Yakima Votes on Sewerage Bonds
A critical 1890 civic vote to authorize $40,000 for the city's nascent sewer system.
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.
Notice is hereby given that on the 17th day of May, 1890, at the City Hall on Front Street in the city of North Yakima, Washington, a special election will be held on the proposition of the adoption of a system of sewerage and the contracting of indebtedness and borrowing money in the sum of forty thousand dollars, the estimated cost of sewerage, by issuing bonds therefor payable in not less than fifteen nor more than thirty years and bearing interest at a rate not to exceed six per centum per annum, payable semi-annually.
“The proposition of the adoption of a system of sewerage and the contracting of indebtedness.”
Infrastructure bonds were the bedrock of Western town-building. This vote represents the literal 'plumbing' of modern Yakima, a reminder that the city's foundation was financed by early taxpayers gambling on long-term municipal debt.
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