By JACK HOPKINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Local historian Wallie Funk's hands trace peaks and valleys in the air as he describes the history of his hometown, which took off on a rush of high hopes in the 1890s. Town boosters were certain the town would become Western Washington's major transcontinental railroad terminus. So were the speculators who rushed here to buy up land.

The town was platted out to be the size of Boston, and from January to mid-March 1890, the population of 200 increased to 2,000. "If the tide was in, people asked, 'Where's my land?'" Funk says. "If the tide was out, they were told, 'It's all yours.'"

Seattle, not Anacortes, got the railroad gig. And within three years, the former Magic City was deep in a depression.

The pattern of boom-and-bust is a familiar one in this town. Flagging timber and fish resources curtailed the bustling shingle mills, sawmills and fish canneries that dominated the shoreline early in the century.

When the Shell Oil refinery settled on March Point in 1953, the town was in dire straits. "We were on the verge of trying to create a plan to save the town when Shell arrived," Funk says.

He characterizes Anacortes as a town always waiting for the next boom, always batting around a rumor about a "huge" industry relocating here, always looking around that next corner.

"If you cup your hand to your ear, you'll still hear the railroads coming into Anacortes," Funk says.

Recently, city leaders cupping their hands to their ears have heard a decidedly softer sound than the chugging of steam-driven locomotives. It's the sound of laptops clacking.

"The high-tech industry is something we're going to be going after," says Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Andy Mayer.

Already, health software company SunSystems Inc. has set up base here with 100 employees. And the company is in final negotiations with the Port of Anacortes to build a facility that would employ 300 more.

City administrators describe such industries as a perfect fit. Salaries are high, environmental impact is low. And an influx of young families would keep the city growing.