 Kirkland Steel Mill in 1892 King's Handbook of the United States (artist's depiction) | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Iron and steel production |
| Founded | Seattle, Washington, United States (August 18, 1888 Moss Bay America) or (June 1890 Great Western Iron and Steel) |
| Founder | Peter Kirk, Arthur A. Denny, Leigh S. J. Hunt, et al. |
| Defunct | June 19, 1895 |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Number of locations | Kirkland Steel Mill near Forbes Lake 47°41′02″N 122°10′41″W / 47.684°N 122.178°W |
The Great Western Iron and Steel Company was a company founded in the 1890s in Kirkland, Washington Territory by the city's namesake Peter Kirk to build an integrated smelter and steel mill to refine local ore into steel for rails and other purposes. If the enterprise had proceeded as Kirk and other investors envisioned, it would have held a "practical monopoly of the entire Pacific Coast" steel production.[1] But instead, the company went bankrupt in the Panic of 1893,[2] and the mostly-completed mill never produced any steel. A scholar in 1962 called it "the last major effort of private capital to erect an integrated iron and steel mill on the West Coast".[3]
- ^ Grant 1891, p. 315.
- ^ Lange 1999.
- ^ Sherrard 1962.