The Motor Line Returns
Aberdeen and Hoquiam leaders revive the intercity motor line project with a new $40,000 investment plan.
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 motor line between Aberdeen and Hoquiam is again a live question with the people of the two places. Mr. Cahoun, who is the agent for one of the latest improved systems, has proposed to put his company's system in operation here for forty thousand dollars: twenty thousand dollars when the plant is in successful operation, and twenty thousand dollars in bonds payable in ten years. James Stewart has agreed to take one-fourth of the stock; Jno. F. Soule, of Hoquiam, has agreed to take a fourth more, and the remaining half is practically placed. Mr. Honey, who is the head of the western branch of the company, has just arrived here from Tacoma, and final arrangements will probably be made this week. Mr. Honey, in company with Messrs. Cahoun, Chapman and Stewart, made a thorough examination of the route Wednesday and all are entirely satisfied with the facilities it offers for a first-class motor line.
“The motor line between Aberdeen and Hoquiam is again a live question with the people of the two places.”
Today, public transit between Aberdeen and Hoquiam is a state-funded necessity, but in 1891, it was a speculative booster venture. The reliance on private bonds and 'motor' franchise deals shows how much the city's early development was tied to speculative infrastructure promises.
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