The Iron Rush: Mapping Jim Hill’s Great Northern Route
Speculation mounts as reports surface of the Great Northern Railroad’s potential path through the Chehalis Valley and Grays Harbor.
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 Tacoma News claims to have inside information regarding the route of Jim Hill's Great Northern railroad. It reports that President Jim Hill has been pressured by English and French capitalists to extend the line rapidly. The proposed route would cross the Columbia River at Vancouver, continue through Clark, Cowlitz, and Lewis counties to a junction at Winlock, twelve miles south of Chehalis. From there, a branch would extend across Lewis and Pacific counties to Grays Harbor, following the south side of the Chehalis River. The selection of the Cowlitz pass depends largely on Hill's ability to secure control of the Portland-Tacoma line from the Union Pacific.
“The Great Northern is the only transcontinental line that has plenty of money... Now they are urging President Hill to expend it as quickly as possible.”
In 1891, the arrival of a major railroad was the primary engine of boom-town speculation in Washington. Today, the challenge in Grays Harbor has shifted from attracting transcontinental rail lines to navigating the economic fallout of post-industrial decline and infrastructure decay.
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