Electric Railway Systems.
The general offices of the Puget Sound Electric Railway, operating fifty-three miles of standard gauge electric railway, are at Tacoma. The main line extends from Tacoma to Seattle, with a branch to Renton, twelve miles from Seattle, and an extensive logging road from Edgewood, near Tacoma, through the timber country towards Brown’s Point. This is pronounced to be one of the finest equipped, best constructed and operated electric railways in the country. Thirty-four trains arrive or leave Tacoma daily between six o’clock A. M. and midnight. The road has been in operation about two years and is aiding materially in the settlement and development of the rich Puyallup and White River Valleys between Tacoma and Seattle.
The Tacoma Railway & Power Company operates 85¼ miles of city and suburban electric and cable railways at Tacoma. Lines are operated to Puyallup, 16 miles; to Spanaway, 14 miles, and Steilacoom, 13 miles distant, bringing these towns into close touch with Tacoma, and facilitating the growth of the city’s suburbs. About 400 men are regularly employed as trainmen, trackmen, in the shops and general offices. The increase in the number of passengers carried during the past year is not less than 5,000 per day.