The Hog Ranch That Stank Up Seattle: How One Interbay Farm Sparked a New Law
In 1900, a single hog ranch near the city’s water source forced the Seattle City Council to draft an ordinance limiting livestock—a rare early victory for urban sanitation and public health.
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.
PUT DOWN NUISANCES Hog Ranch at Interbay Will Be Legislated Against.
An ordinance has been drafted and will be introduced in the city council, which limits the number of hogs kept by any family to five. This ordinance is laid before the council, and is favored by complaints of filthiness, whose water supply is contaminated by a hog ranch, on which eighty to ninety hogs are kept.
The ranch is located on a hill above the source of the water supply.
Steps will be taken to have the ordinance passed. The work is being done by Frank and Weller of 10th and Sixth Avenue South, and all library will be visited by law.
Term on the Black
This 1900 battle over a hog ranch in Interbay highlights Seattle's long struggle with urban density and environmental health. Just as residents then fought to protect their water supply from agricultural runoff, modern Seattleites continue to grapple with the tension between rural traditions (like backyard farming) and the needs of a growing, dense metropolis.
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