The Promised Railroad Remains a Work in Progress
Construction delays plague the crucial Cascade branch, pushing completion dates into 1884 as thousands of workers await the call.
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.
Work on the railroad goes right along, with all apparent speed, but slowly withal. Instead of being completed in 1882 as originally contemplated, and by the 1st of September, 1883, as anticipated later, nor by the 1st of November, as farther promised, it is not yet done, and will not be for a month, and probably will not be fully open for traffic before the 1st of January, 1884, or one year later than at first thought. The Cedar river road is building as rapidly as circumstances will permit, an immense force of men and animals being employed upon it. The indications are good that 1884 will find at least 2,000 men at work on the Cascade branch, in the two counties of King and Yakima.
“The indications are good that 1884 will find at least 2,000 men at work on the Cascade branch.”
The struggle to connect Seattle to the interior via rail defined the city’s early growth and its reliance on the Northern Pacific. Today, the debate over major regional infrastructure has shifted from track-laying to high-speed rail and light rail, but the recurring frustration with missed construction timelines remains a central feature of Seattle’s civic life.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.