In 1970 the Port of Seattle spent millions of dollars finishing and upgrading container terminals, airport projects, and new property acquisitions to support what is a major contributor to regional economic growth. Seattle's grain exports were moved at the time to the $15 million Pier 86 Grain Facility in the Interbay neighborhood. This property replaced the Port’s Hanford Street Grain terminal, opened in 1915 along the Duwamish East Waterway, in what is now the SoDo neighborhood.

In this image longshoreman Tim Russell spreads a load of corn bound for Asia on the bulk cargo ship "Dubhe" at Pier 86. During the first three months of 1988, 13 ships took more than 363,175 metric tons of corn from Pier 86, earning the Port $411,000, compared to seven ships and 174,841 tons for the same period in 1987.

Caption information source: http://www.portseattle.org/About/History/Pages/1970-1979.aspx
Caption information source: "Port of Seattle commissioners meet for the first time on September 12, 1911," by Kit Oldham, HistoryLink.org Essay 9726
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.