a consequence of the Viaduct's construction, on May 17, 1951,
Keeney sold his property to James Branson Simpson. The latter
was one of Seattles most colorful characters.
Seths father David, Simpson was a pioneer. He was also
a magnate in the fur trade: in 1924, he had founded Seattles
Arctic Fur Company.
Arctic went on to become "the largest [furriers] in the West."
Simpsons ascension occurred in an era when Seattles
fur market a quintessential Northwestern business
was the nations second largest. This was the age when
Alaskan pelts linked the Northwest to Paris and Simpsons
formula for success was "firsthand knowledge of all phases
of the complex fur business."
was born in Fairhaven (now Bellingham). He was the youngest
of seven children. His mother Henrietta hired out as a cook
and headed for the Klondike in 1888. "J. B." spent one year
in a Tacoma childrens home. But he then joined his mother
in Bennett, Alaska where she had established the towns
first bakery. Later, J. B. worked as a newsboy in Dawson,
until the family moved again to San Francisco, just in time
for its devastating earthquake.
teenage Simpson founded an "earthquake salvage" business which,
by the age of 16, he sold for $31,000. "Three weeks later,
I was broke," he recalled with embarrassment. The loss impelled
him North to Seattle where he helped with building the Washington
Hotel and the Moore Theater.
1919, "to collect on a bad debt," Simpson took half-interest
in a Seattle fur store. In 1924, he opened the Arctic Fur
Company, a shop at 1912 Third Avenue with a 15-foot wide frontage.
nine years later, Simpsons hard work had born rich fruit:
"Today," wrote the Seattle Times in 1929, "it [Arctic] has
the largest manufacturing plant exclusively making furs and
the largest fur store on the Pacific Coast. The plant and
store are in the Securities Building, 1900 Third Avenue, only
a few paces from the original location."
offers a stark contrast to the business views of Keeney and
Hagen. Like Beck, he was a "bottom-up" rather than a "top-down"
viewed his employees as colleagues, rather than as slaves.
He figured that, if they prospered, he would prosper with
pioneer's practices foreshadowed Seattles software industry.
For not only did Simpson run a profit-sharing scheme; he also
wooed his staff with shares of company stock. Arctic salespeople
worked on salaries, instead of on commission. The company's
designers were sent on trips back East, so fashions
could always stay up-to-date. (These trips were all-expenses-paid
excursions and the designers salaries were paid during
the stock options Simpson offered were considerable. As the
Seattle Times wrote about the firm: "Fifty
percent of the Arctic Fur Companys net profits are divided
among the employees in the form of stock. The bonuses so distributed
may be withdrawn in cash at stated intervals, but except in
rare instances, the employees are glad to retain this stock,
which yields handsome profits.
a man an interest in the business and you will get from him
something that a salary will not buy, said Mr. Simpson.
Our profit sharing system may be considered twenty years
ahead of the times in some quarters, but we find it pays."
ravings over Simpsons profits even have a modern ring:
1925 he did a $10,000 business. This year, only a college
generation later, indications are that the volume will be
a hundred times greater, or $1,000,000. Imagine an institution
increasing its output 10,000 per cent in such a short period