The Milwaukee Road Seeks Massive Tidelands Expansion
A railway franchise application reveals plans for new tracks, shops, and bridges across the Puyallup River, signaling a major industrial shift.
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 Milwaukee railway last night asked the city council for a franchise for six tracks on the tidelands to cross the Puyallup river 700 feet below Eleventh street and then branch off, one running up to the St. Paul mill, another west on Eleventh street to St. Paul avenue, a third on the Wheeler Osgood mill and others to the Washington Parlor Furniture company plant and other industries in that section. Other lines will run to the site of the proposed Milwaukee shops, which President Earling, when here, announced would be erected on the tidelands between Ross avenue and Eleventh street. Under the franchise plans as laid out, another bridge will be put across the Puyallup river of the draw order. Authority for this has been received from Washington.
“The Milwaukee railway last night asked the city council for a franchise for six tracks on the tidelands.”
The aggressive expansion of rail infrastructure on the tideflats set the stage for Tacoma's industrial history. Today, the Port of Tacoma remains the legacy of these early franchise battles, where the conflict between municipal control and corporate land use for transport infrastructure is still very much alive.
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