When Seattle's Taps Ran Dry, One Citizen Took the City to Task

The following petition for more water in the district overlooking Lake Washington in the eastern half of the city contains a serious request originally expressed:

"To the Honorable the City Council of the City of Seattle—Gentlemen: Some time last summer I had the honor, or temerity, to present to the then dominant powers a petition signed by every resident of our district, with the exception of one of Democratic proclivities who carries a bland smile, a bald head, a bay window, a soiled shirt collar and some 200 odd pounds avoirdupois, setting forth the inadequacy of the water supply in that portion of the city north of Yesler avenue, along Wyckoff, Clarence, Carroll, Aldine and Lincoln streets and Drexel avenue, embracing Summit, Washington Heights, Rosedale, Randell's first and second and various other additions, the names of which 'are to this affiant unknown,' and unnecessary to mention, the correctness of the statements in said petition needing no further proof than a casual inspection, which it is the object of this communication to urge your honorable body to make. A summary of those statements is this: That this comprises one of the finest residence portions of the city, and some of the finest residences, for which there is no protection whatever against fire, the entire water supply being through a two-inch main to which an engine hose cannot be attached; that the water supply is wholly inadequate for culinary and drinking purposes, while our lawns and gardens are left as dry as the average ward politician. The past twenty-four hours may be taken as a fair average during warm weather, not a drop of water being in the pipes from 5:30 p.m. yesterday until 9:30 a.m. today, the entire supply being exhausted by those fortunately near the head of the pipe. As the excessive heat and the dusty condition of the streets enhance thirst, and our women and children from force of habit use water as a beverage, its total absence engenders suffering that we are anxious to appease.

"This condition of affairs the Democratic board could not appreciate, so our petition found a resting place among the promises of 'municipal reform.' They knew that our section contained some prominent Democrats, and recognizing no needs, wants or desires on the part of any others, naturally concluded that water was not needed, but our Democracy, with the exception of the one first above mentioned, is not of the unwashed, Henry Clay-Dean brand, but use water for laundry purposes as well as for cooking, and doubtless would use it on their lawns if there was any to use. I wish to impress upon your honorable body that the snowslide that carried you to your present exalted position has been dissipated without leaving a drop of water on our dusty streets, and the result of that election shut off the immense flow of beer that immediately preceded it, while the coming campaign will not have passed the incipient handshaking period for some weeks yet, so water is now an imperative necessity. Since the introduction of the so-called water service into our portion of the city, the only regularity attending it has been the regular failure of the supply when most needed and the regular collection of the water rates, which latter, I beg to inform your honors, is defined in legal phrase as 'obtaining money under false pretenses.' While assured by a number of your honorable body that there would be a reduction in rates for the current month, I beg to impress upon you that it is not the water rates about which we are now solicitous, but the water itself, the great supply of which vouchsafed to us by the Creator being beyond our reach and the city failing in its contract to bring it nearer, we can only have the satisfaction of gazing on the placid bosom of Lake Washington and breathing, in the language of the poet, 'So near and yet so far!'

"I, therefore, most humbly and respectfully ask that you resurrect said petition and grant its prayer, or send it up to the highest source through the regular channels, to-wit: His Highness Hon. Byron Phelps, the mayor; His Excellency John H. McGraw, the governor; His Majesty Grover Cleveland, the president; His Supremacy Eugene V. Debs, ruler of mankind in general. Most humbly and respectfully your obedient servant,

"H. M. Kedge.

"Seattle, July 12, 1894."