The Port of Tacoma started out as a natural area comprised of tideflats that were relatively easy to modify to better serve human needs, as technology advanced, humans imposed dramatic changes to the natural landscape. These tideflats were slowly modified to stimulate economic growth, ultimately transforming this once natural area into a cyborg. Although the physical changes humans imposed on the environment are easy to see, a closer look reveals how the natural environment shaped human interactions within that environment as well as dictating the development of politics relating to the port.
Until the late 1800’s Commencement Bay was a highly biodiverse area of tideflats and lowland marshes, fed by freshwater streams, and surrounded by steep …show more content…
This mill is one of the first signs of Tacoma’s metamorphosis, as the mill harnessed the power of nature to reshape local trees into lumber for export. By 1871, Tacoma had become an international port, exporting lumber to France, and expanding to Australia the following year (Magden, 2008). When the Northern Pacific Railway, announced it would locate its terminus at Commencement Bay in 1873, transformation of Commencement Bay and the surrounding areas was greatly accelerated (Magden, 2008). As the first train pulled into (New) Tacoma in 1873, signs of transformation in the landscape were abundantly evident, the Northern Pacific had constructed a 350-foot wharf and a freight warehouse beside its half moon rail yard (Magden, 2008). The re-creation of this site by human manipulation resembles what Heynen et al. (2006) and Swyngedouw (2006) describe as a “second nature”, arguing that these alterations are not “unnatural”, but rather the nature of humans. The evidence of the contributions made by the environment were obvious in the timbers used to build the railway, the rails were likely created by a smelter similar to the one at Point Defiance,
Until the late 1800’s Commencement Bay was a highly biodiverse area of tideflats and lowland marshes, fed by freshwater streams, and surrounded by steep …show more content…
This mill is one of the first signs of Tacoma’s metamorphosis, as the mill harnessed the power of nature to reshape local trees into lumber for export. By 1871, Tacoma had become an international port, exporting lumber to France, and expanding to Australia the following year (Magden, 2008). When the Northern Pacific Railway, announced it would locate its terminus at Commencement Bay in 1873, transformation of Commencement Bay and the surrounding areas was greatly accelerated (Magden, 2008). As the first train pulled into (New) Tacoma in 1873, signs of transformation in the landscape were abundantly evident, the Northern Pacific had constructed a 350-foot wharf and a freight warehouse beside its half moon rail yard (Magden, 2008). The re-creation of this site by human manipulation resembles what Heynen et al. (2006) and Swyngedouw (2006) describe as a “second nature”, arguing that these alterations are not “unnatural”, but rather the nature of humans. The evidence of the contributions made by the environment were obvious in the timbers used to build the railway, the rails were likely created by a smelter similar to the one at Point Defiance,