The Pacific Creosoting Plant/Wyckoff Facility was formerly one of the largest creosote plants in the world. Its products were used in major construction projects such as the Northern Pacific Railway and the Panama Canal. The plant has been a Superfund site since 1987 due to the extensive contamination of soils, groundwater, and sediment at the bottom of Eagle Harbor by the creosoting process over decades of operation.[1]

In the early twentieth century, rising wood prices and concerns about the depletion of forests led to a growth in the wood preservation industry in the Western United States. Thus, in 1905, the Perfection Pile Preserving Company opened a facility at Bill Point on Eagle Harbor. The town of “Creosote” soon developed beside the plant. Through much of the early twentieth century, the creosote plant was a major source of employment for Bainbridge Island residents and essential to the local economy. Products from the plant could be found in major construction projects in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Alaska, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.”[2]

Creosote is made from coal tar, a by-product of the steel-making process. “Seasoning” wood with creosote significantly enhances the longevity of buildings and structures, including marine structures. Early on, workers preserved poles and logs by wrapping them in burlap and asphalt. Later, however, more sophisticated processes were introduced that involved subjecting green wood to either a vacuum or extreme pressure in large cylindrical containers called retorts. The retorts at the Pacific Creosoting facility were the largest in the world.[3]

During the 1980s, investigations at the facility revealed that its wood preserving operations resulted in the release of creosote, pentachlorophenol, and fuel oil into the area's soil and groundwater.[4]

Today, clean-up of the site is ongoing. When complete, the site will be incorporated into a public park. Part of Pritchard Park has already been finished and houses the Japanese American Exclusion Memorial.

Credits and Sources:

Description by Madison Heslop on behalf of the American Society for Environmental History.

National Park Service, Department of the Interior. Historic American Engineering Record: Pacific Creosoting Plant (Wyckoff Facility), HAER No. WA-131. By Historical Research Associates. Report no. WA-131. N.p.: n.p., 1996. Accessed August 24, 2016. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/wa0606/.

United States Environmental Protection Agency. “EPA Superfund Program: WYCKOFF CO./EAGLE HARBOR.” EPA. Accessed August 24, 2016. https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=1000612.