The Shadowy Rail Deal Behind Tacoma’s Tide Flats
A quiet war of railroad giants leaves a smaller line in a chokehold, as local business interests scramble for answers regarding the city’s industrial 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.
The most absorbing topic of conversation in Tacoma today is the big transcontinental railroad tide-flat deal. Rumors are rife that the Tacoma Eastern railroad has been sold to Harriman and that its terminal facilities would be added to those recently secured on the tide-flats. A representative of The Times found President Edward Cookingham of the Tacoma Eastern and asked: 'Has your road been sold to Mr. Harriman or others?' He replied: 'You must excuse me, I cannot be interviewed upon that subject.' It has been claimed that the Northern Pacific forced the Tacoma Eastern to sign an agreement not to allow its rails to be used for transcontinental freight or passengers for ten years, intended to block the Oregon Short Line. A source stated that Northern Pacific engineers once physically drove their stakes over those of the Tacoma Eastern in Nisqually Canyon, forcing a stalemate until the agreement was signed. Those familiar with the canyon know it would be impossible to build two tracks along the narrow walls, leaving the Tacoma Eastern effectively blocked.
“The Tacoma Eastern’s forces were outnumbered and, with wise discretion, they refused to engage in a battle with fists or rocks. They retired, leaving the N. P.’s crowd in possession.”
This reflects the long history of Tacoma’s industrial waterfront, where the struggle for rail access and harbor control shaped the city’s development. Today, while the actors and technology have shifted, the fundamental fight over infrastructure rights and the monopolistic power of 'transcontinental' forces remains a persistent theme in Pacific Northwest transit debates.
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