The House on Rollers: Moving an Entire Hotel to Save a Town
When the Northern Pacific Railroad bypassed Old Yakima, developers physically relocated the town's buildings—including the Holland House—to the new site, one mile at a time.
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.
A special dispatch to the Post-Intelligencer reports on the state of affairs at the town of Yakima. The board of directors of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, after careful consideration, determined it was in the best interest of the public to concentrate business at the new station site. The board has actively authorized the construction of an irrigating canal from the Naches River, the planting of shade trees, and the construction of a school house to ensure the new town’s success. The old town is to be supplanted, and little concern is felt regarding the transition. Mr. Hatch, of Portland, is currently moving the Holland House from the old site to the new town. He uses jack screws to lift the building, placing a set of cross beams 10x10 inches, and beneath these, a double set of sills 16x16 inches set on rollers that move on heavy planks laid on the road. The contractor price is $1,600 to place the hotel on a stone foundation at New Yakima. Four horses and ten men are used in the transit; the railroad company supplies the timber and Hatch the tools. Once the road is cleared of this house, other buildings will follow, and the new highway will be paved and converted into a superb boulevard, extending six miles from the old town to the Naches River.
“Hatch jack screws the hills up, puts under it a set of cross beams... set on rollers that move on planks four inches thick which lay on the road.”
This 1881 account of 'New Yakima' (now simply Yakima) illustrates the extreme measures taken by railroad companies to force urban development and land speculation in the Pacific Northwest. While we no longer move entire hotels on rollers, the power of developers and corporate interests to dictate the growth patterns and vitality of Washington cities remains a core tension in local governance.
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