Tacoma's railroad 'patron saint' gets a cannon salute
New Tacoma serenaded Northern Pacific director C.B. Wright—and the Post-Intelligencer noted that Seattle had not always been his favorite town.
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.
The past week has been of a gala character in New Tacoma, the occasion being the arrival there of the Iowa's patron saint, C. B. Wright, from Philadelphia. Mr. Wright has done more for this town than any other man, and is today one of its main reliance. The town can afford to honor him, and the people would be guilty of gross ingratitude did they not in some public manner make exhibition of their appreciative feelings. Mr. Wright has been serenaded several times, has been publicly welcomed, and has been privately entertained. The cannon have loudly announced his coming, and illuminations have proclaimed the joy of citizens generally. Mr. Wright for a dozen years has been a Director of the Northern Pacific Company, has been its Vice-President and its President, and is today one of its chief stockholders. His benefactions to New Tacoma approach the remarkable. He was there in 1873, when the terminus was at its worst, and the change he now sees must be gratifying. Mr. Wright has not shown Seattle very friendly in the past, but, for all that, they would have him come down and visit their town.
“Mr. Wright has done more for this town than any other man, and is today one of its main reliance.”
In 1883, a railroad director could make or break a Puget Sound town by choosing where the line ended. New Tacoma's public wooing of C.B. Wright—cannon, serenades, flattery—prefigures the modern civic scramble for corporate headquarters and major employers.
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