The Terminus Bait: How the Northern Pacific Played Seattle

The passage of the resolution in the House of Representatives is equivalent to the statement of 174 members that they will oppose the renewal of the Northern Pacific Railroad grant. It is noticeable that since the passage of this resolution the officers of the company have been gradually making concessions, until almost all that the people of this territory and of Oregon required has been promised, except a line of railroad from the interior to tidewater. The company now even intimates that the road will be built to Seattle if the extension of time is granted. A letter from Hon. C. B. Wright, President of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, says that the company does not expect to be able to build any road this year. In the event of the extension of their time they will endeavor to build two hundred miles next year on the main line, which is to be extended down the Columbia and via Kalama to the waters of the Sound. He states that he contemplates coming to this coast during the present year, and to Seattle. Relative to terminus matters he says that the reason of the location at Tacoma in 1873 was that the financial crisis compelled them to stop at the nearest available point on Puget Sound. This is too transparent for our people who know the history of the bargain by which the managers of the company engaged in the Tacoma town lot speculation. The letter is evidence that the company is driven to desperate measures by the efforts of Hons. O. Jacobs and John J. McGilvra to secure the interests of our territory, and are endeavoring to weaken the support of these gentlemen by holding up the terminus bait to Seattle, while they still refuse to obligate themselves to build a road from any point in Eastern Washington or Oregon to tidewater on the Pacific. Our people are too well informed to be purchased by this seeming promise.