The Iron Road Comes to the Columbia
A massive railway infrastructure project—the North Bank Road—is set to bridge Kennewick to Vancouver, reshaping the region's economy.
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.
Seims and Shields, of St. Paul, have been awarded the contract for the construction of the Portland Seattle's new road down the north bank of the Columbia to Portland. The Portland Seattle concern is, of course, the Northern Pacific, and few officials of either company now trouble to deny it. The new road from Kennewick to Vancouver will be 230 miles in length, saving 164 miles. The approximate cost is $4,600,000. It is probable that the bridge across the Columbia will be built at Vancouver, at a cost of approximately $1,000,000. The road will then cross the St. Johns peninsula, and the bridge across the Willamette will be somewhere near the town of St. Johns. It will probably be a high bridge, costing about $600,000.
“The work of building the line is to be rushed. Seims and Shields have handled a number of large contracts, and they have a national reputation for fast work.”
This project was the transformative 'booster' event of its decade, turning Kennewick into a vital rail hub. Much like current debates over high-speed transit, the rail expansion in 1905 was the ultimate promise of regional prosperity and connectivity.
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