The Train That Had to Back All the Way to Tacoma
Seattle's sudden rail link to Tacoma promised to beat the boats—if the cars could turn around.
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.
Many are the inquiries made as to what it all means—the opening of the railroad to Tacoma—and no one seems able to reply. Some think it a business enterprise on the part of the Columbia and Puget Sound Company; others think otherwise. Some say it is done by the Northern Pacific Company to hurt the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, with a view to getting better terms from the latter in consideration of ultimate withdrawal from the road.
The trains were started so suddenly that people could not fully realize the road had been really opened to traffic, and in Tacoma, where the idea was entertained that Seattle would be disconnected from rail communication by taking up the track, they could not believe it. The first train took three hours to make the run, but it is thought that in a little while time can be reduced to an hour and a half. In that event the train, notwithstanding the greater distance to travel, will formidably rival the boats, if it does not absolutely get away with the bulk of the trade. Local patriotism, it is supposed, will impel citizens of Seattle to give the road the preference.
There being no turntable on the line, the train for a time will be compelled to back all the way from Seattle to Tacoma, coming all right from Tacoma here. The road runs through a region of magnificent agricultural appearance, which will impress travelers more favorably than anything to be seen on any other part of the entire line to St. Paul.
“There being no turntable on the line, the train for a time will be compelled to back all the way from Seattle to Tacoma.”
The sudden Seattle–Tacoma rail link was a reminder that transportation fixes can reshape a region overnight—and that the winners are often decided by backroom deals between competing carriers. Today's debates over light rail, ferry service and freight corridors still turn on the same questions of access, speed and who captures the trade.
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