The Battle for Walla Walla's Water Supply
City Hall is under pressure to decide between the Smith-Boyer-Thomas springs and the Mill Creek plan, with a local newspaper demanding the choice go to the voters.
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.
There is no reason why the mayor and council should be handicapped by the citizens they represent in the solution of the water question. There is no reason why they should worry over the vicious demands of passionate prejudice on the part of persons desirous of putting through a scheme for the benefit of the First National Bank. Let the council submit to the voters the various plans proposed for the solution of the water question, including the Smith-Boyer-Thomas springs proposition and the First National Bank-Weile Mill Creek scheme, and let the voters decide for themselves which one they want carried into execution. The council at the last meeting by a vote of four to three showed a preference for the Thomas springs plan over the Weile plan. The Statesman will be perfectly satisfied if the council will submit all propositions to a vote of the people. Let it be a free for all contest with no handicaps for anybody's pet plan.
“Let it be a free for all contest with no handicaps for anybody's pet plan.”
Public control of water infrastructure remains a critical civic issue. This 1903 debate over supply sources echoes modern anxieties about municipal water rights, climate resilience, and the influence of private banking interests on public utilities in growing Washington towns.
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