and then ventured to Newark, New Jersey, Brooklyn, New York, Key West, Florida, Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana.
Felt who had moved it from Appletree Cove, near the present city of Kingston, Washington, to a new location at Port Madison, on Bainbridge Island.
Meigs enlarged and improved the mill and spent most of his time there, leaving the lumber yard in San Francisco to William H. Gawley.
By 1858, Meigs had developed a capacity at the mill of 15,000 board feet (35 m³) per day and it soon ranked with the principal lumber producing plants on Puget Sound.
Not until it was discovered that Douglas fir was durable if cut in the winter, seasoned and salted was any attempt made to construct ships of it.
Meigs weathered business depressions and other problems, including his partner's, William H. Gawley's, speculation with funds taken from the company.