The Bid to Harness Mount Tacoma’s Streams
A newly appointed city committee explores a proposal to pipe pure mountain water from the slopes of Mount Rainier to the city limits.
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.
Councilmen Olson, Salmson and Roice were appointed by President Jones last night to investigate a proposal from the Mt. Tacoma Water Supply company to furnish the city of Tacoma with water. The proposition was to furnish the city with a supply of pure water in the mains at the city limits. The water is to be taken from streams which have their source in the upper slopes of Mt. Tacoma. The supply is said to be sufficient for the needs of the city for many years to come, and the streams are located so as to be protected from contamination. It was also stated that an analysis of the water shows it to be absolutely pure. The proposal was made in a communication to the council signed by the Mt. Tacoma Water Supply company.
“The supply, it is stated, will be sufficient for the needs of the city for many years to come.”
This 1904 debate over securing water rights from mountain watersheds prefigures the modern tensions surrounding regional water management and the protection of municipal infrastructure from privatization. It highlights how early Tacoma sought to commodify the natural resources of the Cascades to fuel its own expansion.
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