Everett

Once called the "City of Smokestacks," Everett has remained a solid industrial city through boom and bust. Like several other communities along Puget Sound, Everett grew on speculation that the Great Northern Railway would make this its West Coast terminus. Although it didn't happen, this is the point where Amtrak's Empire Builder line meets the Pacific coast. Founded on lumber, fishing and ore smelters, it is still an important industrial base for the region with a long list of most, best and biggest in the world of manufacturing. Weyerheuser established the world's largest lumber mill here in the early 1900s; Everett's industrial strength ...

Once called the "City of Smokestacks," Everett has remained a solid industrial city through boom and bust. Like several other communities along Puget Sound, Everett grew on speculation that the Great Northern Railway would make this its West Coast terminus. Although it didn't happen, this is the point where Amtrak's Empire Builder line meets the Pacific coast. Founded on lumber, fishing and ore smelters, it is still an important industrial base for the region with a long list of most, best and biggest in the world of manufacturing. Weyerheuser established the world's largest lumber mill here in the early 1900s; Everett's industrial strength once made it the nation's most unionized city; and Boeing Corporation boasts the world's largest building by volume, built for the construction of the 747 airliner. Tours of its Future of Flight Aviation Center are offered. Everett is also home to the U.S. Navy's most modern base and hosts the world's largest compost pile, where all the yard trimmings and kitchen leftovers of Seattle are turned into fertile earth. Visitors will find Everett a good base for some top notch whale and bird watching, as well as wetland habitat exploration.

About the Expert

Myra Ingmanson and Daniel C. Schechter worked together on various titles for Lonely Planet, particularly the Pacific Northwest and Mexico books. Together they coauthored chapters for Lonely Planet's Eastern Caribbean.