The Mud-Locked Road: Seattle’s 1878 Infrastructure Feud
A bitter war of words erupts in the press over the impassable Snoqualmie road and the 'cheek' of local politicians asking for funding they refused to spend.
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 Snoqualmie road, leading out from Seattle, is reported as impassable. This is a local road for which the last legislature was asked to appropriate several thousand dollars, but stubbornly refused. The Intelligencer says the King county commissioners have time and again refused to do anything toward placing this road in repair, and yet the representatives of that county in the legislature had the cheek to ask for several thousand dollars to be expended on said road. Statesman. Thousands of dollars have been expended on the Snoqualmie road by the county commissioners. The above misrepresentation of the Intelligencer would not be believed but by the enemies of Seattle.
“The representatives of that county in the legislature had the cheek to ask for several thousand dollars to be expended on said road.”
The perpetual struggle over Snoqualmie Pass—a lifeline for regional trade—was as contentious in 1878 as it is today. Then, as now, the debate over who pays for major infrastructure projects and the accusations of 'misrepresentation' between competing political factions highlight how deeply Seattle's growth has always been tied to the physical struggle of moving goods across the Cascades.
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