I was looking back and decided that It would be beneficial to post a short history of industry in Hoquiam and Aberdeen, with links to more in depth histories at the bottom so as to better understand some of the confines by which my poetry was crafted.

Hoquiam and Aberdeen are two small towns located in Grays Harbor County, WA. The predominant industry of the area has been that of Timber. As of recent years, with new forestry laws, the logging industry has suffered a massive decline in the area. With the closing of Weyerhaeuser (the most prominent lumber mill in the area) the over all prosperity of the area headed for a steep decline as unemployment rates on the harbor soared. Though this was not the first bust within the last decade or so. Lamb industries had closed it’s door just a few years before Weyerhaeuser, leaving a lot of machinists and other such laborers to be without job. Some found a temporary home at Weyerhaeuser, just to end up in the same predicament all over again. A few years after Weyerhaeuser closed, the paper mill eventually followed, leaving many more with out jobs. It has only been in the past two years that select parts of Weyerhaeuser and the Grays Harbor Paper Mill have been re-opened, but the damage to the area is already done. The jobless rate is sky high, and many people have long since left the area. It has pretty much become that those too poor to leave and those lucky enough to have a job that are left. Not many people actively choose to move here due to the lack of financial security that the harbor offers. It’s sad really, the area has so much potential.

I hope this helps a bit.

Links

photos from the slideshow pt1

Photos from the slideshow pt2

History of Hoquiam

History of Aberdeen

Weyerhaeuser Closes

More about Grays Harbor