Photography by E.J. Harris. Story by Carson Meacham.
Looking down Q Avenue in Anacortes, visitors and residents will sometimes see the green and white of a Washington State Ferry towering above their historic downtown. Other times, it’s a white and blue fish tender from British Columbia. Occasionally, it’s a steel frame, soon to become a yacht.
At the Dakota Creek Industries shipyard, located on the waterfront north of downtown Anacortes, hundreds of workers keep maritime traditions alive and well by building new vessels and repairing older ones. Loyal customers schedule their maintenance with the sought-after shipyard early, and Dakota Creek’s reservation calendar is fully booked two years out.
Jason Huffman is the repair superintendent at Dakota Creek, and he’s responsible for keeping the yard running in ship-shape. In his office across the street from the shipyard, he coordinates the work of departments like electrical, engineering, pipefitting, and more.
Jason is a fourth-generation Anacortes resident with deep roots in the working waterfront. His maternal grandfather spent his life as a commercial fisherman, working for Whitney Fidalgo Seafoods and Trident Seafoods. Both of his sons followed him into the fleet, but the hard life at sea left him determined that his grandchildren would have better opportunities. When Jason’s father married his mother—his grandfather’s only daughter—he chose a different path, becoming a pipefitter at Dakota Creek. That decision began a three-generation tradition of Huffmans at the hometown shipyard.
In his mid-20s, Jason joined his father on the waterfront at Dakota Creek, learning the pipefitting trade on the job. He joined as a laborer on the pipe crew, working alongside his father the pipefitter for a few years before his father retired.
Over the following decades, Jason would move through various roles and departments at Dakota Creek. From the pipefitters, he moved to the fabrication shop, to the machine shop, to the stockroom, to buying and estimating, and eventually worked his way up to the role of repair superintendent.
“You just slowly work through,” says Jason. “You learn and just keep learning, and learning, and learning, I think. And in this business, you never can know enough, because things change constantly, and there are things that you don’t ever do until you actually do them.”
Today, Jason’s son Nicholas works at Dakota Creek as well. He’s a machinist, responsible for repairing, maintaining, and fabricating metal parts and machinery used in the shipyard. Jason himself worked in the same department for about six years earlier in his career.
Jason says that most employees stay at Dakota Creek for at least 10 to 12 years. The company’s family-like atmosphere encourages experienced workers to train new generations, ensuring the waterfront’s continued operation. Jason has formed lifelong friendships on the job and even works with at least one friend from high school. He credits a nearby coworker, whose children also work for Dakota Creek, with teaching him everything he knows about managing repair jobs.
Dakota Creek started as a small shipyard in Blaine in 1975 and moved to Anacortes in 1977. In its 50 years of operation, Dakota Creek has witnessed many changes in Washington’s maritime industry, adapting with the needs of the community and the company. In the early years, Anacortes was a fishing port, with marinas full of small fishing boats. Today, those same marinas are instead home to sailboats and yachts.
Despite these shifts, the need for skilled marine services remains. Dakota Creek now works on vessels ranging from luxury pleasure crafts to high-tech research boats to the historic M.V. Coho ferry. Dakota Creek also repairs the 50+-year-old ships that make up the region’s fishing fleet. Jason highlights the Independence, a Trident Seafoods “fish factory” that carries 300 people. It has a riveted hull that requires complex and skilled inspections, as well as specialized repairs. Dakota Creek is one of the few facilities capable of those repairs.
Today, Dakota Creek is investing in the next generation of maritime workers to ensure its shipyard thrives for another 50 years. Their new apprenticeship program hopes to prepare many young people to enter maritime trades. Apprenticeships provide an alternative career pathway for many young people, offering an education, good pay, and benefits. In return, Dakota Creek receives loyal team members and skilled workers. “I came in as a young guy, and now I’m not the young guy, so we just got to teach the younger guys how to do it,” says Jason.
Seeing his own son among the younger workers brings the generational tradition and practice of apprenticeship full circle for Jason. While he enjoys seeing his son at work because it reminds him of the time he spent working with his own father, he’s also careful to separate parenting from management.
This project was made possible thanks to generous funding from the State of Washington Tourism’s Rural Tourism Marketing and Production Grant Program.