| Posted by SES on August 17, 2019 | |
I believe this is where the Northern Pacific started their Westward construction of their transcontinental line. Construction began in Kalama about 1870 and completion of the first segment ended in Tacoma in 1873. Further construction was delayed by the financial panic of the 1870's, which caused a significant drop in the stock market and recession. This delayed the NP transcontinental completion about 10 years. The famed NP "Prairie Line" from Tenino, WA to Tacoma was actually the original alignment of this first transcontinental railroad to Tacoma and the Northwest, even though its start was relegated to a short line until the transcontinental could be completed. The water level route we know today was constructed in 1910 to avoid the short but hefty grade out of Tacoma. Very little is left of the famed and seemigly little photographed Prairie Line as the tracks have been removed from Tenino to Yelm. The intact rusty remains of the line exist from Yelm to the next town, Roy. The last remaining customer at Roy, Wilcox Farm's Feed Mill, was removed following a disastrous collapse of one of the silos, burying at least one of the employees. They constructed a new state of the art mill on their farm. As far as I know, there are no customers on the remains of this historic segment of track, but there is access further north to Fort Lewis so military equipment can be moved. The bridge over the Nisqually River was damaged in 1996 flooding, so access to a customer in Yelm was severed years ago. Hopefully some good use will come of the unused portions of this line. The segment from Lakewood in South Tacoma to downtown was completely revamped and now Sounder and Amtrak service is seen there. There is a small remnant of the original line from where the new connection was made, past the Union Station to the water level route. I think they are reluctant to remove much more of this line due to its historical significance.
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