As railroads began to cross the continent to reach the West, access to Vancouver from the Midwest really opened up. People began rushing into Vancouver and Washington Territory in 1883, since they could travel easily on the Northern Pacific Railway to Portland. Once railroads reached Vancouver itself 25 years later, its position as a crossroads between east-west and north-south routes was greatly amplified.

Challenges of topography slowed the railroads in reaching Vancouver, either through the Cascades or along the Washington side (north bank) of the Columbia River. But by 1908, a Washington rail line stopped in Vancouver. Two years later, a railroad bridge crossing the Columbia River opened. The Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway then connected Vancouver with Portland and Seattle. At the time, it was the longest double-track bridge in the country.

At the crossroads of north-south and east-west railway lines, Vancouver’s largest employer was the railroads for most of the 20th century.