The Price of Progress: Aberdeen’s 1890 Infrastructure Bond

Notice to the Voters and Taxpayers of Chehalis County. The board of county commissioners of Chehalis County, at their October 1890 session, ordered that a proposition be submitted to the voters of said county, to bond the said Chehalis County for 5 percent of its assessed valuation in 1890, as returned by the assessor and equalized by the board of equalization of said county. Said bonds to be redeemed at the end of fifteen and twenty years from date of issue, and the money obtained by the sale of said bonds to be expended for the following purposes, to wit: To refund the present indebtedness of Chehalis County; to build two bridges across the Chehalis River; to build one main road from the east line of Chehalis County to the ocean at the mouth of Chehalis Creek; to build four roads to North River, each from Oakville, Elma, and Cosmopolis; to repair and build roads up the Chehalis River, Finn Creek, Satsop River, Wynoochee River, Humptulips River, Hoquiam River, and Wishkah River; to build a road from Cosmopolis to Chehalis; to build one bridge across the Wishkah River; to build two bridges across the Satsop River; to build a road from Quiniault to Stevens Prairie. Notice is hereby given that said bonds and proposition will be voted on at the general election, to be held on November 4th, 1890.