Building a Railroad from Shipwreck Scraps
When a derelict ship wrecked off the coast, its cargo of steel rails became a tax-delinquent treasure for Aberdeen’s civic boosters.
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.
It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good, but when a few years ago the ship Abercorn was wrecked off this coast, there was none who would have dared predict that anyone could possibly derive benefit thereby. She was bound for Portland, loaded with steel rails for use somewhere in Oregon. They helped to carry her to the bottom. But these rails still had a value, and they were taken up out of the sea and piled along the banks of the Chehalis river between Aberdeen and Cosmopolis. In the course of time the tax gatherer came along and levied tribute on them. The owners refused to pay, and neglected to take them away, and so last week, when the law had run its course, they were sold for taxes, all of them—enough to build fourteen miles of railroad—for a little over $600. These rails were purchased by J. M. Weatherwax, Samuel Benn and Chas. E. Wilson, and last Saturday, at their suggestion, a public meeting was called, and W. R. Mack appointed to receive for the citizens any gifts these gentlemen might be ready to bestow. With the road bed and the rails secured, can we not hew out the ties, buy a few spikes and build it? Are there not men enough of us here to do it, though we do it ourselves while the ladies turn out and cook picnic dinners? The Herald will furnish its share of men whenever the call goes forth.
“Are there not men enough of us here to do it, though we do it ourselves while the ladies turn out and cook picnic dinners?”
This story highlights a time when critical infrastructure was bootstrapped by local businessmen via salvage and volunteerism, a stark contrast to modern, highly bureaucratized public works projects. The 'can-do' booster spirit of 1894 Aberdeen aimed to connect the town to the outside world through sheer communal effort.
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