The Political Price of a Road
Seattle citizens threaten to trade the state capital to Walla Walla to secure a vital road link, as regional rivalries threaten to derail the city's future.
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.
There is much indignation in Seattle at the action of the Thurston County delegation in the Legislature, in defeating the Snoqualmie road bill. Many of our citizens go so far as to express their determination to make a better deal with Walla Walla, giving them the capital in return for their aid in securing the road. Their argument is that the whole Sound country will be greatly benefited by direct communication with Eastern Washington, and if Thurston County, in its jealousy, is so short-sighted as to oppose it, the people will deprive them of the little they do enjoy. A number of our citizens left for Olympia today to inaugurate measures to secure the road, one being the pledging of the capital to Walla Walla. Another move is being made to defeat the location of a territorial prison at Olympia and secure it in Seattle. A fight of this kind will prove fatal to Olympia, and may be detrimental to Seattle. A better plan would be for Olympia to retire from her dog-in-the-manger attitude, and share in the benefits with all other portions of the Territory.
“A better plan would be for Olympia to retire from her dog-in-the-manger attitude, and share in the benefits with all other portions of the Territory.”
The century-old struggle for infrastructure connectivity between the Puget Sound and Eastern Washington remains a defining feature of the state's political climate. The fierce 'capital wars' between Seattle and Olympia echo today in modern debates over regional transit funding and the ongoing competition for state resources.
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