Aberdeen Bought Its Railroad With Town Lots, Timber and Days of Labor
At the Acme Opera House, mill owners and laborers alike pledged what they had—lots, ties, board and work—to persuade the Northern Pacific to extend its line into the young Grays Harbor town.
ABERDEEN, Sept. 7.—[Special.]—An enthusiastic mass meeting of citizens was held at the Acme opera house last evening to increase the subscription toward extending the Northern Pacific into Aberdeen. All classes, from the millionaire mill owner to the common laborer, were represented, and every man seemed to take a personal interest in the project and to be willing to aid to the extent of his ability. Real estate owners contributed lots, mill men contributed ties and timbers, laboring men subscribed days’ work and others cash. When the meeting adjourned it was found that nearly 1,000 days’ work had been subscribed; also about as many dollars in money, thirty days’ board for 100 men to work on the grade and over 100 town lots. A committee now has the subscription paper in hand, and another day or two will doubtless suffice to complete the amount of cash, labor and material necessary to make good the citizens’ proposition to the railroad company.
“All classes, from the millionaire mill owner to the common laborer, were represented, and every man seemed to take a personal interest in the project.”
Boosters in 1890s Aberdeen treated a railroad as the difference between a real city and a sidelined mill town, and they passed the hat in goods and labor rather than just cash. Modern cities still compete for transportation and employers with incentive packages, though today the currency is more often tax abatements than 100 town lots.
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