As remnants of mill disappear, history buff keeps its story alive

The last vestiges of an old lumber mill that once sat on the shores of Lake Union are being removed from the lake, remnants of a bustling industry that helped rebuild the city after the great fire of 1879 that destroyed 20 buildings in Pioneer Square.

Magnolia resident Marta Brace, whose husband is the great-grandson of the mill's founder, John Stewart Brace, is trying to preserve a small slice of the history of Seattle and her family.

"I just don't want it to disappear. It's such a critical piece of Lake Union," said Brace. "I want the Brace heritage on South Lake Union for 100 years to be preserved."

To that end, she's been collecting reams of historical documents and someday may write a book.

Last year, an old shed was torn down, the sole remaining building on the lumber-company site.

And this month, the last of the pilings of the old mill are being pulled from the lake as part of a $1 million environmental cleanup program. Brace worries that with the pilings gone, any trace of the Brace mill will also disappear.

Karen Daubert, executive director of the Seattle Parks Foundation, said the Brace legacy will be an important part of a history trail planned for the new park.

"There will be little stations that talk about the important history along the lake, and the Brace mill is part of that," said Daubert. "It is a wonderful story, especially since the direct descendants live so close."

She said the mill was integral to the lake. Brace, as president of the Lake Washington Canal Association, was involved in the digging of the ship canal, which allowed the shipment of coal and logs from Lake Washington.

"That mill site was a little hub with spokes going out in all directions," said Daubert.

John Brace moved to Seattle in 1888 to join the Western Mill Company, started by D.T. Denny. When Denny went bankrupt in the financial panic of 1893, Brace leased the Western Mill under the name of JS Brace Company. With his partner Frank Hergert, it became the Brace and Hergert Mill Company.

Logs were cut in Snohomish County and dropped into north Lake Washington. Before the Ship Canal was dug, there was the tiny Montlake Cut, then called the "ditch," and logs were floated and poled through the narrow waterway. When the cut was later widened, tugs moved the logs to the Brace mill.

The original mill burned in 1909. Another mill was built on North Valley Street, with 100-foot pilings driven into the ground to support construction.

Brace died in 1918, one year after the opening of the Ship Canal that he helped build and before the SS Fonduca became the first oceangoing vessel to make it through the new canal to pick up lumber.

In 1921, the mill was sold to Stimson Lumber Company, then the site was sold to the U.S. Navy in 1937. Brace's children started the Brace Lumber Company on Valley Street on a parcel of the original property that the family kept. The store stayed in business until 1988.

The city took ownership of the old Brace property in 2000.

Marta Brace has been working with the University of Washington and the Museum of History & Industry to piece together a history of the Brace legacy on South Lake Union.

"It's my favorite hobby," she says of her interest in genealogy. "I've been collecting stuff for 20 years. I'm obsessed."

Todd Burley, a spokesman for the Seattle Parks Foundation, said the new park represents an amazing transformation of the site from its logging days.

"It is great to imagine that the same location that the Olmsted Brothers hoped for a park back in 1903, but which was already occupied by a lumber mill, will now be 12 acres of green space right in the center of the city," he said.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com