Bondholders Move to Foreclose on Seattle's Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad
Reorganization committee member says nearly all $8.4 million in bonds are deposited; predicts traffic will grow when business revives.
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.
I represent about $750,000 of the bonds of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern road and am a member of the reorganization committee. The purpose of the bondholders now is to take the road under foreclosure sale. They are almost unanimous as to the plan of reorganization, for of about $8,400,000 of bonds all but a small amount have been deposited with the trustee. I think it is a good property, for with the resources back of it, which are sure to be developed before long, the traffic must increase considerably when business revives.
“The purpose of the bondholders now is to take the road under foreclosure sale.”
The Lake Shore & Eastern was one of several railroads that shaped Seattle's late-19th-century boom, and its financial troubles were part of a national wave of railroad foreclosures. Then as now, who controls critical infrastructure—and who absorbs the losses—is a question with lasting civic consequences.
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