Seattle's Cow Pasture Problem
A local resident argues that Seattle cannot be a beautiful city of lawns and shade trees while the streets remain nothing more than open grazing grounds for cattle and horses.
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.
To the Editor: Speaking of arbor culture, I think efforts to have shaded streets and beautiful lawns will not be very successful until after Seattle ceases to be a cow pasture. A large proportion of the homes in Seattle have been lately established, and the owners can ill afford to put beautiful fences around them; but they cannot have a tree, a shrub, a vine, or grass plat without first erecting a strong fence to keep out the cattle, and then the fences must be watched to see that cattle owners do not tear them down. The city owns land in Denny's Park addition which had a strong and serviceable picket fence about it which kept cattle out. Consequently, the fence was torn down to admit cows and horses. This park is well situated to give a breathing place for a large section of the city and afford a healthy playground for children; but while it is monopolized by cows and horses, it is not fit for much else. Those who have noticed the effects, in the older parts of the country, of not requiring fences on the streets—except pasture fences—have been impressed with the surprising change for the better. Unsightly, weather-beaten old fences were removed, and with them the accumulations of stones, weeds, and rubbish along their line, and the roadsides formed graded and grass-covered parts of lawns and fields. If Seattle could take one-half the money that it is forced to use in constructing more or less unsightly fences, and use that money in planting shade and fruit trees and shrubbery, and maintaining lawns, it would not be many years before Seattle would be more conspicuous for the abundance of such adornments than it now is for their absence. —Dwight W. Plumer
“I think efforts to have shaded streets and beautiful lawns will not be very successful until after Seattle ceases to be a cow pasture.”
In 1888, Seattle was struggling with the transition from a rough frontier settlement to a modern city, evidenced by the battle to keep livestock out of public parks. Today's Seattle faces a similar struggle with civic space, shifting from open grazing to the intense density and infrastructure pressures of a modern metropolis.
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