Racing Against the Rainy Season
Seattle school directors scramble to clear land and secure bids for a new schoolhouse in North Seattle before the inevitable autumn storms set in.
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.
Our citizens generally are anxious that work on the new school house in North Seattle should commence and be vigorously pushed during the present good weather. In order to learn the intention of the directors, a representative of this journal called on Captain W. H. Taylor, Clerk of the School District, who stated: 'The Directors are very anxious to get the building enclosed before the wet weather sets in. They have two men at work clearing and burning the brush from the block recently purchased as a site. The architects promise to have the specifications completed by next Monday night, at which time the Board will meet to examine them and advertise for bids. It is thought the contract can be let within two weeks, in which case the building can be enclosed before the rainy season.'
“The Directors are very anxious to get the building enclosed before the wet weather sets in.”
The perennial struggle to get civic infrastructure projects built before the Seattle 'rainy season' is a century-old tradition. While the site of North Seattle has shifted in meaning, the logistical anxiety of construction timelines remains a staple of city life.
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