co., Trenton, NJ, 676nhp turbine
    • HOR - Hooven-Owens-Rentschler, Hamilton, OH, triple expansion diameters 27.5-46-78, stroke 51
    • HOR2 - 3exp 24.5-41.5-72/48
  2. ^ See List of ship launches in 1917 etc. for references
  3. ^ Requisitioned and soon after released to original owner.[13]
  4. ^ Hulls 1073-1080: Design 1013 ship, USSB contract No. 157
  5. ^ Hulls 1414-1421: Design 1013 ship, USSB contract No. 217
  6. ^ Hulls 2368-2377: Design 1013 ship, USSB contract No. 458, 2372,2373,2374 finished privately after cancellation
  7. ^ 12,000dwt tanker

Buildings

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The Northwest Steel Co. was contracted to furnish structural steel for at least these buildings:

Contract Building Tonnage Ref
Nov 1910 Corbett Building 1,000 [14]
May 1912 Sandy River Bridge 119 [15]
Oct 1912 a building in Portland for the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. (see) 1,203 [16]
Jan 1913 Eagle Creek Bridge, Portland 300 [17]
Aug 1913 public dock No. 1 299 [18]
May 1914 Meier & Frank Building, Portland 3,500 [19]
July 1914 highway bridges at Astoria 101 [20]
May 1915 Coliseum building, Seattle 404 [21]
June 1915 First National Bank Building, Portland 340 [22]
May 1916 two 400-foot wireless towers for the U.S. Government in Keyport 233 [23]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Colton 2010.
  2. ^ "Articles of Incorporation Filed". Morning Oregonian. 24 August 1903. p. 10.
  3. ^ "New Business - Oregon". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 53, no. 3. 17 July 1913. p. 142.
  4. ^ "New Business - Oregon". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 53, no. 7. 14 August 1913. p. 310.
  5. ^ "New Business - Oregon". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 53, no. 19. 6 November 1913. p. 865.
  6. ^ "A Modern Steel Shipyard". Pacific Marine Review. May 1918. p. 82.
  7. ^ "Up and Down the Pacific Coast". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 62, no. 19. 9 May 1918. p. 1218.
  8. ^ "Tool Builders Rear War Machine". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 63, no. 1. 4 July 1918. p. 53.
  9. ^ "Here and There in Industry". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 64, no. 8. 20 February 1919. p. 526.
  10. ^ "Business Changes Recently Announced by the Trade". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 66, no. 3. 15 January 1920. p. 260.
  11. ^ a b MacColl 1979, p. 29.
  12. ^ Helgason.
  13. ^ "P.M. Expects to Break Records on Wireless". San Francisco Call. 21 September 1917. p. 16.
  14. ^ "World's Iron Markets". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 47, no. 21. 24 November 1910. p. 941.
  15. ^ "Chicago". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 50, no. 19. 9 May 1912. p. 988.
  16. ^ "Chicago". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 51, no. 16. 17 October 1912. p. 707.
  17. ^ "Chicago". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 52, no. 4. 23 January 1913. p. 233.
  18. ^ "Structural Contracts Awarded". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 53, no. 8. 21 August 1913. p. 324.
  19. ^ "Steel Contracts Awarded". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 54, no. 22. 28 May 1914. p. 943.
  20. ^ "Contracts Awarded". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 55, no. 1. 2 July 1914. p. 10.
  21. ^ "Contracts Awarded". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 56, no. 20. 20 May 1915. p. 1001.
  22. ^ "Contracts Awarded". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 56, no. 25. 24 June 1915. p. 1295.
  23. ^ "Contracts Awarded". Iron Trade Review. Vol. 58, no. 19. 11 May 1916. p. 1027.

Bibliography

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