The Canal That Would Make Seattle a Pacific Power
A first federal appropriation for the Lake Washington Canal sends Seattle into an optimistic fever, with the Post-Intelligencer predicting a second—or first—great port on the coast.
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 announcement made exclusively by the Post-Intelligencer yesterday morning that the House conferees on the river and harbor bill had agreed to accept the amendment of Senator Squire providing an appropriation with which to begin work on the Lake Washington Canal was received in Seattle with unmixed satisfaction.
It is not strange that this should be true, for the agreement of the conferees upon this amendment makes it almost absolutely certain that the appropriation will be retained in the bill, and that the long struggle of the people of King County to secure the beginning of this great work by the national government will be crowned with success.
The beginning of work on the Lake Washington Canal means that the canal will be built, and that it will be built within a few years. While the first appropriation is small, it is a distinct recognition by the government of the importance and necessity of the work, and larger appropriations for carrying it through to completion will follow in due course of time.
No thoughtful person can visit Seattle and observe its situation without feeling that the building of the Lake Washington Canal will make it within a few years the second, if not the first, city on the Pacific coast. Nowhere in the world is there another such magnificent fresh water harbor as Lake Washington will form when once the waterway connecting it with the Sound is completed.
We believe that the making of this appropriation will mark the beginning of a distinct improvement in the business and financial situation on Puget Sound. The good effects may not be felt immediately, but it will not be many months before they are seen and acknowledged. We believe that Seattle especially has seen the darkest of her dark days, and that an era of exceptional prosperity will soon be entered upon.
“The beginning of work on the Lake Washington canal means that the canal will be built, and that it will be built within a few years.”
The Lake Washington Ship Canal finally opened in 1917, cutting through neighborhoods and turning Seattle's fresh water into a working harbor. The 1894 celebration over a first federal appropriation shows how much of Seattle's growth has always depended on winning outside infrastructure money—and selling the city as inevitable.
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