The Iron Horse Approaches Seattle
Contractors accelerate the connection between the Puget Sound and the nation, employing hundreds to bridge the gap.
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 residents of Seattle have for a long time been seriously talking of what a metropolis that place would be when they should have direct railroad communication with the outside world. Now it seems that their fondest hopes are to be realized, and that by the first of July next, the shrill whistle of the engine will be a welcome sound to all residing in that prosperous port. Yesterday a reporter of the Post had an extended interview with a gentleman who is connected with Nounan & Co., the contractors for grading the road from Puyallup to Black River Junction, a distance of twenty-one miles. At that point, which is twelve miles from Seattle, they join the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad, which they are to widen to the standard railroad gauge of this country. These gentlemen now employ 700 Chinese laborers and 100 white men, paying the Chinese $1 per day and the white men $2. The section they are now going through is very wet, and the force is mainly engaged in driving piles, bridging and dredging. As soon as good weather comes on, the force will be doubled and work crowded to the utmost limit.
“By the first of July next, the shrill whistle of the engine will be a welcome sound to all residing in that prosperous port.”
The quest for physical connectivity defined Seattle's early growth, much like the modern regional debates over transit expansion. The labor dynamics mentioned—specifically the reliance on immigrant labor at vastly different wage scales—provide a sobering look at the racial and economic stratification that built the foundational infrastructure of the Pacific Northwest.
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