Northport, Washington — Smelter Made It Hard to Grow a Tree

Northport grew as American railroads connected with mining districts around Rossland, British Columbia.

Ore crossed the border, and a large smelter developed above the Columbia.

The industry employed hundreds.

It also produced an extraordinary amount of pollution.

Roasting and smelting released fumes and metals that damaged vegetation around town, undermining hopes for orchards and other agriculture.

Closures, labor disputes and changing mining economics repeatedly destabilized Northport before the major smelting era ended in the early twentieth century.

The community survived beside the Columbia with a footprint much smaller than its industrial history suggests.

The smelter made Northport boom.

It also made growing a tree unnecessarily difficult.