The Iron Road Reaches the Chehalis
A first-hand account of the new railroad construction pushing toward the bridge, signaling a major shift in Grays Harbor infrastructure.
The editor of the Herald made the first trip over the railroad from Montesano to the edge of the Chehalis river last Thursday. The trip was made on a construction car, and we believe it was the first run ever made by a locomotive to the Chehalis river bridge. The route is through a picturesque country, winding past bluffs and over grade built up from the tide land. At the site of the bridge, a large force of men are at work; the central support for the draw is well under way, and two scow loads of stone from the Wishkah quarry are being unloaded. The grade from the Y to Aberdeen is in good condition, and the track can be laid from that point into Aberdeen on the north side in one day.
“The tall fir trees looked down on the rushing intruder.”
Railroads were the lifelines of 1890s Washington, deciding the fates of entire towns based on where the depot was built. This account captures the 'fever' of infrastructure expansion—the same hunger for connectivity that drives contemporary transit discussions in Grays Harbor today.
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