The Falls That Would Light Seattle
In January 1895 a syndicate of New York capitalists and Seattle men capitalized a company at $1,500,000 to dam Snoqualmie Falls and wire 5,000 horsepower twenty-five miles into the city — the Northwest's answer to Niagara.
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.
A company composed of New York capitalists and Seattle men has been organized with a capital of $1,500,000, for the purpose of utilizing the water power of Snoqualmie Falls and transmitting it by electricity to Seattle and other places in the same manner that the power of Niagara Falls is being transmitted to Buffalo and other points. The distance from Seattle to Snoqualmie Falls is about twenty-five miles in a direct line, and the estimated horse power to be derived from the falls is 31,000, but only about 5,000 will be utilized at present. The company anticipate having this amount of power ready for use by October. The company has already contracted power in the city of Seattle at the rate of $39 per horse power annually. This is about half the present cost of the steam power now used in the electric light works, by the railroads and manufacturing establishments generally in that city. This is regarded as one of the most important enterprises undertaken in the state this year, and also one of the most important undertakings in the United States, ranking only second to that of the transmission of power from Niagara.
“The company has already contracted power in the city of Seattle at the rate of $39 per horse power annually. This is about half the present cost of the steam power now used in the electric light works.”
Snoqualmie Falls' hydroelectric plant, built on this 1895 scheme, still generates power for Seattle today. The pitch — cheap electricity undercutting steam, capital courted from New York, a 'second only to Niagara' booster's claim — is the same argument every energy project in the region has made since. Who controls the water and the wires, and who pays for the power, remains the fight.
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