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♪♪

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-Seattle is a city of stories;

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every building, every brick,
every person, a small

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part of that narrative--

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down to the mortar that
holds it all together.

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-There's a geologic
story, but there's also

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the story of economics.

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-Author David Williams is
talking about what binds

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the bricks of Pioneer
Square's historic buildings.

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-We are looking at the Pioneer
Building, which to me is

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one of the great buildings
in downtown Seattle.

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It combines some just
excellent elements of the

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city's story because it
comes in after the fire.

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-The Great Seattle Fire in
June of 1889 destroyed all

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of the Central Business
District in less than a day

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and led city leaders to
pass legislation requiring

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more fireproof materials
like brick and stone.

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-And in the Seattle area,
interesting, there is no good

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stone at the surface, so they
go elsewhere to find it.

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But what they also find
locally a lot of is clay.

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That clay gets mined
to make the bricks.

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So walk around downtown
Seattle, walk around

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where we are, right?

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So many of the buildings
are made of brick because

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that was the local material.

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-To supply this transition,
builders needed a source

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of lime for mortar.

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-This is the mortar.

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So basically between
all of the blocks.

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-And they found it
on San Juan Island;

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rich deposits of limestone
discovered decades earlier.

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- So this mortar is most
likely comes from Roche Harbor

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in the San Juans.

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That quarry site becomes
the major supplier of lime,

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or basically cement, into the
Seattle building industry

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right after the
great fire in 1889.

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And you see it everywhere.

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You see it in brick buildings,
you see it in sandstone

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buildings, you see it in granite buildings.
Wherever something has to be

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attached together, stone of
some sort, mortar will be here.

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♪♪

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-There are about 30 odd kilns
throughout San Juan County,

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scattered on all
the islands itself.

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-The trip to San Juan Island
feels worlds away from the

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towers of Seattle as
the ferry winds its

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way to Friday Harbor.

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But for decades, from
about 1860 to the 1920s,

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local historian Boyd Pratt
says lime production

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was big business on the island.

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- This is really one
of the most amazing

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industrial processes, is
the idea that you add heat

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to limestone in a kiln and
it changes it into lime.

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And the way they did it, it
was a continuous process.

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So the so-called raw limestone
was put up in that log

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hopper right there at
the top of the kilns.

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Midway there off to the
right, you'll see an

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arched steel doorway.

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And that was actually
the fireboxes.

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And the heat from those
fireboxes went up

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through the limestone
and actually converted

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the limestone into lime.

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They were running 24-7, and it
was an incredibly booming area.

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It was all this smoke
and noise and a full

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industrial town going on, and
it was the largest producer

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of lime in this region.

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-Now they sit surrounded
by the peaceful Roche

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Harbor Resort and Hotel de
Haro, a stark contrast.

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But these kilns helped build
the cities of the Northwest,

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because while they were remote,
the proximity to water made

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shipping the lime easier.

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[birds chirping]

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Other signs of the industry
remain to this day,

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including the name of the
Lime Kiln Lighthouse,

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popular for whale watching,
where a few hundred yards

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down the trail, you can still
see another of the old kilns.

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In that way, these islands
are forever linked

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to industrialization
in the Northwest.

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-I think what's amazing to
me is that these things

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have survived, you know,
that it was such an

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important part of history
that we still have these

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artifacts, if you will, and
you can walk among them.

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-But they are also a chapter
of a more global story.

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Fossils found in lime kiln
quarries have been linked to the

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western Pacific Ocean near
Asia about 248 million years

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ago, brought here by the
motion of plate tectonics.

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Limestone from thousands
of miles away deposited

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here for humans to
find and used to build

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these great cities.

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-It's about connection and
it's about connection to

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place and that's what I like.

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-After a time, the regional lime
trade faded as Portland cement

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became more popular in the U.S.

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But the mortar remains
for anyone willing to

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take a closer look as you
walk around the city.

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-It's a story.

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When I see this rock
and I see the mortar

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and I see the different
types, I see stories.

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I see stories of people, I see
stories of geology, and stories

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that stretch back millions
of years, but then also

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intersect with human
time because we've

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quarried them and brought them
into the built environment.

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So it's this great intersection
of time and place in a

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building like this for me.

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-A story about the world
we build and how the

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landscape shapes us, too.

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♪♪

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♪♪

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-Watch CityStream Tuesday
nights at 7

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on the Seattle Channel,

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or find us anytime online 
at SeattleChannel.org. 

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♪♪