Then and Now: The Klondike Gold Rush, WWI and Kirkland's Woolen Mill

Peter Kirk’s vision for a great steel mill in Kirkland came crashing down during the early 1890s, but lesser known mills were built around the same time that helped fuel the growing little city’s economy.

On the shore of Lake Washington a shingle mill and a sawmill turned abundant local red cedar and Douglas fir into high-quality lumber. Nearby, somewhere just north today’s , a woolen mill was built that would play a key role in the larger history of the Pacific Northwest and the nation.

Fired up in 1892, it was the first woolen mill in Washington state. Using the lake’s clean water, it made fine woolen fabrics that were turned into garments by C.C. Filson -- a Seattle company that still exists -- that went north during the Klondike gold rush (1896-99). Later, wool from the mill went to Europe with American soldiers during World War I.

Thomas Eyanson and his son Edward Eyanson moved their mill in Indiana at the urging of Kirk partner Leigh Hunt, building the Seattle Woolen Mill at the foot of Fourth Street West. It was built on pilings and used the lake’s clean water in various processes -- reportedly turning the lake around the mill various shades of whatever color it happened to be dying the wool at a given time.

Two books flesh out the mill’s story: Our Foundering Fathers by the late Arlene Ely and Matt McCauley’s A Look to the Past: Kirkland.

The large wooden building had separate areas for carding, spinning and dressing, fluffing and scouring, weaving and finishing, dyeing and drying. C.C Filson sold mackinaws and other garments made with wool from the mill from his Seattle store, which specialized in supplying items needed by those headed to Alaska during the gold rush.

In 1915, Eyanson sold the mill to George Matzen, who had been operating a smaller mill in Seattle. He moved his operation to Kirkland and the structure became the Matzen Woolen Mill, employing dozens of Kirkland residents. Matzen increased production during World War I, with a peak monthly payroll of $30,000 and anywhere from 150 to 250 employees.

In the 1920s Matzen invested in new machinery and the mill was considered one of the most modern in the country. A fire in 1924 or '25 destroyed the mill, but Matzen rebuilt it as a much more modern structure with two stories. A second fire in 1935 sealed the mill’s fate.

Exactly where the mill stood is a matter of debate. Some say just north of today’s Marina Park and some say more to the north, where Fourth Street would end if it reached the lake, which it might have at one time, but not today.

The “now” photo was thus taken somewhere between those two points, but close to each, at the tiny on the lake. Today the mill site is undoubtedly the location of one or more very expensive lakefront homes.