King of Potato Chips
Marko
Narancich, who, as a young man, came to the United States from the depressed
homeland of Croatia in the district of Lika, changed his name to make it more
"Americanized". The name he chose, Marcus Nalley, has become famous
in the food products business throughout the Northwest. The business he
founded, though now part of a multi-national company, still bears his name. In
1903, when he was thirteen years old, Nalley followed his older brothers to the
United States. "'I arrived in New York with fifteen cents in my pocket. I
couldn't speak a word of English,' he once reminisced. Nalley traveled to
Montana where his brothers worked in the copper mines. In Butte, he worked as a
cook. He began frying potatoes and bagging and selling them for five cents. His
companions laughed at him, but he said, "You wait and see, these potatoes
are going to make me a lot of money," and they did. From Butte, he moved
to Anaconda and worked as a meat packer. It was his first exposure to the world
of business. "I learned to cut meat, but best of all, I learned how to
figure. From cutting meat to preparing food was a natural step. In Chicago, he
worked in a hotel as a dishwasher, bus boy, fry cook, pantryman, and chef. In
1913, he was made chef on the first "Olympian" on the Milwaukee Road,
running between Chicago and Tacoma. He felt at home in the Pacific Northwest,
so he left the railroad to follow his profession here. At the old Bonneville
Hotel in Tacoma, as a master chef, he became a specialist in making a new
potato delicacy: Saratoga Chips. Nalley borrowed money and bought hand-operated
equipment for peeling, slicing, and frying the potato slices. In his apartment
kitchen, he made and packaged them. He delivered them to grocery stores and
door to door. As the demand increased, the business grew. He was a pioneer in
the now multi-million dollar potato chip industry. The Boss', as we called him,
worked the hardest and the longest hours. He would get up at four o'clock in
the morning, start the factory running, load a delivery truck and spend the
long day selling and delivering his products. He worried the most, too, as
bills seemed to mount faster than revenues." Problems with keeping quality
in the packaged food abounded, but Nalley' rose to the challenge, and thus his
business grew. In 1941, the first plant was opened in "Nalley
Valley". It had expanded to several plants and office headquarters, and
eventually was sold to a national firm. Nalley's products became one of the
largest food businesses in the state. "Uncle Mark", as he was best
known to his many friends, was a warm and generous man. He loved life and he
loved people. He was an avid conservationist and was state chairman for Ducks
Unlimited, a fund raising organization devoted to the restoration of wildfowl
breeding grounds in Canada. He served for many years as a state game
commissioner. Marcus Nalley, who died in 1962, was a respected citizen who
helped his fellow man. The Tacoma Chamber of Commerce, in 1931, named him
"First Citizen of Tacoma". The Pierce County Board of Commissioners,
just a few months before his death, presented him with its "Outstanding
Naturalized Citizen Award". The state of Washington has benefitted from
the talent, ambition, and perseverance of this Croatian immigrant.
Adam
S. Eterovich