Pushing the Northern Pacific Through the Cascades
Contractors overcome swamp and tangled brush to advance the critical rail link between Puget Sound and the East.
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.
Word reaches this city from reliable sources that the contractors on the Cascade Division of the Northern Pacific are now pushing the work with all possible rapidity. Last week some delays were unavoidable in connection with the transportation of material up the White River to the scene of the work, but these difficulties have mainly been surmounted. The piling of the Stuck Swamp was completed entire some days ago, and several hundred workmen were removed farther north. The bridge frames on the Stuck have been making good progress, and by the transfer of large forces of men along the route to White and Black rivers, the grading and other features of track building are being vigorously pushed. The worst part of the road was in the Stuck Swamp. It had to be piled for the entire length, and as the country was new and presented a dense growth of brush and tangled wood for several miles, in addition to being the most swampy in the country, progress was quite slow for several weeks. Now that it is completed and a much larger part of the road has been brought into use, the contractors are able to accomplish much more. The Howe truss bridge at Puyallup is said to be one of the best in the country. The road will be finished and the cars running early in the fall.
“The worst part of the road was in the Stuck Swamp. It had to be piled for the entire length.”
The completion of this rail line was the 'boom' event that truly integrated Seattle into the national economy, cementing its role as a rail hub. Today, the infrastructure challenges of traversing the Cascades—though no longer done by piling over swamp—remain the physical definition of our regional isolation and connection.
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