A Council Franchise Handshake
A streetcar franchise is approved in less than two minutes as the city council moves to consolidate rail lines along Yesler Way.
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 sum of $1, given by a certified check on Dexter Horton & Co., was offered by Fred E. Sander last night for a street railroad franchise, and in less than two minutes the franchise was declared his. In less than five minutes the joint convention of the council had adjourned. The franchise is for a car line from the end of the Grant street line at South Third street, down Yesler to Railroad avenue. Mr. Sander paid $6,000 for the franchise for the remainder of the road, and the object is to abolish the present inconvenient stopping place.
“The sum of $1, given by a certified check on Dexter Horton & Co., was offered by Fred E. Sander last night for a street railroad franchise, and in less than two minutes the franchise was declared his.”
The ease with which private interests secured infrastructure rights in 1890s Seattle mirrors modern-day debates over public-private partnerships. The 'inconvenient stopping place' at the time was a central point of civic agitation, much like transit-dependent commuters today advocate for more streamlined infrastructure.
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