A Railroad Rumour Makes Tacoma the Western Hub
A dispatch says the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul plans a Pacific Coast line with headquarters in Tacoma and a Seattle branch—and its agents are already buying land near Wenatchee.
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 latest development in railroad matters is a report to the effect that the officials of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad have admitted that the company contemplates the construction of a line to the Pacific coast. This information is said to have been contained in a dispatch received by a representative of the road here. The dispatch further states that the line will be built direct to Tacoma, where the headquarters will be, and a branch will be constructed to Seattle. Advices from Wenatchee are to the effect that representatives of the road have been buying property in that vicinity, and it is reported that construction work is soon to commence at that place. Should the road be built through that part of the state, it will make some very rich and productive territory tributary to Tacoma.
“The dispatch further states that the line will be built direct to Tacoma where the headquarters will be, and a branch will be constructed to Seattle.”
Tacoma's identity has long been tied to rail and port traffic, and this 1904 item shows how a single rumoured corporate decision could be sold as civic destiny. The promise of headquarters jobs and branch-line connections still echoes in modern debates over transit, ports and which cities capture the economic spillover.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.