, 1888-05-24
THE SPOKANE AND SEATTLE

THE CONTRACT SIGNED FOR THE EN-
TIRE ROUTE FROM SEATTLE TO
SPOKANE FALLS.
From the Post Intellgencer.
At 8 o'clock yesterday afternoon the
contract for the construction OF the
main line of the Seattle, Lake Shore q
Eastern railway, connecting Seattle
on Puget Sound, with Spokane Falls
in Eastern Washington, was let to the
millionaire contracting firm of Ryan &
Mcdonald, OF New York. The mile
age embraced in this contract is about
225 miles, and extends from a point a
few miles east OF the Gilman mines, in
Squak valley, via the Snoqualmie pass,
70 connect with the fifty mile section
of the road which is now being built
west from the Falls. The cost OF this
section is about $5,OOOOOO, and the
road must be completed so that trains
can run between Seattle and Spokane
Falls within two years from this l7th
day OF May, 1888.
THE CONTRACTORS.
The firm which has been awarded
this, the greatest railroad contract ever
let at one time in Washington terri
tory, are we'll known in the east. They
built the division of the Baltimore &
Ohio between Philadelphia and New
York, and were recently engaged in
building roads for the Illinois Central
in Illinois.
THE ROUTE.
Within ten days Messrs. Ryan
Mcdonald will start in at the fifty-first
mile post on the line OF the road from
Seattle and thirty miles this side OF the
Snoqualmie pass, going through the
largest hop yard in the world, located
in the Snoqualmie valley, and skirting
along the bank of the famous Snoqual-
mic Falls, where some day great
pleasure resort will be established.
The road runs thence along Snoqual-
mie prairie and Snoqualmie river, to
and through an immense forest OF
timber twenty miles long and eight
miles wide, which has been ttly des.
cribed by such old lumbermen as j, X.
Mcdonald, A. Macintosh and James
w. Curry, OF Michigan, as the finest
body of timber in the world. AS the
road eme.ges from this forest it pene.
trates the
GREAT MINERAL BELT
OF the Cascade range, tapping rich
beds of anthracite coal, not yet devel-
oped, and immense deposits of lime
stone and marble. This brings the
road right into the heart of the famous
iron mines of the Snoqualmie, which
have been owned by citizens of Seattle
for more than twenty years, and which
have been pronounced by experts
both in England and America, as un-
surpassed in quality of ore and extent
of deposits.
When the line of the Seattle, Lake
Shore & Eastern reaches
THE SUMMIT
OF the Cascade mountains in the Sno-
qualmie Pass it will be only 125 feet
above the elevation of the Northern
Pacific tunnel through the same range
of mountains which cost $2,000OO0,
and oyer 500 feet below the level OF
the Switchback. Besides this, on ac-
count OF the more favorable exposure
in the Snoqualmie Pass, but little
snow-sheding will be required.
Leaving the pass, the road skirts
along the shores Of Lake Kitchilass,
picturesque little body of clear water,
one of the most beautiful mountain
lakes in the world which abounds in
trout, and has been fittingly desig-
mated as the sportsman's paradise.
The road proceeds thence by easy
grades and inexpensive construction
to the mineral regions Of the Cle-elum
and on down through the fertile and
beautiful
VALLEY OF KITTITAs,
Which is described as rich and pro-
ductive garden thirty miles in extent
and peopled with thrifty and enter
prising people, who, on account OF
having no railroad facilities to trans
port their products to market, have
gone extensively into the stock raising
business. In the heart OF this beauti-
full valley the road reaches Ellensburg,
from which point it will derive large
traffic. At Ellensburg the road takes
a fresh start for the Columbia river,
traversing the great bunch grass and
stock raising section of eastern WASH
ington. The columbia will be crossed
by an iron
sRIDaH AT on NEAR PRIESTS RAPIDS,
Which are the head of navigation on
that stream. The Columbia and Snake
rivers are navigable from that point
south for hundreds of miles. Thus the
Columbia river will become a great
lateral feeder for the Seattle, Lake
Shore & Eastern railway. This means
a great deal. Whan il ia understood