The Seattle-Tacoma Rivalry
A bold wager between cities exposes the intense competition for the region's first major railroad connection.
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.
We are given to understand that there is a man in Seattle that is so elated over the survey that has been ordered between Seattle and some point on the N.P. that he has $500 to back his idea that within 18 months there will be a railroad fully equipped and in running order between Seattle and the Kalama-Tacoma line. A prominent citizen of this place [Tacoma] has authorized us to say that he has $500 to back him in the assertion that the Seattle man has Seattle ideas and that they will not be realized. If the prominent citizen of Tacoma, mentioned above, will come to Seattle with his $500 and put it up, we are authorized by responsible parties to state that all his traveling expenses both ways will be paid by the Seattle man, who stands ready to cover his money at twenty minutes' notice. Now, Mr. Editor of the News, either trot out your prominent citizen or else gracefully acknowledge that you were only joking in the matter.
“A prominent citizen of this place has authorized us to say that he has $500 to back him in the assertion that the Seattle man has Seattle ideas and that they will not be realized.”
The late 19th-century rivalry between Seattle and Tacoma defined Washington’s early urban development, centered on who would host the Northern Pacific terminus. Today, that regional competition has evolved into a unified metropolitan focus on light rail expansion and the common struggle of managing explosive growth across the Puget Sound corridor.
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