The Railway War on the Seattle Waterfront
A high-stakes legal standoff between competing rail lines leaves the Seattle waterfront in limbo, as judges scramble to halt construction near King Street.
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.
Judge Lichtenberg yesterday made a temporary settlement of the fight between the Columbia & Puget Sound and Seattle & Montana railways over the right-of-way at the intersection of King Street and Railroad Avenue. The Columbia & Puget Sound claims title to the land by right of occupancy for years and by putting improvements on it. The Seattle & Montana claims a right-of-way by a franchise granted it by the city. The suit in question was brought last year by the Seattle & Montana to enjoin the other road from an alleged encroachment on its right-of-way by laying track over it. The Stetson-Post Mill Company, through whose premises Railroad Avenue would run if produced, came in as intervenor to protect its rights and sought to enjoin track-laying by the Seattle & Montana. The court announced that it would grant the temporary injunction with leave to move for a dissolution at any time. The injunction was, however, to apply not only to the Columbia & Puget Sound but also to the Seattle & Montana to stop any farther work.
“The court announced that it would grant the temporary injunction with leave to move for a dissolution at any time.”
This 1892 industrial tug-of-war mirrors the modern Seattle conflict over rail, land use, and public right-of-way near the waterfront. Today's debates over the SODO industrial district and the shifting footprint of the transit grid echo the same territorial anxieties that once saw corporations filing injunctions against one another at King Street.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.