Editing Chehalis, Washington (section)

====Railroads====
The earliest connection for Chehalis to new railroads in the region was in 1873 when the first depot in the area was erected in Newaukum. A local resident paid a conductor to stop in Saundersville, eventually leading to the build of a warehouse depot in the town that became Chehalis. A standard train station was completed in 1883, replaced in 1912 by a depot that became the Lewis County Historical Society and Museum. Economic conditions improved drastically in the city, leading to a large build-up of the downtown core. Competing railroads, attempting to connect Chehalis to the Pacific coast, begin around 1890. A rail company, the Pacific, Chehalis & Eastern, operated a line to [[Seahaven, Washington|Sea Haven]]; funded by prominent residents, the venture failed by 1891. A freight railroad that led to South Bend was operated by the [[Northern Pacific Railway Company]] and became successful after full operations began in 1893. Passenger service began on the line and provided the city with an increase in local shopping. The passenger trains began to decrease during the Great Depression and ceased by 1954 due to competition with automobile travel.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Staff writer |date=2006 |title=Lewis County to Willapa Bay by Rail |url=http://www.pacificcohistory.org/sw2006_2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320011036/http://www.pacificcohistory.org/sw2006_2.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-03-20 |magazine=The Sou'wester |publisher=Pacific County Historical Society and Museum |pages=2–11 |access-date=July 2, 2024}}</ref>

Chehalis, in 1916, began being served by a short rail line operated by the Cowlitz, Chehalis, & Cascade Railroad. The line transported milk from local dairy farms to condensing plants in the city and provided lumber from surrounding timberlands to sawmills and woodworking producers in Chehalis.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Brown |first=W.E. |date=May 1927 |title=A Short Line Financed By Four Great Western Roads |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K4zmAAAAMAAJ |magazine=Transportation - The National Monthly of the Transportation Industry |publisher=Transportation Publishing Company, Incorporated |pages=9–11 |access-date=July 2, 2024}}</ref>

Other railroads in the city include the [[Chehalis Western Railroad]], a portion of which became part of the Chehalis–Centralia Railroad after the line was sold.