The Price of a New Route
A shipping agent's proposal for a new trade route to Priest Rapids is rejected by Yakima business leaders as an economic burden.
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.
It will be remembered we last week noticed the presence of an accredited agent of the O. R. & N. Co. in this county. The gentleman, Mr. D. B. Newcomb, came here for the purpose of inducing businessmen and farmers to ship their supplies to Priest Rapids, and thus open a shorter route of land travel to a near shipping point for the county. Mr. Newcomb was furnished by Mr. John Muir with a tariff of freight charges, which on an average would reach $25 per ton for freight delivered at the Rapids warehouse; charges and freight from the Rapids here would reach about $27 per ton in addition, making the total cost of transportation to this point $47. Under the present system our businessmen are only paying at the rate of $42 per ton. Hence, with the proposition as submitted by the company, there would be an additional burden imposed of $5 per ton, and therefore our businessmen are not in favor of it. The residents of Kittitas Valley are, however, more favorably located to derive advantage from the proposition.
“Under the present system our businessmen are only paying at the rate of $42 per ton. Hence, with the proposition... there would be an additional burden imposed of $5 per ton.”
This 1883 freight debate reflects the constant tension in Washington state's history regarding the cost of connecting interior production to global markets—a theme that remains central to Pacific Northwest logistics, from port expansions to transcontinental rail bottlenecks.
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