The Dream of a Mountain Railroad
Proponents argue that a narrow-gage line over the Cascades would spark an economic boom for Seattle and the Yakima Valley.
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.
Since the announcement of the agreement between the Union and Northern Pacifics and the O.R. & N. Co., the citizens of Walla Walla have begun to talk about a railroad to Seattle. It is evident, by what railroads have done for this and other countries, that the proposed road would prove of almost incalculable benefit to the country along its route and at both of its ends. It would stimulate Walla Walla and Seattle to renewed and rapid growth; it would ensure the rapid settlement and development of the Yakima country, a section abounding in good farming land and rich in timber and minerals. In 1874, Thos. B. Morris, a civil engineer of note, made a preliminary survey for the route. He estimated the total cost of a narrow-gage railroad from Seattle to Walla Walla, through the Snoqualmie Pass, at $4,186,910. As rails are now selling for $40 per ton, and as all other railroad material is proportionately cheaper, it is very probable that a narrow-gage road could now be built and equipped between Walla Walla and Seattle for $3,500,000.
“It would stimulate Walla Walla and Seattle to renewed and rapid growth; it would ensure the rapid settlement and development of the Yakima country.”
The quest for a reliable cross-Cascades link defined Seattle’s 19th-century ambitions, eventually leading to the massive engineering projects that cemented the city's role as a regional hub. Today, discussions regarding high-speed rail or modernized I-90 corridors echo this Victorian-era obsession with conquering the mountains to link the Sound to Eastern Washington.
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