Port Angeles Wanted to Build Its Own Railroad—and Lure a Thousand New Colonists
A Board of Trade meeting heard that an Eastern syndicate might finance a Port Angeles & Everett line, while locals pushed a home-built railroad to Oak Harbor and a colony scheme to bring 1,000 settlers.
At a meeting of the Board of Trade held Tuesday evening, a communication was read from President J. S. Coolican, who is now in the East, in which he states that he is still working on the Port Angeles & Everett railroad proposition. He says he has submitted the plans to several prominent railroad officials, and that a New Hampshire syndicate is making preparations to investigate the matter, and if it proves as represented they will build the road.
Mr. Coolican is also working on a colony scheme, and promises to send 1,000 people to Port Angeles during the coming summer. With that end in view he is delivering lectures on Clallam County throughout the East.
During the meeting the members of the board and others present warmly advocated the plan proposed, that Port Angeles build her own railroad to Oak Harbor, a distance of about forty miles. Another meeting will be held Saturday evening for the purpose of further considering this proposition of home enterprise.
“Another meeting will be held Saturday evening for the purpose of further considering this proposition of home enterprise.”
Small cities still chase rail links, remote-work colonists and outside investors with the same mix of hope and risk. Port Angeles’ 1893 “home enterprise” railroad pitch is a reminder that boosterism is a durable civic sport—and that promised syndicates often arrive on their own schedule.
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