The Waterfront Collapse
McNaught's wharf at the foot of Virginia Street crumbles into the bay, destroying a warehouse and a local fish packer's livelihood.
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.
The north side of McNaught's wharf, at the foot of Virginia Street, went down into the bay with a crash this morning at 12:45 o'clock, carrying with it the greater part of a warehouse and the worldly possessions of C. G. Johnstone, a fish packer. Johnstone had occupied the warehouse, a one-story frame building 120x35 feet, since last spring. The season had just closed, and he had all ready for shipping $1,300 worth of salmon, halibut and some mackerel. Last Thursday night the wharf shook and the building wavered; Johnstone and nine other men came from their quarters in alarm. He immediately moved his fish and goods to the east end of the building and vacated. At 12:45 o'clock, Officer M. F. Towers, standing at the waterfront at the foot of University Street, heard a long, drawn-out crash. Broken planks and spilt boards were all that remained. In the water floated hundreds of pounds of prepared fish, representing the hard labor of many men and Johnstone's entire capital. There was not a dollar of insurance on the fish. Johnstone's household goods were still on the wharf under the bent timbers. The wharf is owned by Joseph McNaught and is not believed to be insured.
“Before him was a pile of wreckage. The long warehouse was entirely gone to within a few feet from the east end... Broken planks, spilt boards, a solitary pile standing here and there was all that remained.”
This disaster highlights the precarious, ephemeral nature of Seattle's early waterfront, which was built on tide-land fill and timber pilings prone to collapse. Today, this location is roughly in the heart of the Belltown waterfront, long since stabilized by permanent seawalls and concrete development.
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