Beacon Hill's Streetcar Gap: Children Walk Miles While the Company Stalls

In the board of aldermen the committee on police, license and revenue, to which was referred the petition of Beacon Hill residents for the operation of the Union Trunk Line Company's cars to the end of the line, reported favorably, but the report was not adopted. Dr. Jordan, who was a member of the committee, said he had gone out over the line and found that the company did not operate cars within thirteen and a half blocks of the completed terminus, while there were eight blocks of line beyond still unfinished. He said that the nearest schoolhouse from the end of the line was about two and a half miles away, and the children had to walk a mile and a half—eight blocks along a trail through the brush, five blocks along the streetcar tracks, and eight more blocks before the cars could be reached. The doctor presented a petition signed by a good many residents of Beacon Hill, asking that the company be compelled to operate its line to the terminus.

Clise, a member of the street committee, said he had been out on the line once and had seen several people who live out there and had talked with them; that they had no complaint to make concerning the company's not operating cars to the end of the line. Mr. Clise said the only man he saw who complained was an old man who could not get to town to get drunk.

Brewer, who was also a member of the committee with Dr. Jordan, said he had signed the committee report inadvertently and chided the doctor for making an official trip out to the scene without inviting him to come along. Jordan then said he knew Brewer would not change his mind, and for that reason did not ask him to accompany him. He said he knew Mr. Brewer lived in Walla Walla addition and was at the mercy of the streetcar company. The committee's report was not adopted, being lost by a vote of three to four.