Cutting Miles Off the Commute
New county infrastructure aims to connect Mercer Slough to Lake Sammamish via ferry, slashing the travel distance to Seattle from thirty-eight miles to just ten.
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 county commissioners have cut a road twenty feet wide from Mercer slough across to Robinson's ranch on the west shore of Lake Sammamish. A wharf is being built on Lake Washington at the mouth of Mercer slough for use by a ferry steamer to run from Yesler avenue and Madison street, so that teams can be carried across the lake to continue their trip up this road into the country. This ferry and road, in connection with a ferry across Lake Sammamish, would make the distance from the city to Monahan ten miles instead of thirty-eight miles, the distance by the Lake Shore railroad.
“This ferry and road... would make the distance from the city to Monahan ten miles instead of thirty-eight miles.”
This massive reduction in travel time illustrates how drastically local geography restricted movement in 1892. It serves as a reminder of a time when the 'Eastside' was a distant frontier, requiring multi-modal transport just to reach downtown Seattle.
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