The Great Departure for British Columbia
Three prominent Northern Pacific railroad men abruptly resigned their posts in Washington Territory to seek new fortunes across the border.
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.
Alex Hill, W. D. Darrow, and P. H. Maloney, all well known officials on the Idaho and Canada division of the Northern Pacific railroad, have resigned their positions in that employ and are at present in Seattle on their way to British Columbia, where they expect to enter the employ of the Canadian Pacific. They are all old, experienced heads at railroading, and the Canadian Pacific’s gain will be the Northern Pacific’s loss.
“They are all old, experienced heads at railroading, and the Canadian Pacific’s gain will be the Northern Pacific’s loss.”
In the 1880s, the fierce competition between the Northern Pacific and the burgeoning Canadian Pacific Railroad drove a migration of skilled labor across the border. Today, the Pacific Northwest remains a high-stakes, interconnected labor market where talent constantly shifts between Seattle and Vancouver, BC, driven by the same economic gravity.
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