A Wood Wagon Sank in the Mud Outside Good Templars' Hall
A Port Townsend editor told the new town trustees to fix existing roads before launching grand new ones—after neighbors had to unload Peter Smith's wagon to free it.
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.
THE STREETS.—We would respectfully suggest to our Town Trustees that, before entering upon gigantic plans for opening new roads, they first put those that are now public thoroughfares in a passable condition. The appearance of the road in front of Good Templars' Hall was a disgrace to the old Board and villainous in the extreme in relation to the new one till repaired. Recently Peter Smith, while passing the hall with a load of wood, got stuck in the mud and was only freed when part of the load was thrown off and bystanders lent their shoulders to the wheels. It was but the second or third instance of the kind, and we hope means will be taken to make it the last.
“Before entering upon gigantic plans for opening new roads, they first put those that are now public thoroughfares in a passable condition.”
The complaint is recognizably modern: fix the basic streets before the grand plans. Port Townsend's pothole politics now play out over paving, sidewalks and waterfront projects, but the test is the same—whether a loaded wagon, or a car, can get through.
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