The Great Northern's Secret Path Through Seattle

A scheme is being quietly worked in the interest of the Great Northern for the construction of a belt line through the eastern part of the city and by a tunnel under Beacon Hill to the terminal grounds on the tide flats. This line is projected as part of the Seattle & Northeastern, of which John Leary and Judge Thomas Burke are the fathers, and which is generally understood to be intended as a Great Northern cut-off. It would branch off from the proposed new line north of the portage between Lakes Washington and Union, cross the Washington outlet by a bridge and, after running along the lake shore for a short distance, would pass almost due south along the low draw which is crossed by the long trestle on the Madison street cable road. After crossing Jackson street it would swerve westward as far as the old McAleer ranch near the Hill brick yard and then would pass through Beacon hill by either a tunnel or an open cut to the terminal grounds on the tide flats. The route of this line is one suggested by Lieut. A. B. Wyckoff as a good one for a new railroad avenue, which would meet the many objections to the location of all the railroad tracks on the water front.