Topic: Roads & Rails
The first Europeans to see the Olympic Peninsula were stunned by the thick conifer forests that stretched from shore to as far as the eye could see. Nearly 100 years later, thousands of Americans and ...
This speech on the history of the Seattle Waterfront Streetcar was given in 1992 by the streetcar's advocate and founder, George Benson, who was then president of the Seattle City Council. He presente...
Reginald Heber Thomson probably did more to change the face of Seattle than any one individual. During his exemplary career as city engineer and beyond, he leveled hills, straightened and dredged wate...
Trackless trolleys -- electric trolleys that have rubber tires rather than running on rails like streetcars -- have been a distinctive feature of Seattle's transit system since 1940. Seattle became th...
This chronology marks the major milestones in the evolution of Washington's transportation system over a century of progress, challenge, and innovation.
This is the second essay in a special series of essays commissioned by The Seattle Times to examine crucial turning points in the history of Seattle and King County. This segment examines the interpla...
The Cascade Mountains posed a formidable obstacle to wagon travel in the 1840s and 1850s. When waves of emigrants began arriving in the Northwest, they followed the Columbia River Gorge, the easiest (...
The Northwest's system of roads and highways did not evolve easily. At the turn of the twentieth century, few roads were paved or even improved and county projects were not coordinated with one anothe...
The Washougal River Bridge spans the Washougal River in Camas, in Clark County. It opened in 1908 as part of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway (SP&S). This railroad was a joint enterprise of the...
The West Cashmere Bridge was built in 1929 across the Wenatchee River about a third of a mile west of the city limits of Cashmere in Chelan County. Cashmere lies entirely on the south side of the rive...
A short section of old railroad line, rusty but intact, hidden deep in the woods near Lake Sawyer in Black Diamond in Southeast King County, inspired this People's History contributed by Bill Kombol. ...
William D. Wood, an attorney, land speculator, electric trolley line president, and Seattle mayor, was a conspicuous figure in the business and political life of Seattle for more than a quarter centur...