Power Company Wires Block Ships on Thea Foss Waterway
When high-voltage wires blocked a sailing ship from the city dock, a newspaper reporter dropped the story the moment they learned who owned the infrastructure.
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 reporter for a morning paper went to interview a representative of the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company in regard to the electric wires strung across the channel which prevented the bark Makawell from reaching the city dock recently. He demanded a statement as to why the company’s heavily charged wires were put up in such a way as to menace navigation. When it was found that the obstructing wires belonged to the T.R.P. company, all desire for an interview was ended. The reporter departed, and the T.R.P. organ said never a word about the obstruction. The wires which caused the trouble are strung across the channel at Fifteenth Street. When the bark Makawell attempted to reach the city market with a cargo of salt, it was found that the vessel’s masts were too tall to pass under the wires. Harbormaster Captain Mountfort stated: 'The wires will certainly have to be moved. If they cannot be put high enough to clear the masts of ships, they will have to be under water. Another vessel with masts as tall as those of the Makawell may never want to go through there, but it might happen again.'
“When it was found that the obstructing wires belonged to the T.R.P. company, all desire for an interview was ended.”
This 1904 incident highlights the historic tension between Tacoma's industrial shoreline development and its role as an active port. Today, debates over public access to the Thea Foss Waterway and corporate control of essential infrastructure continue to be central themes in city planning.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.