Rapid Transit to Eternity: Olympia's Kerosene Trolley, Minus the Matches
George Marvin Savage's homemade coal-oil motor car is about to carry paying passengers down to the Fourth Street track — if it doesn't explode first. Riders get accident insurance, and their obituary verses have already been written.
The coal oil motor now being built to operate upon George Marvin Savage's railway will be turned loose in the early part of next week, unless it explodes before then. Accommodations for eight extra passengers have been provided by placing seats fore and aft, so that patrons of the car may look to the north, east, south or west for the one fare. The old dashboards from No. 4 will grace the bow and stern of Coal Oil Savage's ingenuity. The roof has been constructed and is ready to be placed in position.
At the car shops this morning active preparations were under way to launch the new motor, which has a capacity of five and six-tenths horse power. The progress made thus far has permitted the railway magnate to dispense with the services of one of the carpenters. Two men were at work laying planks and getting the street in a condition to allow the motor to reach the Fourth street track.
To guard against misfortune each rider will probably be provided with an accident policy ticket, which will entitle him to $4 a week and board for three weeks if injured by the explosion of the spirits. No fireworks or matches will be permitted on the car.
Appropriate verses have been prepared for the obituary notices of the unfortunate passengers who are blown to the other shore should the naphtha explode. A contribution from one of the former drivers reads:
"Gone to dance on heaven's green, Because he rode on kerosene."
“Gone to dance on heaven's green, / Because he rode on kerosene.”
Savage's line was one of the West's shoestring street railways, cobbled together by a promoter who built his own rolling stock when the manufacturers wouldn't. A century and a half later, Olympia is still arguing about who pays for transit and which experimental route is worth the risk. The difference is that today's risk assessments come in council packets instead of comic verse.
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