The Fading Glory of Portland
Railroad expansion threatens to shift the center of Pacific Northwest shipping from the Columbia River to the Puget Sound.
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.
The announcement that the surveys have been completed, the plans, maps and estimates for the section of the Northern Pacific Railroad between Portland and Kalama finished and bids for its construction invited, naturally raises several important questions. Among them is the effect of the construction of the road on shipping. Every ship master who has crossed the Columbia bar knows that he runs a greater risk of losing life and fortune there than at any other bar in the world. Ship owners know that only vessels of small size can cross the Columbia bar at any stage of water. It is reasonable to suppose that on the completion of the Portland-Kalama link, shippers of grain will be offered such rates at New Tacoma by ship owners that they can pay the extra railroad charge to that point and make money by loading there. From the day that witnesses the driving of the last spike on the Portland-Kalama link, the glory and importance of Portland as a shipping point will begin to depart.
“From the day that witnesses the driving of the last spike on the Portland-Kalama link the glory and importance of Portland as a shipping point will begin to depart.”
This reflects the fierce turn-of-the-century competition between Pacific Northwest ports to capture the grain and resource trade. While Portland remained a major port, the construction of direct rail links to the deep-water harbors of Puget Sound fundamentally altered the economic geography of the region.
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