Tacoma’s Highest Tide Covers the Railroad Tracks
The Northern Pacific main line reopened, but branches to South Bend and Ocosta were underwater and Tacoma saw a tide higher than any on record.
Tacoma, Jan. 13.—The washout at Olequa was repaired today, leaving the Northern Pacific's main line entirely open. The wires are down on the branches to South Bend and Ocosta, and the tracks are partly covered by water. They were not operated today. High tide covers the track between South Aberdeen and Ocosta. Today's falling temperature has checked the further rising of streams and swamps. At several points between here and the Columbia River the water along the Northern Pacific railroad is from six to eight inches higher than during the great high-water freshet of a year ago. For the first time in the history of Tacoma the tide was high enough today to cover the railroad tracks at the head of the bay.
“For the first time in the history of Tacoma the tide was high enough today to cover the railroad tracks at the head of the bay.”
A century before climate adaptation became a municipal agenda, Tacoma was already measuring floodwater against railroad tracks. The item captures how completely the city’s growth machine depended on rail—and how weather could shut it down.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.