The Rails That Built Seattle
Civic leaders convene to expand the Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad, the ambitious line designed to link the growing city to the bounty of the east.
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.
A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad Co. was held at the office of Secretary Scott yesterday afternoon at three o'clock. Present were Messrs. A. A. Denny, President; W. N. Bell, Jas. McNaught, John Leary, John Collins, A. Mackintosh, and J. M. Colman. After reading and approval of minutes of the previous meeting, it was ordered that a survey and final location be made of ten miles of the line of the extension of the road on the route of the main line eastward from Renton, and the grade line established therefor. We are informed that arrangements are in progress for commencing the work on the grade as soon as the subscription now in progress is taken. This subscription continues to grow apace, but it needs the help of all.
“This subscription continues to grow apace, but it needs the help of all.”
This meeting of Seattle’s elite at the dawn of the railroad era underscores the city’s historic obsession with infrastructure as the key to economic dominance. Today, the debate over light rail expansion and the struggle to connect the region via transit mirror these same 1878 discussions about physical connectivity and civic investment.
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