Railroad Dreams in Benton County
Local boosters anticipate the arrival of the Great Northern Railway, predicting it will cement Kennewick's status as a key hub for oriental markets.
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.
All the Bentonites have been elated by reports of the Great Northern Railway building down the Columbia to connect with the North Bank road at Kennewick. It is said two parties of surveyors have been out below Rock Island running lines, and a Great Northern right-of-way agent has been looking up land matters in that section. Local railroad builders figure that this is the only route by which the Great Northern can get adequate connection with the new Portland line and are confident that Benton will soon have rail as well as water communication with the oriental markets.
“Benton will soon have rail as well as water communication with the oriental markets.”
The turn of the 20th century was marked by intense railroad speculation, where small towns competed for proximity to tracks to ensure their economic future. Kennewick’s development was fundamentally tied to these rail and river logistics, a precursor to its modern identity as a regional transportation and agricultural shipping crossroads.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.