By Julie MacIntire Corey
Author and Journal contributor
A new exhibit about Limestone paints a clear picture of this industrial period in San Juan Islands’ history. The Museum of History and Industry is very proud of the exhibit’s ability to educate and entertain.
Limestone has always been part of the San Juan Islands archipelago. A belt of Limestone was discovered around and across the islands. It stretched from the northeast portion of Orcas Island to the northwest portion of San Juan Island, including other smaller islands. This Limestone was very pure. Moreover, its quality was unique.
Lime has many purposes: it can be added to steel and cement for buildings and roads and has many agricultural uses. It can be added to most crops for a better-quality harvest. From 1860 to 1935, San Juan Island Limestone was cultivated and processed at several farms, but the most significant production came from Roche Harbor, where lime became an export commodity. Mr. John McMillian was the owner then and started the Roche Harbor Lime Company. It had twelve working lime kilns; a few restored kilns still exist. Those kilns burned three to four cords of wood daily to cook the lime. On many island nights, you could look in the sky toward Roche Harbor and see a bright orange and red flame rising from the kiln’s smokestacks. In the early 1900s, Roche Harbor Lime Company. was the largest lime company west of Mississippi.
Harvesting the lime required a rugged, sturdy individual. Many Italians, Japanese, and Hawaiians came to the islands to work the many positions available, such as Breakers. A Breaker’s job was digging and hammering the lime out of the dirt. Powder Monkeys were the demolition experts. They knew how to use “Black Powder” (gunpowder) to blast the lime. The kiln laborers cooked the lime. Their job was to heat the lime to 1650 to 2000 degrees. Then, the dry lime was processed. These were all hardworking manual labor jobs.
The processed lime was stored and shipped in wood barrels made by hand, and the tradesmen were called Coppers. It took 17 staves (pieces of wood) to make one barrel. After the Coppers placed the staves, they added metal bands in 3 places to secure the barrel’s shape and sturdiness. Barrel makers were another crucial business in the limestone industry. Mr. McMillian built a railroad in Roche Harbor to move the processed lime from the kilns to the barrels and the storage area. The last step was placing the barrels on the ships to set sail for delivery. San Juan Limestone was regularly shipped to Hawaii, and several documented shipments were made to Chile. The San Juan Islands were on the international shipping maps.
The lime industry was an enormous undertaking for islanders. It required big ideas for a small community. It was reported that even the British Army ran island kilns for a while. All islanders worked together to make it succeed. For the complete story on Limestone cultivating visit the San Juan Historical Museum at 323 & 405 Price Street.
The exhibit was made possible by
Roche Harbor Resort, Rich Komen, Brent Snow, The Honeywell Charatible Fund of the Community Foundation. Boyd Pratt, Jenn Rigg, Peter Chan, Don Nixon, Fred Yockers, Charlie Sink, Kevin Loftus, Bobby Ross Construction, B’s Construction.
