If you haven’t yet had a chance, you may wish to read the previous posts in this series on “Push” and “Pull” factors in immigration and the impetus for Japanese citizens to emigrate from Japan in the first place. The next post is on the social factors driving people to sawmill towns. This post draws upon material published in my 2017 article in Archaeology in Washington.

The factors that attracted Japanese immigrants to the United States are well covered in other literature (e.g. Daniels 1998; Geiger 2011; Oharazeki 2016). Here, I am going to cover some of the factors that drew Issei to sawmill towns in particular. This material is a result of my attempt to synthesize published literature and oral testimonies regarding Issei and Nikkei on sawmill towns. These factors have as much to do with the unique nature of mill town experiences as they do with more traditional, wider factors, such as economic need.

That being said, the primary, but not sole, motivation for working in a sawmill town was economic gain, followed closely by the presence of a variety of non-economic amenities. Economically, sawmill towns consistently offered higher wages (for Issei, at least) than most other Pacific Northwestern (PNW) extractive industries, and the demand for lumber meant that owners were often in need of workers (Beda 2014)¹. Despite the fact that Issei typically earned 50 to 75 percent of what European-American workers earned, the logging and sawmill industry pre-1910 offered the potential to earn more money than other PNW industries (Table 1)². Only coal mining offered a higher range of wages than mill towns, and while some Issei took advantage of this, coal mining might have been a less desirable line of work; the activity may have have been considered “unclean” by some in Japanese culture (Dillingham 1910; Geiger 2011). As a result of this, by 1907 more than one in five Issei worked in the lumber industry, primarily in sawmill towns (Dubrow et al. 2002:11).

Government-gathered data on Issei wages has been difficult to come by for any period after 1910, but a number of oral testimonies point to the continuing economic benefit of the towns. Banzo Okada–who worked at the mill in National, Washington, during World War I–noted that at the time, sawmills paid more than railroads, and so workers left the latter for the former (Ito 1973:412). Several other workers reported leaving railroad work for the mills, presumably for similar reasons. Granted, economics was not the only reason to move from railroads to mills (Ito 1973:412). Some workers preferred the mills. This was partially due to the money, but also because they would not have to travel to remote locations, and would be able to live in one place (Ito 1973:412). Others worked at the mills because they liked the kind of work done there, or because they hated the work they were doing previously (Olson 1924a, 1924b). However, economics played a key role in most individuals’ decisions to go to a mill³. With the money they made, they could save to open their own business, send money back to Japan to their families, or spend it how they saw fit. This could entailed day trips to cities, or for some bachelors, spending their earnings on gaming, alcohol, and prostitutes that were brought to the towns by businessmen. During this second period of reported economic benefit, Issei appear to have achieved wage equality (Olson 1927), and so company towns offered a place where they achieve some economic equality with other Americans.

Notes

1. While information about actual wages is difficult to come by, we can paint a broad picture of the economic benefits of sawmill work by carefully combining oral testimonies and government reports. The lack of such information is due to issues of historical preservation, and the fact that many Issei were paid through a foreman or bookman, who distributed a lump sum of money given to them by management (Tanaka 1977).

2. These figures are based on a combination of Dillingham’s (1910) report and a report from the Japanese Association of the Pacific Northwest (JAPN). According to Dillingham, Issei wages ranged from $1.65 to $2.00 per day, whereas Euro-American wages ranged from $2.75 to $3.50. However, a 1907 report issued by the JAPN in Seattle (JAPN 1907), suggest that wages could reach as high as $2.75 per day. I have combined these data, though Dillingham is more commonly cited (e.g., Bowden and Larson 1997). Note that these numbers may mask variation in pay within towns. Tanaka (1977), drawing on payroll schedules from the Port Blakely Mill Company, argues that while Issei working inside the Port Blakely mills were paid less than their counterparts, common laborers working in the yards earned equal or slightly greater pay.

3. Of those in Ito’s work (1973) or in the Survey on Race Relations (Hoover Institution, n.d.) who actually reported on the reasons for going to or benefits from the mills (14), all but three reported money earned or saved as a factor.

Additional References

Dillingham, William
1910     Immigrants in Industries Part 25: Japanese and Other Immigrant Races in the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain States, Diversified Industries. Reports of the Immigration Commission, United States Senate, 61st Congress, 2nd Session.

Tanaka, Stefan Akio
1977     The Nikkei on Bainbridge Island, 1883-1942: A Study of Migration and Community Development. Master’s Thesis, Department of History, University of Washington, Seattle.