Powder on the Hill
A city official calls out wealthy corporations for flagrantly violating safety ordinances by storing dynamite in residential neighborhoods.
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.
Alderman H. R. Clase yesterday filed with the board of public works a letter of complaint regarding the storage of explosives. In the course of the letter, he notes: 'An examination of the city ordinances shows that an ordinance was passed in April 1890, prohibiting the storage of explosives within the city limits. Last Saturday, two large dray loads were hauled to the top of Queen Anne Hill and stored in one of the powder houses there—in the one built on the Schwabecher land, I think. Explosives were stored in the one in Law's Second Addition during January, and some is still there. The ordinances are explicit in relation to this matter, and some attention should be paid to them even by wealthy corporations. Will you kindly take some action in the matter that will be decisive?'
“The ordinances are explicit in relation to this matter, and some attention should be paid to them even by wealthy corporations.”
The conflict between industrial land use and the safety of encroaching residential neighborhoods is a recurring theme in Seattle's history. Today, the debate over how to manage hazardous cargo and construction materials near dense housing remains a flashpoint for city governance and neighborhood advocacy.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.