On Nov. 4, 1924, Jefferson County citizens voted to create the entity that runs the port. Business interests who saw Port Angeles coming to life were behind the push, but it took the citizens, who were agreeing to be taxed, to make it happen. There has been fairly intense stakeholder involvement in the port ever since.

It’s well-detailed in “Working Port: 100 years of the Port of Port Townsend,” by Scott Wilson. The book was commissioned by the Port of Port Townsend, which is also its publisher, to mark its centennial.

Chronicling a century of anything, much less something with as many moving parts and people as the Port of Port Townsend, is an ambitious undertaking. This one is an honest telling that includes highlights and achievements along with controversial periods, conflict between the Port and the city, quirky leaders, and intermittent clashes over the direction the port would take.

Wilson manages some port communications, including its quarterly publication, and took on Working Port as a standalone project. As the owner and publisher of The Leader for 30 years he came with decades of background. Telling accurate stories is in his DNA, but he said credit is also due Eron Berg, executive director of the port. Berg wanted a full story. That’s important, because it isn’t always the case when organizations tell their own stories.

Working Port took a lot of tedious historical reporting, including reviewing Port Commission minutes and resolutions. Wilson made regular visits to The Leader’s  offices to scrutinize archival records, as he did at the Port Townsend Historical Society. Also in the mix is material from Peninsula Daily News in Port Angeles, among other sources. 

As important as all that is, it’s the people that bring the book to life. He interviewed numerous people representing interests from all sides of the port.

The 191-page book is structured as a timeline, and many of the 12 chapters neatly cover specific periods, such as 1924-1926, 1927-1934, 1930s-1960s, 1960s-1981. But history isn’t always calendar-neat. To capture the history of Point Hudson, Wilson drills down on three boats, and the founding of the Wooden Boat Festival, which includes a time period 1960s to 1982.

Wilson’s chapter-headers promise creativity and then deliver. He takes on the conflict over development plans of Kah Tai with Chapter 6, “Fighter, mediator, engineer, banjo player: 1970-1992." Chapters that delve into change and conflict are Chapters 6 and 8. Chapter 8, which covers the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, entitled, “Those who went, those who came,” aptly looks at the growth of marine trades at Boat Haven.

The timeline builds to present day, chronicling the steady tension between the Port and the city, which Wilson digs into in Chapter 9, 2000-2020, “Building a Port, rebuilding public trust.” The last chapters are present-day, covering airport plans and Quilcene port and a look to the next 100 years. It’s a big future that includes fixed jetties, like the one being celebrated this week, prep for rising seas, and plans for the 253-acre Short Family Farm.

Wilson doesn’t overlook what didn’t happen. The final chapter is called, “The ones that got away.” It’s a review of all the facilities and ideas that were proposed that never came to pass. 

The forward, by Blaise Holly, owner of Haven Boatworks, sums up the book, the Port of Port Townsend, and Port Townsend itself:  “The Port is filled with people who want to be here working, and who have had enough of a taste of other lives and other places to know what a good thing it is to have a chance here.” The forward is entitled “Lightning in a bottle.”