[1] Atkins, along with two partners, owned a steam-driven pile driver that was leased for work throughout the Puget Sound region.

He helped clear land for the Territorial University campus in what is now the Metropolitan Tract in Downtown Seattle.

[2] Atkins partnered with William H. Shoudy, himself a future mayor, to operate a general store in modern-day Pioneer Square.

[1] Seattle was incorporated by the Washington Territorial Legislature on December 2, 1869, and Atkins was appointed its first mayor.

[2][3] He remained involved in civic affairs after his mayoral tenure,[2] later serving as sheriff of King County and as a regent of the Territorial University.