The City That Waited Too Long

Seattle and King County need wagon roads quite as badly as they do railroads. This point should be made the center of a system of great roads. One of these should run south, through White and Stuck river valleys, into the Puyallup, connecting there with the fine roads of Pierce and Thurston Counties. Another should go east, via the Snoqualmie, into the Yakima country, while a third should extend north, through Snohomish and Whatcom counties, to the British Columbia line, there to join the famous roads leading into Cariboo. These things have been talked over and agreed upon years ago. There is hardly a doubt that if we had had a wagon road ten years ago over the Snoqualmie as good as the wagon roads of British Columbia, that we would have had ere this a railroad also. Wagon roads will always be necessary, and it seems idle to argue in their favor. Seattleites are everlastingly, like Micawber, waiting for something to turn up. Ripe cherries do not fall into one’s mouth. If our trade is not worth struggling for by the people of Seattle—a point which is one of our natural outlets to tide-water—then we can go to those who do appreciate its benefits. At present, Tacoma, through the energy and enterprise of its people, enjoys a monopoly of it. The completion, however, of the Northern Pacific Railroad would tend to divert a great portion of our trade to Tacoma, and thus would Seattle be forever left out in the cold. God helps those who help themselves, is an old saying, and one which the people of Seattle can yet profit by. It is not yet too late.