Tacoma Recalls the Great 'Wharf-Destroying' Blizzard of 1902
As a new winter storm hits the Sound, residents look back with dread on a 1902 weather event that claimed wharves, machinery, and lumber.
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.
Tacoma was visited by a sort of imitation blizzard yesterday and this morning that gave the inhabitants of this garden spot some taste of what their less fortunate neighbors in the East are enjoying. While it lasted the storm was severe and called to mind the storm which swept over this section in January 1902. On that date, nearly four inches of snow fell, and the wind blew from the north at the rate of 40 miles an hour. Great damage was done along the waterfront. Wharves were carried away and lumber, dry kilns and machinery precipitated into the Sound. Telegraph and telephone lines were blown down and traffic of all kinds tied up. Water pipes all over town were frozen and plumbers were kept busy many days repairing the damage. Yesterday's storm did not do such freak things. The United States Weather Observer does not make a very favorable prediction for the next 24 hours. It wouldn't be a bad idea for people to get out their snow shovels.
“Wharves were carried away and lumber, dry kilns and machinery precipitated into the Sound.”
Tacoma’s relationship with extreme weather has long been defined by its topography and the Sound; today's infrastructure is more resilient, but the vulnerability of the waterfront to sudden, high-wind events remains a civic concern.
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