The Great Snoqualmie Rail Race

There is a point on the Snoqualmie River, at the falls, which is very narrow, though wide enough, with proper grading, for a single line of railroad. At this point a ledge of hard rock comes down to the stream, through which the river eats its way. Two days ago it was rumored that General Manager Sheafe, of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway Company, had sent an engineering party out on the steamer Cascade, for Falls City, presumably to survey and get possession of this route around the falls. Not to be outdone, Mr. T. J. Milner, representing the Oregon Improvement Company, organized an engineering party under Mr. L. K. Murphy, and sent them to Newcastle by special train. Arriving at Newcastle the party found horses all saddled and waiting, and after a few hours hard riding arrived at Falls City, three miles below the coveted point, before the party on the steamer had reached the mouth of the Snoqualmie. Mr. Murphy set his men to work cutting a trail through the woods to the objective point. Mr. Murphy, becoming anxious, handed his instruments to one of the men and plunged ahead through the brush and woods, but to his great astonishment and chagrin he stepped out into an open roadway along the brink of the falls, which had apparently been staked several days before. Every little distance he noticed a stake driven. He was almost confounded. Running to the nearest stake he floored down and read: 'SURVEYED THROUGH THE SNOQUALMIE PASS - SEATTLE, LAKE SHORE AND EASTERN RAILWAY, NO. 400.' The entire party was soon on the spot, when one of them broke the silence with the exclamation: 'Sheafe and his dades have been here ahead of us!'