Seattle Citizens Broke Ground on Their Own Railroad
How Seattle’s local investment and grit built a railroad when the Northern Pacific chose Tacoma.
In 1873, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company sent a commission to select a western terminus. While Seattle possessed the finest harbor, the company looked to Commencement Bay in Tacoma. In response, a public meeting of citizens in King County resulted in $750,000 being subscribed for the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad to ensure connectivity. By May 1, 1874, citizens turned out to break ground themselves, working until their hands were blistered to lay the first mile and a half. The road was later completed to Newcastle in February 1878, and by 1883, the expanded Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad became a vital engine for local coal trade.
“Many persons who had never used any kind of a pick and shovel except a toothpick and fire shovel turned out and worked right manfully until their hands were blistered.”
The story of Seattle fighting for its own infrastructure after being bypassed by national rail giants mirrors the city's long history of self-reliance—a theme that echoes today as Seattle debates modern transit and port expansion independent of federal or corporate whims.
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