The City Wharf That Nobody Wanted
Tacoma's attempt to force the 'mosquito fleet' into using the $3,000 municipal dock faces mockery from steamboat captains.
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 officials recently sought to mandate that Puget Sound steamboat operators utilize the new city wharf, an enterprise that cost $3,000 but remained largely empty. Hoping to overcome the resistance, Councilman Bellingham proposed that vessel owners equip their boats with jointed smokestacks to pass under bridges, supposedly removing the delay that kept captains away. Steamboat captains, however, openly scoffed at the proposal, stating they were satisfied with their existing dockage and that city fathers could not compel them to change their schedules or locations to support an idle facility.
“The fact that the city dock stands idle has nothing to do with us fellows.”
This reflects the recurring friction between municipal infrastructure investment and private commercial autonomy, a classic tale of 'build it and they will come' failing to account for the actual needs of local logistics.
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