The Iron Road Comes to the Sound

The contract let to John M. Colman for the building and equipping of the first fifteen-mile section of the Seattle and Walla Walla railroad is being carried out by him with commendable activity. We are now warranted in stating that the piling across the Bay, the grading, the bridging, and trestle work will all be done, and the cars will be running over the entire section before the first of November next. As assurance, Surber's contract for piling across the Bay will be finished in three or four weeks; Eaton & Webster's contract for all bridging and trestling over the mainland will be done this week; and the grading will be finished by the middle of next month. Furthermore, the contract to build the incline and chutes on the wharf and to lay the iron over the whole route has been let to Mr. L. F. Compton. All of the iron requisite for the entire line is not only already purchased, but is now at San Francisco, and will be here as soon as the outer piling for the wharf and depot is done. Three flat freight-cars are now being built here, and the first locomotive and tender have just been constructed at San Francisco, awaiting the completion of the depot-wharf. This successful beginning is a project fraught with immediate advantages not only to Seattle, but to the whole Territory.