Farmers Take Matters Into Their Own Hands to Escape Floods
Tired of waiting for the county to act, valley farmers organize a private committee to drain Lake Washington floodwaters.
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 farmers and others interested in the proposed drainage ditch from Lake Washington to Lake Union met yesterday afternoon in the Seattle National Bank building to take definite steps toward carrying out the improvement. They intend to push the work themselves without waiting until the legal obstacles in the way of its execution by the county are removed. A committee was appointed to secure the right-of-way, raise funds, and ascertain the size, capacity, and cost of a ditch sufficient to prevent the flooding of the valley lands. Although the regents of the state university have not yet acted on the request for a right-of-way, Major J. L. Hayden, one of the regents, expressed support for the project. Several farmers have already pledged subscriptions, considering the ditch cheap at the price, as the floods render their land almost valueless. The proposed engineering plan suggests a ditch twenty-seven feet wide, potentially utilizing hydraulicking to manage the cemented gravel along the route.
“They intend to push the work themselves without waiting until the legal obstacles in the way of its execution by the county are removed.”
This 1894 struggle to manage Lake Washington’s water levels foreshadows the massive, government-led engineering projects that would eventually create the Ship Canal. It reflects a perennial Seattle theme: the tension between private landholders fighting for survival and the slow, often gridlocked gears of public infrastructure.
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