The Broken Promises of the Northern Pacific
A scathing editorial accuses the railroad giant of land-grab schemes and consistent bad faith toward the people of Washington Territory.
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.
The Republican convention has demanded the forfeiture of all land grants that have lapsed due to non-compliance. This is the weakest plank in their platform, leaving loopholes for railroad interests to exploit. Even under these conditions, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company could not claim an acre of land if the law were enforced, as they have never acted in good faith since their inception in 1864. The company promised to build from Lake Superior to Puget Sound within twelve years, but consistently failed to meet deadlines, using bond sales based on unearned land grants to enrich themselves while taxing patrons with extortionate freight charges. Today, coal mining and local rail growth in Washington are stifled because of this company's history of broken promises. They have acted as a barrier to development, and their claim to the land is nothing short of iniquitous.
“Its good faith is that of Judas Iscariot.”
This 1884 critique of corporate land monopolies and 'broken promises' echoes the modern skepticism toward large corporations and private developers who receive public subsidies while neglecting local infrastructure. The friction between railroad land-grant expectations and the actual needs of Washington's citizens remains a central theme in the region's long-running debate over who owns the land.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.