At Work in the Northwest

In honor of workers in the Northwest and just in time for Labor Day, there is a new photographic exhibit up in the Northwest Room. Titled “At Work in the Northwest,” it features images of miners, loggers, farmers, railroad workers and others doing their jobs. The photographs illustrate the tremendous growth in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries based on the extraction of the region’s natural resources. Lumber, mines, and agriculture formed the basis for the growth in this region. In addition, the ore, timber and grain had to be moved, creating thousands of jobs building and operating the railroads. The exhibit also includes men building dams - both by local irrigation districts and by workers on the Grand Coulee dam. It also has men and women doing other jobs, such as blacksmithing, operating stores, and one library worker.