The Price of Progress: Seattle’s 1878 Ultimatum

At a meeting of the Directors of the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad Company, held at their office last evening, June 4, the following proposition was unanimously adopted: The vital interests of the whole Territory require that the natural barrier of the Cascades shall be overcome by an extension of said railroad from Renton to 'Thorpe’s Supply Camp,' in Kittitas County.

The railroad is now within reach, and all that the people have to do is simply to put forth their hands and grasp the coveted prize. If $17,000 in cash and lands could be raised in this city alone when the population was not half as much as at present, it seems incredible that $200,000 cannot now be guaranteed in the whole county to insure the completion of a railroad of incalculably greater public benefit. The success of this project will admit of no shirks or laggards; every property-holder must voluntarily assume his share of the common responsibility. It is one of those cases of such interest to all that any sneaking or attempted evasion cannot and ought not to be tolerated. The men who refuse to assume their share of this responsibility, while expecting to profit by its success, will be exempt by law, but will make themselves proper objects for social ostracism and public contempt, the pariahs of society.