The End of the Railroad Monopoly
Seattle shippers finally find relief from Northern Pacific's long-standing grip on local commerce as new transportation lines offer competitive rates.
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.
The people of Seattle have special reason to congratulate themselves on the new commercial situation that is now opening. The long-continued efforts of the Northern Pacific railroad to put a belt on the growth and prosperity of this city, have seriously interfered with its commercial development. It was due to the marked discriminations against them. The Northern Pacific felt that they were in its power and that it could do as it pleased with them and their business. Now, however, the conditions have changed. The shippers of Seattle can afford to be as independent of the Northern Pacific as they should be. If that company likes their business, it will be compelled to ask for it and to offer such inducements as will secure it. If it does not want their business, there is another line which has come and which is willing to offer for it every inducement. It will deliver goods on our wharves as quickly, in as good order and in as satisfactory a manner as the Northern Pacific, and it will not use an attitude calculated to make its patrons believe that it is displaying an extraordinary condescension in deigning to their business. If the town-to-town rate of the Northern Pacific is continued, it must be at the cost, not of Seattle, but of the company. Formerly we were too dependent upon that road; now we are not. Formerly they were masters of the situation; now they are not.
“Formerly we were too dependent upon that road; now we are not. Formerly they were masters of the situation; now they are not.”
This 1886 report on the Northern Pacific railroad monopoly echoes contemporary concerns about corporate giants, such as Amazon, holding outsized influence over Seattle’s economy. The transition from a single-company dependency to a competitive landscape remains a central, unresolved tension in the city's growth.
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