On the Waterfront - the Thea Foss Waterway, Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma and the Foss Waterway (from the United States Environmental Protection Agency)

 Port of Tacoma from Standard and Chevron Roadmap, ca. 1947 (from History Link Essay 5150)

The Thea Foss Waterway, formerly the City Waterway, is an inlet that extends south from Commencement Bay. It separates downtown Tacoma (on the west) from the Port of Tacoma. The waterway is partly man-made.* In 1902, the US Army Corps of Engineers dredged an existing inlet to a width of 500 ft and extended it south, making it suitable for wheat freighters. The waterway is now named after Thea Foss, who founded the Foss Maritime Company on the inlet in 1889.

The Port of Tacoma had a long industrial and shipping history. As summarized by the Environmental Protection Agency:

Site History, Contamination and Remediation

The Thea Foss Waterway is the westernmost of five waterways that make up Commencement Bay’s industrial waterfront, and is located next to downtown Tacoma. Starting in the late 1800s, the area supported shipbuilding, oil refining, chemical manufacturing and other industries, as well as the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Northern Pacific owned much of Commencement Bay’s south shore, and created the Thea Foss Waterway by damming one arm of the Puyallup River.

Over time, industrial activities contributed to the contamination of soil, groundwater and bay sediment with heavy metals, phthalates, petroleum-based products, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and pesticides. Stormwater also contributed to sediment contamination; much of Tacoma’s urban drainage pours into the Thea Foss Waterway.

In the early 1980s, Ecology identified sediment contamination in Commencement Bay and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers studied the area. In 1983, EPA added the Commencement Bay Near Shore/Tide Flats site to the Superfund program’s National Priorities List (NPL); it was one of the program’s first sites. Encompassing 10 to 12 square miles of shallow water and land, and involving over a million cubic yards of contaminated sediments, it was also one of the program’s first mega-sites. The Thea Foss Waterway contains three of the enormous site’s eight contaminated sediment problem areas, which make up one of its four project areas.

During my previous life at the University of Washington, Tacoma was still a heavy industry city. When the wind blew from the south, "Aroma of Tacoma" reached all the way to the U District in Seattle. Yum.

The City of Tacoma coordinated with Tribes and bought abandoned properties along the shore, partly funded clean-up, and rebuilt shore protection. I never worked professionally on any marine sediments in Tacoma and know very little about this monumental clean-up effort. To a casual visitor today, the waterfront is quite inviting. But there is still industry and railroad infrastructure, so just my type of photographic subject matter. This time, we will look at the waterway and some of the adjacent area. (Click any picture to expand it and see details.)

Foss Waterway looking south towards the 11th Street bridge from the Foss Waterway Seaport (Tri-X film, Fuji GW690II camera with 90mm lens)

11th Street bridge view north from the Public Esplanade (T400CN film, Leica IIIC, 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens, yellow filter)

The 11th Street bridge, also known as the Murray Morgan Bridge, opened in 1913. In 2013, the City of Tacoma revitalized and restored this historic crossing of the Foss Waterway. 

Repair sheds, photograph looking east from 1199 Dock Street (T400CN film, Leica IIIC)

East 21st Street Bridge from Dock Street Extension (Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II camera)

The handsome cable-stayed bridge opened in January of 1997. It dominates the skyline over the Foss Waterway. 

Downtown Tacoma and the south end of the Foss Waterway

East D Street, view north from East 11th Street overpass (Tri-X 400 film)

East 11 Street overpass

Holding on for the ride, East D Street

I set up my tripod and a locomotive trundled along down the middle of the street. I like interesting  places like this. 

Steel warehouses, East F Street (Tri-X film Guji GW690II camera)

Dear Readers, you know where this is going. I often ask this question. What to do after a day of wandering around the harbor and taking photographs?

Salmon BLT sandwich at Fish Peddler

Why, it is obvious. Drop in at Fish Peddler right on the Foss Waterway for a salmon bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. Wash it down with a local IPA. I really like Tacoma...... 

The black and white photographs are from Kodak Panatomic-X or Tri-X film. I used my Texas Leica, the Fuji GW690II rangefinder camera. Its 90mm ƒ/3.5 5-element lens is superb, easily the equal of the Zeiss lenses for the Hasselblad camera. And this Fuji has a larger negative, resulting in an amazing amount of image data on each frame.  

Footnote

* This is another example of how many coastal features that we now see in the USA are partly man-made or were greatly modified by construction or alteration of the local and upland environment (such as dams on rivers). Many parts of our coasts are not "natural," especially near coastal inlets and urban areas. Even remote shores have changed because of dams on rivers trapping sediment. 

Into the Woods Again: Squaxin Park in the Snow (Oly 13)

Near the Squaxin Park trailhead (off Flora Vista Dr NE) 

It is summer in Olympia. The days can be hot (90º deg. F), but the nights are cool. Compared to my previous homes in Vicksburg, Houston, Athens, Karachi, and Rangoon, summer here is a delight. Still, let's cool off with some memories of the February 25 snowfall. This was the second snow of the 2023-2024 winter, and it was too good to resist. I drove to Squaxin (formerly Priest Point) Park with my tripod and Hasselblad and broke out a roll of Kodak's famous Panatomic-X. It is a slow film (EI = 25) and may not be the best choice for a gloomy afternoon under dense trees, but with a tripod, you can use as slow as shutter speed as needed. Most of these snow scenes were ½ or 1 second exposures. (Warning: no urban decay here, just "pretty" pictures.)

