The White-and-Gold Trolleys That Would Link Olympia and Tumwater

As announced yesterday, the Olympia Light Power Company has awarded to the Northwest Thomson-Houston Electric Company of Portland the contract for the construction and equipment of about four miles of electric street railway, extending from the top of Ayer's Hill to Tumwater. All the material for construction will be purchased here and Olympia men will be hired to do the work. The company is represented by H. W. Goode, manager, and George H. Preble of Spokane. The other bidders were the Edison General Electric Company, the Westinghouse Electric Company, and the Short Electric Railway Company. The amount of the contract has not been made public, but it is in the neighborhood of $70,000. It includes the roadbed and complete railway equipment, including rails, ties, bridges and minor details. There will be five cars of the Pullman palace make, heated by Burton electric heaters. The cars will seat twenty-four people and are capable of carrying 100 passengers. They will be handsomely finished in white, picked with gold. The maximum speed of the motors is eighteen miles an hour, but the ordinance makes a limit of eight miles within the city limits. T. A. W. Shock, the company's engineer, will arrive in the city the early part of the week to take full charge and superintend the construction, which will commence as soon as the rails arrive from the East. The company has ninety days in which to construct the road but will undoubtedly have it in operation before that time. The road for the present will extend to the end of the upper bridge in East Tumwater. A single track will be constructed for the present, with sufficient turnouts. The cross suspension method of overhead work will be used, with wires crossing the streets at intervals of 125 feet. A spur will leave the main line at the Tumwater curve and go direct to the cemetery. The plans submitted by the various bidders were carefully considered by the company, and while the Thompson-Houston company's bid was the highest submitted it was deemed the best in every particular. This company has just finished equipping the Fairhaven and New Whatcom line, which operates some eleven miles of road between the cities of Fairhaven and Whatcom and from Whatcom to Lake Whatcom. It has also equipped two miles of road at Astoria. The James Street line at Seattle was also equipped by this company, as well as the South Seattle road, the Front Street cable railway and the Seattle Consolidated Railway Company, in addition to lines in various parts of the state. The motors are of the new waterproof type, 25-horse power each, with two on each truck, giving a motive power to each car of thirty horses. Extensive changes will be made in the arrangement of the station, using the present dynamos.