The Day Seattle Rode the Rails to Lake Union
In 1872, the completion of the Seattle Coal Company’s railway from the waterfront to the lake offered a thrilling, soot-stained excursion for a city eager to join the industrial age.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Last Friday was a gala day in Seattle. The occasion was the completion of the Seattle Coal Company's railway from the Bay to Lake Union. The old tramway had recently been leveled and graded, laid with T-rail and stocked with a locomotive and a large number of box cars. The length of this railway is one mile to Lake Union; there it is met by a steam-tug which takes in tow a large scow surmounted by a rail track, and conveys it three miles by water to the portage, where another railway of about a quarter of a mile connects with Lake Washington, where another tug conveys a railway scow eight miles to the landing where a connection is made with the coal mine. The cars loaded at the mine are thus conveyed, without breaking bulk, to the Company's wharf in this city, and dumped upon a slide either upon the wharf or directly into the hold of vessels for transportation.
When these improvements were completed, Mr. Densmore, the Superintendent, published a general invitation to the citizens to join in an opening excursion. The brass band was engaged, the new box cars were furnished with seats, and Mr. Densmore, Capt. True and all the employees of the Company were constantly on the alert to secure the safety and minister to the comfort of their guests. The invitation was responded to with a unanimity never before equaled. Trains were constantly plying between the city and Lake Union from 11 o'clock in the morning till 6 o'clock in the evening, during which by far the larger portion of the population had passed over the rail—many who had never ridden upon a railroad before, and a few who had witnessed the first railroad operations in the United States. An interesting incident was the attendance of the public schools; about one hundred and fifty scholars were in attendance, and while all were bubbling over with happiness, perfect order and decorum were maintained. But one untoward incident occurred: three men in a row boat carelessly attempting to cross the bow of the tug, while under way, were struck and capsized, causing intense excitement for a brief space, but all were rescued without material injury.
“This may seem a small affair to our readers in the old States, but to us who saw the first railroad operated upon this continent and have noted their subsequent progress, it excites as deep an interest as in any one who was never before within the sound of a locomotive whistle.”
This 1872 celebration highlights the city's early obsession with industrial logistics and connecting the waterfront to the interior, a pattern that defined Seattle’s development for decades. Today, the dream of transit—from light rail expansions to the ongoing challenges of moving people efficiently between our lakes and the Sound—remains the central pulse of civic life.
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