Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad

I was looking for a historical topic for today’s post and came across a reference to the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad. This railroad was incorporated in 1873, the year in which most of my current work-in-progress takes place. My novel deals with the coming of trains to the Pacific Northwest, but in my research before this week, I’d never heard of the Seattle and Walla Walla railroad.

I’ve written before about Tacoma being named the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1873. I noted in that post that Seattle residents were not happy about being passed over as the terminus. Seattle leaders feared Tacoma would overtake them as the preeminent town on Puget Sound.

As of 1873, Seattle did not have any rail lines, so I’m not sure why Seattleites of the day thought their town should be the terminus. There was a coal train from Lake Union to Pike Street, and that was it.

After the Northern Pacific announced it would end its line in Tacoma, a leading citizen of Seattle, Selucius Garfielde, decided to incorporate a railroad that would cross Washington Territory from Seattle over Snowqualmie Pass to Eastern Washington. And so the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad was formed on September 19, 1873.

Walla Walla was on the far southeastern side of the territory, so the railroad investors planned a grandiose line of over two hundred miles. The railroad’s shareholders traveled to Walla Walla to drum up financial and political support for the line. There are conflicting reports as to whether Walla Walla supported the line. While some sources say Walla Walla was enthusiastic, others indicate that, because Walla Walla already had well-established land and water routes to Portland, Oregon, their citizens did not want to fund a railroad.

Whether or not the eastern side of the territory was interested, volunteers in Seattle broke ground on the line on May 1, 1874, amid a festive spirit. Twelve miles of narrow-gauge track were built that year, mostly through volunteer labor.

Beyond this initial development, however, progress was slow. It took until 1877 to get the line to Renton (on the east side of Lake Washington). Only then did the trains begin running. From Renton, the tracks were extended to Newcastle (near Renton) in 1878. The total length of the railroad was twenty-one miles. Shipping coal from Renton and Newcastle to ships on Puget Sound kept the line profitable, but it never operated beyond of King County.

In 1880, the line was purchased by Henry Villard, owner of the Oregon Improvement Company, and renamed the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad. Only in the 1880s and beyond did railroads expand in earnest in the Seattle area.

What interesting historical information have you learned by chance?