Thirteen Carloads of Rail and Four Miles of Track: Olympia Gets Its Electric Streetcar
Delayed by a blizzard back East, the rails are finally in Tacoma and due tonight — and a crew will start laying them down the middle of Fourth Street tomorrow morning.
Active work on the new electric railway will be commenced tomorrow. The preliminary work of planting the poles, grading and bridging is nearly all completed. Further progress has been delayed owing to the non-arrival of rails, which were supposed to have been side-tracked on their way from Pennsylvania during the heavy blizzard. They are now in Tacoma, and are expected here this evening. The line will cover four miles, running from the city limits on the east, down Fourth street to Main, and south on Main street to Tumwater, with a branch to the Masonic cemetery. The laying of rails will be commenced at Central street, running down the center of Fourth street. On Main street they will be placed a little to the right of the center so as to be in position for a double track when needed, and still give plenty of room for wagons on either side. The rails will be placed along the entire distance of Fourth street within two weeks. There are thirteen carloads.
“The line will cover four miles, running from the city limits on the east, down Fourth street to Main, and south on Main street to Tumwater, with a branch to the Masonic cemetery.”
A four-mile electric line down Fourth Street to Tumwater was Olympia's first real transit bet, and it set the shape of the town for decades. The same argument — how much of the public right-of-way to give to a fast new mode of travel, and where the route should run — is the one being replayed today over Capitol Way, bus corridors and the bike lanes on Fourth.
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