The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-03-15

| PNeAN eRetl RAIL- man
anu consigned by the Moss Bay Iron and steel
company, limited, and of which corporation. at
ia 'iue' Mr. Peter Kirk, now OF kirkland,
wa an active Official and large owner Then
ING mrs. rails were unloaded and laid, amid the
Ie!oieings OF the people and to the confusion of
ING sAeP.ics' shortly thereafter the first trial
| mp was made, the locomotive H. L. Yesler
| hauitng number OF fiat cars loaded with repre-
sen'al.se citlzens to point near the shores OF
| town.
~ was 'ne correspondence growing out of the
SUI VI tie rails which first drew the attention
OF refer Kirk to this section of the country and
| us resources Mr.. Gilman sent him an ANALYSIS
| Oh the iron ore found on the line and he came
O o 70 examine the mine. As result the Moss
pa! company formed an American corporation
chartered to mine and smeit the ore at Kirk
ianc' a town which was named in Mr.. Kinks
Hohor. The failure of the Moss Bay Company
sausGo us plans to fall through for the time,
put taey were taken up again by purely Amer
icai CORPORATION, named the Great Western Iron
anu steel Company, in which Mr.. Kirk is an
| zation.
WORK went steadily forward passenger, freight
anu baggage cars continued to arrive, and on
oetober "A, 1857, the line was opened for traffic
10 mon bay, niue miles distant, connecting
with steamers plying upon Lake Washington.
Inc station consisted OF a simple platform, built
LOT temporary use, upon the steep bank over
LOOKING the lake. and passengers and freight
were IN fashion toboganned down an incline
10 the dock driven into the shores below. Thus
were the first dollars received and the start
mace toward earnings which have since very
largely increased and which rapidly grew to,
ana soon exceeded, the sanguine estimates OF
the man who wrote the company's prospectus.
While this construction work was going on,
Mr.. Gilman addressed himself to the develop
ment OF the cOuI mines which have tqkau hls
name at the south end OF Lake Samamish and
winch have since been one OF the chief sources
OF supply of the city.
In the fall OF 1887 new measures had to be
taken to carry on the work of construction be-
You'd Gilman and in Eastern Washington. Ac-
cordngly new construction company with
larger capital was organized and the seattle &
Eastern Construction Company with q capital
OF Sl,OOO,OOO came into existence. The organizers
OF that company were D. II. Gilman, Thomas
Burke, Angus Macintosh, Franklin N. Jones
and William II. Scott. The local subscribers to
the stock, which was all subscribed and paid in
cash, were: A. Macintosh. $4,000; Thomas
Burke, 1000; John Leary, $4,000; John Collins,
$4,000; Bailey Gatzert, $4,000; D. H. Gilman,
10000; the balance being taken in New York
city and the East This company made d con-
tract with the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern
Company to build the road from Gilman beyond
snoqualmie Falls and the Eastern division from
Spokane west TO Davenport. forty-ive miles
On November 10, 1887, traffic was extended to
Terence (named in honor OF Terence OBrien,
the Democratic war-horse), situated eighteen
miles from Seattle. Here logging camps had
been established, spur built, and for a long
time profitable business was conducted. On
the last day of the same month a further stretch
OF three miles was opened to Bothell (then called
Winsor) and connections made at that point
with the small steamers Jennie June and una,
which now thread the winding courses of
''squak Slough" or Samamish river, and, after
crossing the lake OF the same name, land their
cargoes, human otherwise, at what is now
known as Gilman. In December, 1857, the
British ship Cape Verde arrived with further
consignment of rails, which were Immediately
shipped to "the 'front.' and laid, and in the fol-
lowing month trains began running to Kelsey's,
twenty-six miles from Seattle, where for time
j. A. Park now with Dexter Horton & Coz acted
as agent. The lake steamers at this time trans
ferred to the station their connections
which had hitherto been made at Bothell.
While construction was progressing around
the lakes and the final location was being made
through the mountains, an amusing, though at
the time serious, event occurred to interrupt the
work. An engineer named Keith appeared at
the offices of the company with the startling in
telfgence that he had discovered pass through
the mountains which was 800 feet lower than
the Snoqualmie pass Immediately all work
was stopped on the Snoqualmie route and
purity was sent OUT uUOcr Cne guidance OF Mr..
Keith to make a trip through his low pass.
After an arduous journey the party came
withir sight OF the wonderful new discovery.
Mr.. Keith pointed to a gap in the timber on the
mountains in the distance the low pass, but
on closer examination it found to be
nothing but swath which had been cut through
the tall timber az some remote period, and
which Mr.. Keith, by jumping to conclusions,
had believed TO be pass. The party returned
in disgust, Mr.. Keith was dubbed slow Pass
Keith and work was resumed on the old route
, Then Il halt had to be called in the track
laying operations. The good ship Joseph S.
Spinney, bearing the balance of the rails or
derei, was reported as having put into Callao,
leaking. Her cargo was sufficient to have COW
cred the balance OF the grade to the coal mines
at Gilman. which had been completed early in
November, 1857, and to have well equipped the
road with the necessary sidings, etc. Late in
January, 1855, she finally put in appearance,
three months overdue-her long delay having
been caused by the fact of being obliged to
discharge the entire cargo at Callao, the slow
completion of needed repairs to the hull, the
laborious reloading at that port, and a slow trip
up the coast. Litigation is still pending be-
tween the ships owners and the marine under
writers over this detention. In the interval the
easterly grade lay for several months, neces-
sarily unprotected by rails and ballast, and ex-
posed to the winter storms. 1t proved an ex-
pensive matter for the construction forces, who
worked wei into the summer following to re-
store the banks and repair the breaches along
squak lake and beyond.
Upon the 18th day of March, 1888,
tho Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern
railway began operating on its own behalf with
the following corps of officials: W. R. Thornell,
manager: +. 4. Allen, auditor; W. J. Jennings,
general freight and passenger agent; VI. X.
Jones, trainmas ter and rOadmaster: J. H. Wat
son. superintendent OF bridges and buildings,
and W. II. GarloCk, master mechanic Upon
the following daythe track was so far completed
as TO permit the first shipment OF coal from the
mines at Gilman, and Geographic service was
established, the line having been erected under
the company's contract with the Western
Union Company, March IS. Shipments of
coal were not large for some time thereafter,
DEVELOPMENT OF the mines being pushed and
the grade and track of the railroad still reeeiv-
ing attention from the gangs OF laborers under
Thomas Earle & Co BY midsummer the line
was in excellent shape and the road running
regularly between Seattle and Gilman-forty-
three miles.
Part of the original plan OF the projectors OF
the road was tho construction of line running
due north from the head OF Lake Washington to
the British boundary, where il would connect
with branch 10 he built BY the Canadian Pa
cific from Mission, on the Frasier river. This
line would develop ricn and little explored
country TO the north OF Seattle, which had been
penetrated only by steamers and canoes on the
rivers and by cruisers, prospeetors and isolated
settlers on the few and almost impossible roads
and trails which wound through it. Directc con-
uection would be established with a trausconti-
mental railroad which was in competition with
the line which had disappointed the expecta-
tons of the people.
AZ the Seattle & Eastern Construction Com