Interurban Railway

The Interurban Trail, which is now a very popular path for walkers, joggers, skaters, and bicyclists, started out as the route for the Puget Sound Electric Railway. This electrically-powered railway began service in 1902. The PSER Corporate stated that the initials, PSER, stood for “Pleasure, Safety, Economy, and Reliability”. The Seattle depot was located at Occidental and Yesler Way. Inside the Seattle city limits, the train ran on overhead municipal trolley poles, but once outside the city limits it would hook-up with the “third rail”, or contact rail, that ran parallel to the other two rails and carried electricity.

The rail cars were green in color and the tracks were smooth and quiet. It took 75 minutes to get from Seattle to Tacoma, a 32.2 mile ride, and the fare was 60 cents, with your luggage checked free. More affluent riders could use the parlor car for an extra 25 cents. The parlor car had 58 plush seats, a mahogany interior, and was attended by a porter. There was also an observation car with ornamental brass railings which was enclosed in glass during winter. The view was terrific as it followed the similar route of the Northern Pacific through hop fields, dairy farms, coalfields, orchards, one tunnel, and an Indian Reservation. The Interurban Railway traveled through the old towns of Mortimer, Georgetown, Henry, Allentown, Renton, Kent, Auburn, Christopher, Thomas, and Algona.

Algona people could ride the Interurban into Seattle for 25 cents. There was a signal arm to pull down so the engineer would know there was a fare waiting to come aboard. The Interurban ran every half-hour, with a local that stopped at every station and a limited which ran straight through. Children had to be taught not to touch the “third rail” that carried electricity. Many animals and chickens were electrocuted, and several people were killed at the crossing by the Interurban Depot in Algona. The Interurban freight came in at 1:00 in the morning and the Algona merchants had to meet the train or risk getting their merchandise stolen. In 1919 the Interurban carried 3 million passengers and at times six cars would be full of Fort Lewis soldiers.

The completion of Highway 99 in 1927 and the increasing sales of Model A cars cut the number of people depending on the Interurban Railway for transportation, and in December 1928 it made its last run from Tacoma to Seattle.