The Snow That Crushed a Schoolhouse Flat
A February storm buries Mason and Kitsap counties under four and a half feet of snow — flattening Seabeck's finest schoolhouse and a Lilliwaup hotel while its owner was away in Seattle.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
UNION CITY, Feb. 18. — [Special.] — The mail carrier went through yesterday from Union City to Shelton for the first time since the heavy snow. It required two days to break the road fourteen miles, and, although the snow has settled much and some has melted, yet much of the way the snow on that route is still about four and a half feet deep.
The schoolhouse at Seabeck was crushed flat by the snow. It cost about $3,000 and was one of the best in Kitsap county. Four dollars' worth of work would probably have saved it.
Hill's hotel at Lilliwaup falls was also crushed in, its owner having been in Seattle; and one of Mrs. Stickney's cottages at the same place also went down.
“The schoolhouse at Seabeck was crushed flat by the snow. It cost about $3,000 and was one of the best in Kitsap county. Four dollars' worth of work would probably have saved it.”
Deep lowland snow is rare enough in Puget Sound today that a single foot closes schools and leads the news; in 1898 four and a half feet of it collapsed a costly new Kitsap County schoolhouse. The line that '$4 worth of work would probably have saved it' reads like a modern inspection report — deferred maintenance measured against the weather.
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