The Union Pacific’s Secret Deal: Tacoma’s Next Rail Giant Already Buying Land
While the city debates whether the railroad will come to town, Mayor Campbell confirms negotiations are underway and insiders reveal land deals in the Indian Addition.
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.
Mayor Campbell, when asked today if he thought the Union Pacific intended coming in here, said, "There is no doubt that the company has such intentions and that negotiations are now under way. A few days ago, when Mr. Harriman was here, propositions were made to him regarding certain pieces of property. He would not enter into any agreement in regard to them just then, but gave out the intimation that later on the propositions would be considered."
No, there is no doubt about the Union Pacific coming in over some other tracks temporarily, perhaps, but ultimately over their own. They have their right of way from the Columbia nearly all the way now, if not all the way, and in 1893 spent about four and one-half millions of dollars on it, but were prevented from completing the work at that time by the financial panic which spread throughout the country.
It is believed that negotiations are now going on in regard to certain properties here which are known only to railroad officials. According to the old survey the Southern Pacific would come in along the edge of the Indian addition to Tacoma. It is said that parties living out in that vicinity have been approached for a 70-foot right of way through their acreage tracts.
This 1903 report captures the intense civic anxiety and speculation surrounding railroad expansion, a theme that echoes modern debates over infrastructure projects like high-speed rail or light rail extensions. Just as today's residents worry about gentrification and displacement caused by new transit lines, Tacoma residents in 1903 feared the impact of the Union Pacific's arrival on their neighborhoods, specifically the
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