Tacoma’s Urgent Need for Railroad Competition
The city stands at a crossroads, needing to break the Northern Pacific’s monopoly to secure its future as a 'City of Destiny.'
The railroad question in Tacoma is the vital question of the present day; it completely overshadows all others. Unless the city can break the Northern Pacific monopoly which now retards its growth and its prosperity, there can be, in the end, but one result. Other competing cities, with two or more transcontinental railroads, will get so far ahead in the race for population and prestige that Tacoma will never be able to overtake them. Tacoma will not be in the front rank unless it secures more transcontinental railroads, and it must secure them without loss of time. A waiting policy would be fatal. Some time ago, a number of prominent business men, displeased with James J. Hill's delay in building an extension to Tacoma, agreed that they would not send any freight over the Great Northern until it had built its line. The Times believes no good will come of this boycott, as strong men are not often driven. The cordial handshake will accomplish more than the knotted club, and a deputation of prominent citizens sent to see Mr. Hill at St. Paul might finally bring results.
“Tacoma is on the map, Tacoma proposes to stay on the map and be up and doing greater things despite the impractical theorists, the nursers of animosities, and the mossbacks.”
Tacoma’s historic anxiety regarding its status as a secondary rail hub to Seattle mirrors contemporary concerns about port development, regional logistics, and economic autonomy. The city’s identity has long been caught between a belief in its own inevitable destiny and the reality of needing to lobby outside power brokers.
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