The Railroad That Bought Its Way to Glory
While the rest of Seattle debates politics and morality, a coalition of bankers and developers is quietly laying the groundwork for the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad, betting millions on land and gold bonds.
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 SEATTLE AND WALLA WALLA RAILROAD.
AN ENTERPRISE WITHOUT SUBSIDY.
This great enterprise, in which the vital interests of our city are so deeply concerned and in which our best citizens are investing their surplus capital, was incorporated over two years ago, but never assumed a tangible shape until the Company made a contract with the present Superintendent of Construction, James M. Colman, Esq. The President is A. A. Denny, Esq. of the firm of Dexter Horton & Co., bankers of this city, while the arduous duties of the Secretaryship devolve upon Hon. Roswell Scott. The office is in Colman’s building, at the corner of Mill and Commercial streets.
The capital stock of the Company is $10,000,000, divided into 100,000 shares of the par value of $100 each. Whole amount of stock issued up to date is 1,124 shares, of which 1,014 are fully paid up; leaving 110 assessable shares, on which some $3,000 has already been paid, leaving $7,000 delinquent. The largest amount of paid up stock was paid in lands, some of which have been sold and the proceeds applied to the payment of the indebtedness, which was $10,000. The present indebtedness is about $8,000 including interest.
There are also gold-bearing bonds to the amount of $30,000, redeemable in gold at the expiration of ten years, with interest thereon payable in gold. Of this amount, $20,400 has already been subscribed and paid in, leaving $9,600 more to be taken up. The character of this loan should specially commend it to foreign capitalists seeking investment on our shores, as its hard metal basis relieves it from the dangers consequent upon a redundant and inflated currency.
In 1876, Seattle’s future was being financed not by government grants, but by local bankers like A.A. Denny and developers like James Colman who traded land for railroad stock. This mirrors modern development where private capital drives infrastructure, often relying on speculative land values rather than public subsidy to bridge the gap between vision and reality.
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