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The Puget Sound Power & Light
Company’s history began with Massachusetts-based Stone & Webster
Engineering Consulting Corporation’s acquisition of streetcar
and power company holdings in Seattle and the Puget Sound
region. In 1900, Stone & Webster’s newly created Seattle
Electric Company consolidated property and rights of small
privately-owned transportation and utility businesses including
Madison Street Cable Railway, Union Trunk Line, and Third Street
& Suburban Railway. Stone & Webster acquired West End & North
End Railway and Seattle Railway in 1901, and Seattle Central
Railway in 1902. With the formation of Seattle City Light in
1904, Stone & Webster became a major provider of electricity and
street lighting to Seattle. Its achievements continued with the
1908 formation of Pacific Coast Power Company (a subsidiary of
Seattle Electric Company), which established control over the
land and operations of the Tacoma Power Company, including
pending construction of a hydro-electric plant at White River.
In the same year, acquisition of Seattle Tacoma Power Company
provided access to property and assets of Charles Hinckley Baker
– including power plants at Snoqualmie Falls and electricity
distribution rights in Seattle and Tacoma.
In 1902, incorporation of the Whatcom County Railway & Light
Company marked the start of Puget Power’s domination of public
transportation and power systems in the City of Bellingham.
Whatcom County Railway & Light acquired the former interests of
the Whatcom-Fairhaven Gas and Northern Railway & Improvement
Companies. These companies themselves comprised earlier
consolidations of local rail and utility services: Fairhaven
Street Railway Company, Lake Whatcom Electric Street Railway
Company, Fairhaven Electric Light, Power & Motor Company,
Fairhaven & New Whatcom Railway Company, Bellingham Bay Electric
Street Railway, and Bellingham Bay Gas Company. In 1906, Whatcom
County Railway & Light Company expanded control over
distribution of gas, electricity and lighting in Bellingham
through acquisition of the utility holdings of Columbia
Improvement Society (previously owned by Bellingham Bay
Improvement Company), and a forty-year contract to supply power
in the City.
In 1901, Seattle Electric Company assumed
responsibility for financing and construction of the
Seattle-Tacoma Interurban, forming the subsidiary Puget Sound
Electric Railway to control and operate both interurban and
street railway interests in Seattle. The final stages of
interurban construction occurred in 1910-1912 with completion of
the Seattle-Everett Interurban Burlington line and construction
of the lines between Mount Vernon and Sedro-Woolley by
Bellingham-Skagit Railway Company. In January 1912, the newly
incorporated Puget Sound Traction, Light & Power Company merged
Bellingham-Skagit Railway and Seattle-Everett Interurban as
Pacific Northwest Traction Company, responsible for the
operation of several Puget Sound interurban railway lines.
Whatcom County Railway & Light reorganized as the Bellingham
Division of Puget Sound Traction, Light & Power Company. In
addition to their passenger lines, Puget Power provided freight
services to regional businesses and industries such as the
Renton coal-mines owned by Puget Sound Electric Railway.
As automobiles became more prevalent during the 1920s,
the company – reincorporated in 1919 as Puget Sound Power &
Light Company – had to respond to the gradual demise of the
railroad passenger industry. Subsidiary company Pacific
Northwest Traction offered bus services between Seattle and
Bellingham from 1925 onwards, while the Seattle Interurban Motor
Company provided services to Vancouver, British Columbia as
early as 1921. The various interurban rail and bus services
ultimately integrated as North Coast Lines in 1927, as use of
the railway interurban gradually declined and were disbanded
between 1928 and 1939. “Puget Power” increasingly focused its
interests on the distribution of power in the Puget Sound
region, divesting its railway interests, and stepping-up
acquisition of Washington utility companies. Despite involvement
in some major development projects (such as the construction of
transmission lines across the Cascades range in 1922), support
for municipal ownership forced Stone & Webster’s subsidiaries to
compete for increasingly limited property and distribution
rights. Puget Sound Power & Light faced increasing competition
and legal challenges from Washington State Public Utility
Districts, losing power distribution rights in Seattle and
Tacoma by 1930. These conflicts continued through the 1960s,
despite its 1943 restructuring as a Washington-based
corporation. In 1997, Puget Sound Power & Light merged with the
Seattle gas distributor, Washington Energy Company to form Puget
Sound Energy.
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