Aberdeen Secures Competitive Rail Rates
A major victory for the shingle and lumber industry as the Northern Pacific grants terminal rates to Aberdeen, promising expansion and infrastructure growth.
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.
Of vastly more importance to Aberdeen than the success of any party is the official announcement that on and after Saturday next, Aberdeen will be given terminal rates over the Northern Pacific with Tacoma, Seattle and Portland. This means for the shingle men a neat little profit in itself. It means the same Eastern market for Grays Harbor lumber that Puget Sound lumber has. It means that if the moss has not buried us too deep for stirring, the north side will have the two miles of railroad built in here at once. It means an immediate expenditure by the Grays Harbor Commercial Company of thirty thousand dollars in putting in a dry kiln and in otherwise increasing capacity.
“Of vastly more importance to Aberdeen than the success of any party is the official announcement that on and after Saturday next Aberdeen will be given terminal rates.”
The struggle for fair freight rates was a defining feature of the Pacific Northwest's economic development in the 1890s, much like today's concerns over international supply chain logistics and shipping costs. The 'terminal rate' was a transformative mechanism that effectively opened the global market to local timber mills.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.