The Public Shut Out of the 'Floating Palace'
Residents gathered in the rain to welcome a massive new steamer, only to be denied entry by a locked-out policy.
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.
At 10 o'clock last evening the ringing of the large fog bell on the wharf and the roar of a hoarse whistle announced to our people that the new steamer Olympian was coming into the harbor. Large crowds of people rushed to the C. & P. S. R. R. dock to see her, but most of them were compelled to remain outside in the rain until after she had made her landing. Many took the ringing of the bell as an announcement of her arrival and as a sort of public invitation to come and see the sights, but when they were refused even admission to the shelter of the wharf many felt justly indignant and returned to their homes without seeing the 'new steel steamer,' to the arrival of which they had long looked forward with anticipations of pleasure.
“Many felt justly indignant and returned to their homes without seeing the 'new steel steamer,' to the arrival of which they had long looked forward.”
The arrival of the Olympian mirrors the civic excitement surrounding new transport projects in Seattle today, as well as the recurring disappointment when public infrastructure turns out to be exclusionary or restricted to the privileged few.
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