The Grassroots Railway That Built Modern Seattle
How a small group of ambitious local citizens took on the corporate giants to secure Seattle's future against the 'contemptuous neglect' of the Northern Pacific.
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.
Though one of the newest railroad corporations in the territory, the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern has already risen to the third place in mileage, and its record is enviable. The company had its origin among a handful of citizens in 1885, including J. R. McDonald, D. H. Gilman, and Thomas Burke. These men gave the enterprise time and money; they talked and wrote, bonded lands, interested Eastern capitalists, and finally got the road started. The importance of this country was seen, and the contemptuous neglect with which it was treated by other companies was noted. There was a field here to the north and east which no railroad company apparently valued. There was iron, coal, timber, and wheat to carry, but no road to carry them. The trade of a large town, destined to become a great city, was disregarded and repelled. The company proceeded at once to take possession and cultivate it. The first lawsuit has yet to be brought against the company; while on the contrary, the advent of the road is hailed with unfeigned satisfaction at every point. Its rates for transportation are the lowest, and its facilities in every respect equal to the best. Seattle, as its terminus, has helped the road immensely, while the road has benefited the city beyond computation, assuring for all time Seattle's commercial supremacy in the North Pacific.
“There was a field here to the north and east which no railroad company apparently valued... The trade of a large town, destined to become a great city, was disregarded and repelled.”
This story highlights the perennial tension between Seattle's civic growth and the interests of distant railroad monopolies. Just as the city took agency in 1889 to build its own regional infrastructure to survive, Seattle continues to grapple with how to fund and manage transit and housing independent of private-sector whims.
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