Tugboats, Italian family style
A southern Italian immigrant family with deep roots along the Columbia River
I love uncovering an unusual occupation for an Italian family in the Pacific Northwest and I thought my readers might, too. I hope you will appreciate learning about the Brusco family and their company, Brusco Tug and Barge Company out of Longview, Washington. The Brusco family’s first big business venture was not water-based however, but firmly on the ground with a few brick-and-mortar grocery stores.
The patriarch, Julius Brusco (1887-1973), was born in Fagnano Castello, Cosenza, in Calabria, Italy to Pasquale and Concetta (Caricato) Brusco. In June 1902 at age 15, he immigrated to the United States and landed his first job as a fireman in a logging camp in Beaver Falls, Oregon. He was naturalized in September 1925, and in 1942, at age 55, he registered for the draft while working at the Columbia Stevedoring Company.
After leaving the camp, he acquired his first grocery store in Rainier, Oregon, and raised his family there, too. He and his wife Mary Rose (Amato) had 11 children: Louise, Helen, Michael, Woodrow, Robert, Henry, Dorine, Richard, Jack, Michael E., Ronald, and Roland.
Only their son Jack Brusco followed his father into the grocery business buying the old Gabrielson’s Grocery on the northside of Highway 30. However, through no fault of Jack’s, his store encountered various problems. First was a break-in on April 6th, 1968, where thieves stole $6000 in merchandise and personal property from his adjoining residence. Four years later on June 8, 1972, a fire ravished the store and was not rebuilt. Though Clark’s Confectionary had first opened in that location in 1923 and passed through many hands after that, Jack only owned the store from 1961-1972.
Outside of the grocery business, many Brusco men were drawn to the sea, both in terms of serving their country during the war as well as a business venture with Brusco Tug and Barge. In 1967, tugboat racing was introduced on the Columbia River as part of the Rainier Daze Festival.
The following year, the Julius Brusco, owned by Roland Brusco and captained by Mike Brusco, crossed the finish line in first place.
With the company operating out of Longview and Cathlamet, the Columbia River became not only a place for the Bruscos to race their various tugboats but a source of pride for many in the Brusco family.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb9a6a332-2b9e-4848-a2f0-3e0e1356db69_768x576.jpeg)
Roland (1923-2004) got his love of the sea from his time as a navigator aboard an air/sea rescue vessel and eventually attained the rank of Master Sergeant. Later, he began working on a tugboat for Wilbur J. Smith of Smith Tug and Barge. His enterprising spirit began in childhood, and later, he pioneered the art of raising sunken logs off the bottom of the river, perfecting a grapple that could raise them to the surface. He would then deliver these logs by strapping them to floating logs and towing them to paper mills along the Columbia River. This was later done by barge. Before the endangerment listing of the spotted owl, he was the largest commercial log dump operation in the history of the Columbia River. At one point, he owned Cottonwood Island with the dream of developing a major shipping port on the Columbia River.
Mike (1938-2014) was a tugboat captain on the Columbia for over 50 years and never retired. He was highly respected for his strong work ethic and knowledge of the river he loved.
Eddie Brusco and Francis “Primo”, Julius’ nephews, both served in the U.S. Navy during WWII in the Pacific Theater. Later, they worked for many years, as longshoremen for the Pacific Maritime Association and Brady Hamilton, respectively.
Currently, the company has an extensive fleet across seven major West Coast ports and continues to grow. For the last 50 years or so, the Pacific Northwest has been the center for tug construction on the West Coast, and Brusco Tug and Barge has been a big part of both the industry and the Brusco extended Italian American family. With more than 30 tugboats named for various family members, the Brusco name will continue to be a fixture along the Columbia River and beyond its shores.
You can find additional information about Italian Americans and their various occupations in my recently published book, ITALIANS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST (Arcadia Publishing).
Order now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s, and Bookshop.org.