City Engineer Thomson
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- Mar 14, 1893The Unintended NeighborhoodSurvey errors leave houses in the middle of streets and neighbors at odds over property lines.Seattle, WA
- Apr 29, 1893The Great Sewer Bond DebateA convention of the City Council debates the funding of main sewers versus lateral lines, with health and civic honor on the line.Front Street, Seattle, WA
- Jun 16, 1893The Street That Couldn't Be FinishedProperty owners on Deeatnr Street face losing their homes to the city treasurer over an unfinished grading project that the city legally cannot complete.Seattle, WA
- Jan 19, 1894City Engineer Summarily Fired in 'Partisan' Power GrabIn an unusual late-day meeting of the Board of Public Works, the City Engineer was removed from office, prompting accusations that the municipal government had been turned into a patronage machine.Seattle, WA
- Jan 24, 1894The Bosses' Sewer SchemeWhen an investigation into a brick-buying scandal threatened city officials, they turned to the very workers they employed to save their reputations.Seattle, WA
- Mar 5, 1894Seattle’s 1891 Election-Eve Alarm: ‘Watch Until the Vote Is Counted’On the eve of municipal elections, the Post-Intelligencer accuses the Democratic administration of protected gambling, a looted treasury and stacked election boards—and warns Republicans that the only danger left is the count.Seattle, WA
- Mar 16, 1894Seattle's Sewer Scandal ExposedNewly unearthed records reveal massive overspending and corruption in the city’s sewer construction projects.Front Street, Seattle, WA
- May 22, 1894The Mayor Moves to Shut the Dives and Gambling RoomsA sweeping message from the mayor demands that the council revoke the licenses of saloons and music halls where girls sell liquor and gamblers run their games—passed in full by the aldermen even as auditors report a $27,000 hole in the street-improvement funds.Seattle City Hall, Seattle, WA
- Jul 15, 1894James J. Hill's Railroad Ultimatum to SeattleThe Great Northern president tells Seattle's council he will build freight and passenger terminals 'right away'—if the city grants the track franchises he wants across the tide flats and South Third.Seattle, WA
- Jul 24, 1894Seattle's Broken Sewers Were Shoveled to Pieces, Engineer SaysCity Engineer Thomson rejects the explosion theory and blames wet clay clods and soft-burned pipe for fractures under Kenny Street.Seattle, WA
- Jul 30, 1894The Sewers Were Cracking — And Seattle Wanted to Know WhyCity engineers trace a rash of shattered pipes to Ballard and Olympia, and to the manufacturers who made them.Seattle, WA
- Aug 6, 1894The City Will Pave First Avenue—Cable Tracks or NotSeattle's street committee orders brick pavement from Yesler to Pike and threatens to pave straight over the Front Street Cable Company's sagging rails if the company won't pay to raise them.Seattle, WA
- Sep 11, 1894Four Railroads, One Street Grid, and a Deal Seattle Had to ApproveGreat Northern, Northern Pacific and rival lines nearly settle how their tracks will cross south of downtown—if the city council will rewrite their franchises.Seattle, WA