The Great Seattle Streetcar Consolidation

One of the biggest deals in the history of the city was practically closed yesterday. It involves the consolidation of all but one of the street railways running north and south through the city under the control of the Northwest Thomson-Houston Electric Company. The aggregate value of the lines included in the deal is about $3,000,000. There are now three parallel roads running north and south through the principal part of the city—the West Street & North End electric, the Front Street cable and the Consolidated electric—and the Rainier Power and Railway Company is extending its line from Lake Union down Third street. The Rainier avenue electric line runs from the foot of Washington street to South Sixteenth. But the four parallel lines are seriously competing with one another, and are operated at an expense which would be saved by consolidation. It is understood that an agreement was reached yesterday, so far as the electric lines are concerned, but the Front Street Cable Company refuses absolutely to go into the consolidation. The plans of the new company will likely involve operating all lines from one central power-house on Lake Union, near the Western mill, which would render current power-houses at Fifth and Pine streets and James and Broadway obsolete.