Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-02-19
WEDDING OF THE CITIES
Golden Spike Celebration of the
Completion of the Street
Railway
The Conductors Take Off Their
Rattles and Everybody
Rides Free
hundreds Visit the Lake.
SpO .ches BY Prominent
Citizens

The Iairhaven and New Whatcon
street railway was formally opened
yesterday. At 10 o'clock a. m a ca
containing Mayor Mckenzie, Coun
cilmen Aubrey, Ahern, Griffin, Hedg,
and Oeser and number Of private
citizens left Eleventh and Harris
streets in charge Of Conductor Stroh
necker and Motorman Bauder Thi.
car was followed by two Others and
after a pleasant run Of a few minutes
the postoflice at New Whatcom was
reached. A delay of some ten OF
fifteen minutes occurred here, during
which the party was joined by num-
ber Of the prominent citizens of New
! Whatcom, among whom were Council
men Nicklin and Blomquist, ex-Coun-
Gilman Simonds, Il. j. Dooley and J.
f. Baker and NJ. b. Cook, of the COM
pany, and others, as well as II. A. W.
Shock, Of the Thomson-Houston Com
pany. f. Cosgrove, eX-Mayor VIII ID.
Jenkins and Mrs. jenkins came over
in the early morning and Joined the
tairhaven party and made the trip
between the two cities.
The track is in excellent condition
and ride over it convinces the most
skeplical that the company has built
wisely and well. 1t takes faith and
sand for any set of men to invest their
good gold in an enterprise of this kind,
and yet the promoters of this railway
have built first-class road, one which
will be amply sufficient to meet through
traillc requirements for some years to
come.
A few minutes ride from the New
Whatcom postotlice and the power
house is reached. This is an immense
building, but no stop was made and
the visitors had no time to examine it,
The route taken is for the most part
level, but here and there there are
some sharp grades as well as sundry
and divers sharp curves, but none
which prevents a good rate of speed
being maintained throughout.
The road strikes the western side of
Lake WhatcOm, and skirts the shore
over a well constructed bridge and
trends around the northern side to Sill
yer Beach. Soon the other ears, each
carrying a full quota Of passengers, ar
rived. The hotel was open to all and
the visitors enjoyed the hospitality of
the management, and between times
took in the beautiful scenery of What
com county's most beautiful lake.
Presently speech making was IN
order aud Mr.. Baker, the president of
the Street Railway company, intro
duced Mr.. IL. y. Thompson, who ad-
dressed the citizens Of New Whatcom
and tairhaven as follows:
In these days it has become custom
airy to celebrate the completion of al
most all undertakings, and of
course no celebration is worthy of the
name unless somewhere in il there
should be an address or speech Of some
kind. / deem this an appropriate oc-
casion upon which to congratulate YOU.
Mr.. President, and the gentlemen who
are associated with you upon the com
pletiOn Of your lines of railway to an
extent which unites i'm closer
communion the several cities of Bell
ingham Bay and makes the beautiful
lake before us accessible by means of the |
rapid and cheap transportation which
you have provided. | deem it a proper
OCCASION also upon which to congratu-
late the people Of Fairhaven and New
and feel sure that their !
presence here today is a manifestation |
of their appreciation of the benefits !
which are to accrue to them from this |
great enterprise.
Very much might he said upon the |
subject of the magnitude of the work |
which has been performed, ami of the |
pluck and energy, the resolution and |
industry, and the great confidence i'm |
the future of this country, which were |
required to furnish the one or two or |
more hundreds Of thousands of dollars |
which were necessarily expended i'm |
the lines over which we
have been carried today. It is work |
Of great magnitude to us all, and i'm its
beneficial results excels any enterprise !
which has been undertaken by any of
the citizens Of either city.
Transportation is now not only rapid |
and cheap which will greatly facilitate
the transaction of business and contri- |
butte to the pleasure of our people, but
we are brought into closer social rela-
tions and when we shall by thus freely
in our pleasures and in |
our business and social relations come
to know each other better we will gradu-
ally learn the lesson that we are one
people, having common interests, and
the discords and petty jealousies which
have heretofore existed will gradually
disappear, and in the end our cities will
become in name, what they are in in
terest and what they ought soon to be
in government-one.
| shall look forward to this as one of
the inevitable results which will spring
from this enterprise, and the others
which will naturally follow it.
The construction of this road was un-
dertaken and the work carried on dur
ing time of financial depression, and
the grandest thing concerning it is that