Fidalgo City and Anacortes Railway

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The Fidalgo City and Anacortes Railway built and ran a 13-mile (21 km) electric line from Anacortes to Fidalgo City (now Dewey) and Dewey Beach on Fidalgo Island, Washington. It was incorporated on June 30, 1890, and began operating on March 29, 1891. It is said to have been the first electric railway in Washington. The prospectus planned to raise about $250,000. The organizers were Julius S. Potter, C.B. Holman, H.C. Colver, and Joshua Pierce, with W.A. Potter serving as a trustee. Offices were in Anacortes.

Local stories say the trolley made only one round trip to Fidalgo City, and much of that trip was done with a horse because the power generator couldn’t handle it. The line mostly operated only a little within Anacortes because the power supply was unreliable. Service continued until the Panic of 1893, when the land boom collapsed, and the road was abandoned and the tracks removed.