The Railway Race for the Inland Northwest
As Seattle and Tacoma expand their rail reach, Yakima boosters urge Portland to stop resting on its past and invest in the future of the territory.
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.
Why is it that Portland does not keep pace in progress with other cities in the northwest by building railroads to retain her tributary territory? A prominent citizen recently noted that Portland has too many 'millionaire mossbacks' who cannot see beyond their bank counters. While Portland rests on its laurels and digs mud out of its channel, commercial centers to the north are building railroads and pushing out into new territories. North Yakima is interested in a rail connection to Vancouver and Spokane Falls, and while the town will do all that its limited means permit to build it, Portland will reap the greatest benefit and should lead the effort. There would be scarcely a mile of this railroad as projected that would not be traffic-paying; it would be the best paying road that could be built in Washington Territory, passing through the best timber, coal, fruit, and stock belts.
“We have too many millionaire mossbacks in Portland who cannot see beyond their bank counters.”
This reflects the timeless tension between established, conservative urban centers and rapidly growing, ambitious interior hubs. Much like the 1889 struggle for regional rail connectivity, modern Yakima continues to grapple with its role in the broader Washington economic corridor and the challenge of attracting major infrastructure investment to ensure it isn't bypassed by coastal interests.
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