William H. Boyes and the Monorail
Wondering about that monorail photo, which appears on the main page of this blog? I wondered, too, and so I did some research.
William H. Boyes was one of a group of men who in 1910 incorporated the Seattle-Tacoma Monorail Co., promising to bring high-speed rail service to the communities along Puget Sound. No one knows much about the circumstances surrounding the photo, only that is was probably taken somewhere on the Tacoma Tideflats, and also that it most likely does not portray a working train.
The following year, 1911, the Edmonds, Washington, city council awarded a franchise to a man calling himself G.E. Edmonds, president of Boyes Monorail Edmonds Co. The franchise was for providing 10-minute monrail service between Edmonds and Seattle. The first post for the monorail was put into place on May 2, 1911, accompanied by speech-making and other festivities.
In an ill omen for the project, a skunk fell into an open post hole a week later and died, producing a "penetrating odor" around the work site. Then the timbers and steel for the monorail track, as well as some experimental cars that supposedly were ordered, never showed up.
On Oct. 21, a judge ordered the monorail company, now called the Pacific Railway Co., along with W.H. Boyes, president, to allow stockholders to inspect the company's books or show cause for refusing to do so. The stockholders alleged that the company had sold $15,000 worth of stock and that $10,000 of the money was used by Boyes for his personal expenses. Whether anyone ever got their money back is unknown.
Seattle eventually got a working monorail--in 1962. It was built for the Seattle World's Fair and is still in operation, with plans under way to expand the system. Presumably, William H. Boyes was gone from the scene by then.
[Tags: monorail trains transportation mass transit schemes railroads Seattle scams Washington Puget Sound history]
William H. Boyes was one of a group of men who in 1910 incorporated the Seattle-Tacoma Monorail Co., promising to bring high-speed rail service to the communities along Puget Sound. No one knows much about the circumstances surrounding the photo, only that is was probably taken somewhere on the Tacoma Tideflats, and also that it most likely does not portray a working train.
The following year, 1911, the Edmonds, Washington, city council awarded a franchise to a man calling himself G.E. Edmonds, president of Boyes Monorail Edmonds Co. The franchise was for providing 10-minute monrail service between Edmonds and Seattle. The first post for the monorail was put into place on May 2, 1911, accompanied by speech-making and other festivities.
In an ill omen for the project, a skunk fell into an open post hole a week later and died, producing a "penetrating odor" around the work site. Then the timbers and steel for the monorail track, as well as some experimental cars that supposedly were ordered, never showed up.
On Oct. 21, a judge ordered the monorail company, now called the Pacific Railway Co., along with W.H. Boyes, president, to allow stockholders to inspect the company's books or show cause for refusing to do so. The stockholders alleged that the company had sold $15,000 worth of stock and that $10,000 of the money was used by Boyes for his personal expenses. Whether anyone ever got their money back is unknown.
Seattle eventually got a working monorail--in 1962. It was built for the Seattle World's Fair and is still in operation, with plans under way to expand the system. Presumably, William H. Boyes was gone from the scene by then.
[Tags: monorail trains transportation mass transit schemes railroads Seattle scams Washington Puget Sound history]
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