The $3 Switching Fee That Almost Sunk Seattle's Grain Warehouse

There now seems to be no doubt that the plan of a private concern with C. G. Austin at its head to build a grain warehouse at the foot of Battery Street will go through and building will probably be commenced in a few days, and that the talk of Northern Pacific discrimination against the city in the matter was premature.

Some days since the promoters of the scheme conceived the idea that the Northern Pacific Railroad Company would refuse to absorb a switching fee of $3 per car which the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern would charge for building a side track and handling cars on it, but now both the Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads have agreed to absorb the fee, and it is said that nothing now stands in the way of the ultimate success of the warehouse company.

J. M. Hannaford, general traffic manager of the Northern Pacific Railroad, who was in the city Monday, had a conference on that day with W. J. Jennings, general freight and passenger agent of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern road, concerning the affair. Later in the day he saw Senator W. C. Squire, who will build the warehouse and lease it to Mr. Austin and his partners for five years, E. O. Graves, treasurer of the proposed company, and M. Austin, and arranged the matter with them. Monday afternoon when Mr. Hannaford was seen by a Post-Intelligencer reporter he said:

"I have had an interview with all the parties concerned and I have little doubt that we can arrange matters perfectly satisfactorily so that the project can be pushed forward at once. We are very anxious to see the wheat market established in Seattle and will do all in our power to help it. Under the present management it is the desire to serve all cities located on Western terminals equally well."

Thus the whole matter seems to have been arranged to the satisfaction of both parties before Delegate Voigt introduced his resolution in the city council on Monday evening.