A Senator’s Gift of Stone
Senator Watson C. Squire offers the city free rock from his Duwamish River quarries to help jumpstart local street paving efforts.
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.
Mayor Phelps has received a telegram from Senator Watson C. Squire which solves one problem in the matter of street paving and will greatly reduce the cost of this work to the city and property owners. The telegram expresses the senator's hearty appreciation of the proposition to pave the streets if done on the bond system, as it will furnish employment to many and give the city a much-needed improvement. The senator offers to furnish the city with all the stone needed from his quarries upon the Duwamish river free of charge. The quarries are on the river and the stone at small expense can be loaded on scows and floated down to the city. The rock is used as a bed for the brick to rest upon and is generally about six inches deep after it has been thoroughly rolled.
“The senator offers to furnish the city with all the stone needed from his quarries upon the Duwamish river free of charge.”
Public works projects were just as politically fraught in 1894 as they are today. The reliance on river transit for construction materials is a reminder of how much of Seattle’s early growth was tethered to the Duwamish and its accessibility.
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