Location: Percival Landing
Transportation; Local Register
Olympia Tug & Barge Co, Robert Esterly photo, ca. 1914, courtesy Washington State Historical Society |
Site of Olympia Tug & Barge at Percival Landing today (2014), photo by Deb Ross |
Arthur Weston founded the Olympia Tug & Barge Co in the early 20th century and in 1908 commissioned the Sand Man, which was used primarily to haul sand and gravel to locations throughout the Puget Sound. In about 1914, Weston expanded his business operations to found Olympia Sand and Gravel next door, creating a vertically integrated business structure that ran from extractive mining to hauling. Weston and others, including the Smyth, Anderson, and Willie families, were integral contributors to the industrial development of the port area as successive fills expanded to the north over the first two decades of the twentieth century. The photograph at above left may show Arthur Weston and his wife Carrie Forbes Weston, part of Robert Esterly’s series of early photographs of Olympia business owners. Today all that remains of Weston’s empire are the headquarters building for Olympia Sand and Gravel, just to the north of the Percival Landing sign in the above photograph, as well as the restored Sand Man vessel.
Just to the north of this site, at the approximate location of the Budd Bay Cafe (2024), was the Delta V. Smyth Tugs and Barges Company site. The site was recognized in 2023 and placed on the local heritage register, as an important contribution to the city and area’s maritime history.
Washington State Historical Society photograph (enter the following catalog numbers in Collections Search box) 2010.149.11.1
Delta V. Smyth Local Register nomination
Sources include Olympia Washington: A People’s History
Copyright © 2022 Deborah Ross