When Western Mill was built in 1882 it was surrounded by stands of virgin Douglas fir and cedar. The mill worked around the clock to turn it all into lumber, and only a decade later the neighborhood is practically void of trees. Most likely many of the homes that dapple this landscape were built from the trees that once stood here.

The street in the foreground is Dexter. Beyond it is the trolley trestle bound for Fremont that was built over the lake north from the mill in 1890. Its name, Rollins, was changed to Westlake not long after Warner captured it. This side of Westlake — the lake's extreme southwest corner — was a popular summer swimming hole until it was turned into one of the city's many dumps and filled in with garbage and construction waste in the late teens. Once-landlocked Westlake was soon widened and paved.

Beyond the Westlake trestle is a millpond littered with logs. A distinguished line of vessels has taken up residence recently, including ships stationed here after the Naval Armory was completed in 1941. Eventually the last of our "Mosquito Fleet" steamers, the recently restored Virginia V, will bob in these waters as one of the main attractions of the new Marine Center that is rejuvenating the old armory.