A Railroad Man Promises Tacoma the East in Two Years
The North Coast road's division counsel says trains will be rolling out of the Cascades into Tacoma within twenty-four months — assuming the surveyors pick the right pass.
The story, cleaned up
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Henry J. Snively, of North Yakima, division counsel for the North Coast road, says that it will be in Tacoma in less than two years.
Mr. Snively was in the city today. He says trains will be running from the East to North Yakima by next September. Men are in the mountains this winter taking observations on the passes, and from their reports it will be decided which route to take through the Cascades to Tacoma. Over 35 miles of roadbed east of North Yakima have been graded, and a solid block has been condemned through North Yakima for the road. Nine hundred men are at work near North Yakima on the line.
The ability with which President Strahorn guards the real ownership of the North Coast road is the marvel of railway builders. The general impression is that it is a Canadian Pacific venture, with possibly a combination with the North Western. Whatever it is, it is going to be into Tacoma in a very short time.
“Whatever it is, it is going to be into Tacoma in a very short time.”
Tacoma's fortunes have always been tied to a rail connection it did not control, from the Northern Pacific's choice of Tacoma in 1873 to the long fight for better passenger service to Seattle today. The mystery of who actually backed the North Coast road — Canadian Pacific? the North Western? — is the same question Tacomans ask now when a new transit or freight proposal arrives with an out-of-state balance sheet. Cities still bet decades of growth on a promise made by a lawyer passing through town.
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