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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 4 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 5 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 4 |
| 1916 | 1 |
21 stories matching conduit
- City Pipe Crew Clashes with Telephone Company
A standoff over the '25-foot line' at Third and Main threatens the city’s water infrastructure as corporate conduits block municipal repairs.
- Walla Walla Tells the Gas Company: Put Your Wires Underground — and Pay Up
A 25-year gas and electric franchise goes before the council tonight, rewritten to bury every wire on Main and Alder and to hand the city a grand total of $7,750 by 1928.
- Who Owns the Water? Marcus Grants 25-Year Private Franchise
Stevens County commissioners hand a sweeping water system monopoly to a group of investors, with a two-year deadline to build or lose the right.
- Walla Walla's Growing Pains and Water Worries
A civil engineer lays out a blueprint for the city's future water supply, warning that small, aging pipes are a danger to fire safety.
- The Unkept Promise of Walla Walla's Telephone Wires
City council is urged to enforce a year-old franchise agreement requiring the telephone company to bury its unsightly street-level wires.
- The Great Wire War: How Seattle’s Electric Giants Tried to Buy Their Way Out of the Underground
When the City Council threatened to bury power lines underground, Union Electric and Consumers’ Electric screamed ruin. But the real drama wasn't the wires—it was the council dodging a crowd of gamblers and churchgoers demanding saloon closures.
- City Council Denies Police Expansion Amidst Infrastructure Debates
Aldermen reject a bid for fifteen additional officers while debating the undergrounding of electric wires.
- The Moonlit Streets of Tacoma
Electrician Laaton pushes to replace wooden utility poles with ornamental iron lighting throughout the downtown core.
- The City Grants a Telephone Franchise
A new 25-year contract outlines the city's control over telecommunications infrastructure, requiring underground conduits and free service for city officials.
- Tacoma’s Water Deal Has Forty Days Left
C. B. Talbot tells the city council his pure-water plan will be withdrawn unless it acts—iron and steel prices have already added $17,000 to the pipe bill.
- The Battle for Walla Walla’s Tap
In 1903, hydraulic engineer Otto Weile presented a landmark report to the city council, arguing that the future of Walla Walla’s growth depended on securing the waters of Mill Creek.
- The Fight Over Who Owns Seattle's Water
Promoters offered to build a gravity system and sell the city millions of gallons—if Seattle let them run it, with an option to buy it back later.
- The Fight Over Walla Walla's Subterranean Waters
A legal assessment regarding the city's rights to the Thomas Springs sheds light on early municipal water struggles.
- A 25-Year Grip on Ione’s Water
Over a rival’s protest, Stevens County commissioners handed the Ione Water & Light Co. a quarter-century franchise to lay water mains through town—with a clause letting Ione buy the system out if it ever incorporated.
- The City Will Pave First Avenue—Cable Tracks or Not
Seattle'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.
- Buy Our Waterworks, or We'll Sell You to a Syndicate
Tacoma's Light and Water Company files its inventory for a $1.75 million city buyout — and a critic notes that the company has always known how to win a Tacoma election.
- The Sewer Under Beacon Hill
After quicksand, floods and a costly detour, Seattle’s South Tunnel is weeks from completion—and somehow still inside its $100,000 budget.
- Newport Council Digs In Against Electric Company's Meter Rates
A 25-year steam-heating franchise request collides with a fight over streetlight bills and what the town can afford.
- A Power Station to Light Newport
The Northern Idaho & Montana Power Co. is building a $15,000 fireproof office and substation at Washington and Pine, promising 24-hour electric service within ninety days.
- A Ten-Inch Snowstorm Buries Seattle and Stalls the Cars
The city's streetcars, telegraph wires and outlying districts struggle under a heavy January snowfall as Portland reports three feet and the weather observer warns of more to come.
- The Streets Seattle Was About to Give Away
A city council committee votes to vacate waterfront streets south of Charles Street, and the city engineer warns that private tide-land leases could cut Seattle off from deep water.