City Left in Total Darkness
A gas main failure leaves downtown Seattle residents scrambling for lamps on Thanksgiving Eve.
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.
About 7 o'clock last evening the gas jets throughout the city gave several warning flickers and then went out, leaving no address behind them. Then there was a hurrying around among the citizens and a dragging forth of old and rusty lamps that had lain unused in closets and garrets for years. A darkness settled down over the city which can be described only by reference to a certain account of how darkness settled down on the land of Egypt. Those who dwelt in the glare of the electric light were the only truly happy ones who could eat their dinners in comfort and peace, and pedestrians carried lanterns while walking on the principal streets. All this commotion was caused by an accumulation of water in the gas pipes. After an hour or so of 'darkness visible,' the matter was rectified and the city was again lighted as usual.
“There was a hurrying around among the citizens and a dragging forth of old and rusty lamps that had lain unused in closets and garrets for years.”
In 1883, Seattle was in the midst of a technological transition, relying on gas while the novelty of 'electric light' was already beginning to create a tiered experience of civic comfort. Today, we face similar, if more complex, infrastructure anxiety as the city balances its rapid growth with the fragility of its aging power and utility grids.
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