Person Page - 438

"The world instinctively pays homage to the man whose self-reliant nature and inherent force of character enable him to rise above his fellows, and of this type is Harry B. Sewall, whose broad experience has enabled him to direct successfully the many interests of the Puget Sound Power & Light Company of Bellingham, a corporation which has exerted a dynamic force in the development of northwestern Washington. His life has been devoted to the study of the public utilities, which have become almost as necessary as the daily food supply to the communities they serve.
Mr. Sewall is a native of Massachusetts, and he attended the Institute of Technology at Boston in the pursuit of his higher education. In 1899 he entered the employ of Stone & Webster and gradually worked his way through the various departments of the business, at length becoming manager of their interests in Whatcom and Skagit counties. In 1918 he was sent from Texas to this district, which comprises twenty-five cities and towns, and has since made his headquarters in Bellingham.
The Puget Sound Power & Light Company, of which Mr. Sewall is manager, is the outgrowth of the following corporations: The Whatcom County Railway & Light Company, the Fairhaven Street Railway Company, the Lake Whatcom Street Railway Company, the Fairhaven & New Whatcom Street Railway Company, the New Whatcom, Thompson & Houston Electric Company, the Bellingham Bay Electric Street Railway Company, the Northern Railway Improvement, the Bellingham Bay Improvement Company, the Fairhaven Electric Light, Power & Motor Company, the Bellingham Bay Gas Company and other properties. In May, 1891, the Fairhaven Street Railway Company was formed and in August of that year the Lake Whatcom line was promoted. The men responsible for these projects were Edward J. Cosgrove, J. E. Baker, Morris McCarty, C. J. Cook and Hugh Eldridge. The last named was elected president of the corporation and served until 1895, when he resigned. The lighting plant was started in 1888, and the Bellingham Bay Gas Company was organized June 9, 1890. The parent corporation is building the Baker River plant in Skagit county and one hundred thousand horse power will be distributed from this station.
A large percentage of the power used in the district is generated by the company, which has maintained a rural power line for a period of seventeen years. It serves several thousand homes in Whatcom county and has been one of the most potent forces in the development of the great poultry industry, which has brought prosperity to many residents of this section of the state. The company has led in the work of upbuilding the rural communities of Washington and its operations have been of inestimable value to the state. The corporation has over three thousand gas customers in Bellingham and furnishes light and power to more than twenty thousand patrons in the district which is comprised of Whatcom, Skagit and Island counties. It controls twenty-seven miles of street railway in Bellingham, and one of its auxiliaries, the Pacific Northwest Traction Company, operates trains hourly between Bellingham and Mount Vernon, Washington, maintaining express and freight service. The two companies have a combined payroll of over four hundred thousand dollars, and their taxes amount to seventy five thousand dollars per year, while their employes number over three hundred. The Puget Sound Power & Light Company maintains its own sales organization and that its bonds and preferred stock are regarded as safe and profitable investments is proven by the fact that the corporation has four hundred stockholders in Whatcom county. The main offices are located in a substantial three-story building at the corner of Elk and Holly streets in Bellingham, and the company also has a Union station, from which fifty-five automobile busses are operated.
To the many complex problems presented to him daily for solution Mr. Sewall brings the mental alertness, broad vision, business acumen and administrative power of the true executive, and his labors have been of far-reaching scope and importance and most beneficial in their results. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner and exemplifies in his life the beneficent teachings of the organization. He is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and also belongs to the Rotary, Country, Cougar and Kulshan Clubs of Bellingham, while his political support is given to the republican party".
Lottie Roeder Roth, The History of Whatcom County. Chicago: Pioneer Historical Publishing Company, 1926. Vol. 2. pp. 776-777.