Jim Hill Looks at Olympia and Decides There Isn't Enough Money In It
The Great Northern will bypass the capital on its Seattle–Tacoma–Portland line, leaving the field to the Northern Pacific — a blunt verdict on the city's prospects from the era's great railroad builder.
OCOSTA, March 10.—Col. Fred Heustis, the well known railroad builder, is authority for the statement that Jim Hill is not going to bring the Great Northern railroad through Olympia when he builds between Seattle, Tacoma and Portland. Mr. Hill informed Col. Heustis that he had looked the situation over, and notwithstanding that Olympia was the capital of the state, he did not think there was money enough in it, and he would leave the field open to the Northern Pacific. Trains of the latter road are now running to Ocosta.
“notwithstanding that Olympia was the capital of the state, he did not think there was money enough in it, and he would leave the field open to the Northern Pacific.”
In 1892 the capital learned from a news dispatch that the Great Northern would skip it — a verdict that helped decide which Washington towns boomed and which were left behind. Olympia still argues over which rail and transit corridors connect it, and who benefits when they do.
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