Seattle Money Cuts a Trail to the Mines
Businessmen in the city fund a route up the Skagit Valley so pack trains can reach Slate Creek — and a volunteer road builder promises work will start at once.
Now that the Seattle business men have come forward and so handsomely subscribed to the fund for the purpose of putting in the trail, so that pack trains can reach Slate Creek up the Skagit valley, there is no reason why prosperity should not smile upon us. Mr. George F. Kyle, a man who has had a large experience in matters of road building, has kindly volunteered his services free of charge, and work will commence at once. Col. Hart's men reached a point about ten miles from the summit, on the other side, and are blocked by snow. On this side there is no snow to within one mile of Slate Creek, and that mile there is not enough to in the least impede travel. It is now thought that the trail can be finished in three weeks and pack trains can get to the mines. It will not be surprising if Col. Hart and his brigade do not come this way, as they are very anxious to go to work.
“Now that the Seattle business men have come forward and so handsomely subscribed to the fund ... there is no reason why prosperity should not smile upon us.”
In 1895, Seattle's merchant capital was the engine of a resource boom reaching deep into Skagit County. Then, as now, access was everything: whoever paid for the trail decided which mines, towns and workers got connected. The item reads like a small chapter in the long argument over who benefits when a city markets itself as the region's gateway.
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