Walla Walla Battles for Public Water
A landslide vote rejects private control in favor of a new municipal gravity system.
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.
Walla Walla, July 27.—This city at a special election today voted, almost four to one, to issue $140,000 in bonds for the construction of a gravity system of water works in opposition to the present system of a private corporation. Out of a total of 1,043 votes, 798 were cast for and 245 against the proposition. The question was hotly canvassed. The present company has a contract with the city for nineteen years to run yet, and threatens to contest the right of the city to build a system. Its shareholders are ex-Governor Miles C. Moore, B. F. Stone, William Paine, William O'Donnell and others. Senator T. L. Roberts, mayor of the city, is the leading promoter of the city water proposition. Tonight the city is illuminated with bonfires and fireworks, in celebration of the event.
“Tonight the city is illuminated with bonfires and fireworks, in celebration of the event.”
Municipal control of public utilities like water remains a cornerstone of civic power in Washington. This 1893 fight mirrors the ongoing tensions between private profit and public infrastructure that still define Seattle's utility debates today.
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