The Tacoma Waterworks Scandal
Citizens and the City Council expose a massive financial swindle involving a failing water plant purchase.
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.
Taxpayers feel that Tacoma has been more completely fleeced than Seattle. A discrepancy involving an estimated loss of $1,500,000 to the city in the purchase of the Tacoma Light and Water Company for $1,750,000 has been reported to the city council by the board of public works. The board found only 1,600,000 gallons of water in sight at the Patterson Springs, despite the company advertising a flow of 7,500,000 gallons daily. President Rydstrom of the board stated, 'It will be impossible to pump water at Thomas' springs, and there will be a shortage of 10,000,000 gallons, which were to have been had by gravity. It will cost the city $1,500,000 to get this supply from other sources.'
“The board of public works, after looking into the matter and expending $100 to gather a few facts, which were hushed up as far as possible during the water campaign, reported to the city council that there were only 1,600,000 gallons of water in sight.”
Municipal utility corruption was a defining civic struggle in the late 19th century, mirroring contemporary concerns about the oversight of large-scale infrastructure projects and public-private partnerships in the Pacific Northwest.
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