Looks like a furry chapeau on a stump

Heading home, time for a coffee

The Hasselblad works reasonably well in cold weather. I can use the controls with thin gloves. Loading a film back in the snow would be frustrating, so if in doubt, load a spare one in advance. For the pictures above, I used 50mm, 80mm, and 100mm Zeiss lenses, all with no filters. Praus Productions in Rochester, New York, developed the film.

I hope you all enjoyed this quick visit to winter.

Remembering the Mist (Oly 12)

Summer in Olympia is spectacular. Day after day of cool nights, warm mornings, and warm-hot late afternoons. The humidity is low, especially compared to when I previously lived. We had one or two days of 100º F temperature here, but that passed, and since then, the temperatures have been more benign. Some mornings are overcast, but the clouds burn off, and the sky is blazing blue. When I see news reports that much of the US south and southwest is under extreme heat advisories, I am glad to be in the Northwest. 

But after week after week of sunshine, do you want to remember the mist and fog of winter? Let's try with these random January and February views around town.

  

Seldom-used rail line to Port of Olympia, next to Dancing Goats Coffee (Jan. 20, 2024)

This is the track that comes down Jefferson Street and then makes some minor changes as it heads north to the Port. I think it has not been active for some time because the rails are rusty in stretches where cars do not drive over it. But a Port of Olympia manager told me that this line is officially still in operation.  

 

Awaiting tender loving care at Swantown Boatworks

East Bay pilings

Pilings, south end of East Bay

East Bay Drive NE view west

512 East Bay Drive NE. There are some other black-painted houses around the city. 

View from the balcony - Swantown Marina and Port of Olympia

When the sun bursts through in early spring, the light is magical here. The woods glow.

Chehalis Western trail near Woodard Bay

What to do after a long walk exploring and photographing and you need a snack? Go to Bread Peddler for a Café au Lait, a croissant, and some Édith Piaf (aka. "La Môme Piaf"). And I asked: they use butter imported from France.

The Bread Peddler, 222 Capitol Way N. 

I took these photographs with my Fuji X-E1 digital camera with various lenses. I set the aspect ration to square to resemble Rolleiflex frames, and usually use the Astia film simulation. The RAW file contains the complete frame, but I rarely now reprocess the RAW file with Photo Ninja or other software. The jpeg files from this little Fuji usually look fine and are as good as I could achieve fooling around with various software packages. 

Down in the Alley* (in Olympia) (Oly 11)

View east from Colombia St. NW (40mm ƒ/4 Distagon Lens)

Some streets in downtown Olympia have alleys that run behind the commercial buildings. The alley gives access to loading doors, dumpsters, maybe the sewer. Some of the older housing neighborhoods, like Bigelow and South Capital, also have alleys. The latter are handy for utilities, trash cans, and, sometimes, access to garages. They are a bit boring, so I will concentrate on the city.

Between 4th and State Avenues, an alley runs east-west for about one km. The west end is pretty interesting with art works and some graffiti. This was too good to resist, and on an overcast April day, I took a walk with my Hasselblad and Fuji NPS 160 film. This was also a chance to use my new/old 40mm Distagon wide angle lens in tight quarters. 

Something is fishy at the rear door of Old School Pizza, 108 Franklin Street (40mm Distagon lens)

Walk east for a block, and there is more good stuff.

Loading dock of 312 4th Avenue (40mm Distagon lens). There was probably a hoist once in the apex of the overhang.

Turn 180º, and a carpentry shop has a door that leads to the alley.

Carpenter shop door with shiny new paint - already decorated (40mm Distagon lens)

Rear of 308 4th Avenue (100 mm ƒ/3.5 Planar lens)

Parking lot off State Avenue

Empty lots like this once had industrial or commercial buildings. Maybe a local reader can remember what once stood here. Some lots are empty because pollutet soil has been capped, but I do not know if that is the issue here.

View north to Billy Frank Jr. Place (318 State Avenue) (40mm Distagon lens)

I will show more alley pictures soon. 

215 Thurston Avenue (100mm ƒ/3.5 Planar lens, 1/30 ƒ/8.0)

Two blocks north is this interesting door. Some of you readers may remember it from a 35mm frame that I took with T400CN film.  

7th Avenue tunnel (100mm ƒ/3.5 Planar lens)

This is not quite an alley, but rather the grungy 7th Avenue railroad tunnel. An occasional train with petroleum tank cars trundles through here heading for an industrial area in west Tumwater. 

I took these photographs with my Hasselblad 501 CM camera using Fuji NPS 160 film. This was my last roll, and it is no longer available. Photoland at The Evergreen State College developed the film. 

* With apologies to Elvis Presley, who recorded Down in the Alley on May 25, 1966 on Spinout Records. The lyrics are not pertinent to my article, just the title.