The Bold Plan to Build the Lake Washington Canal
Facing gridlock in Congress, Seattle’s Chamber of Commerce pushed a local bill to authorize the county to construct the canal itself, aiming to transform the city into the 'first city on the Pacific coast.'
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.
A strong effort was made in Olympia by King county men to secure the passage of senate bill No. 158, prescribing the powers of counties relative to public works. Commonly known as 'the King county canal bill,' its purpose is to enable King county to commence the construction of the canal if it should see fit. The act authorizes the county commissioners to undertake and maintain public works, and to levy a tax to pay for it. A committee report argued that federal inaction meant the project would be delayed for years. They proposed that the county take on the project, estimating it would double the population in five years and make Seattle the premier port on the Pacific. Proponents pushed for the bill so that, in case of unreasonable delay in Washington D.C., the county could take action itself. A petition was circulated among prominent taxpayers to pressure legislators to support the measure.
“The rapidity with which commerce would concentrate at this port would, in a very few years, make Seattle the first city on the Pacific coast.”
This 1893 debate over the Lake Washington Ship Canal highlights a historic pattern of Seattle's 'booster' class taking direct control of infrastructure when federal funding stalled. The grand promises of 1893—that the canal would trigger an immediate explosion in population and industrial wealth—echo the perennial civic debates over modern mega-projects like light rail expansion or waterfront redevelopment.
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