Who Gets to Build Tacoma's Harbor?
Ex-Governor Semple said the money was secured, but a state land commission hearing and waterfront lawsuits showed rival plans and private claims still controlled the tideflats.
Tacoma, Jan. 11.—Special.—Ex-Governor Semple said this evening that the money necessary to improve the Tacoma harbor had been secured, just as it has been secured for the Seattle harbor.
He appeared before the state land commission today at Olympia in favor of Dr. Wintermute's improvement plan, and against J. M. Keene's plan. His oral exceptions to the Keene plan were received pending his written objections. P. C. Sullivan, attorney for the Tacoma Land Company in the water front suits, and F. O. Bean, the company's surveyor, appeared on behalf of Keene.
Fred G. Hummer has filed an affidavit stating that the Tacoma harbor lines at certain points were so located by the state land commission as to be unavailable for wharves.
“The money necessary to improve the Tacoma harbor had been secured, just as it has been secured for the Seattle harbor.”
Tacoma's harbor was the city's economic lifeline, and the fight over who controlled the shoreline—private companies, the state land commission, or the public—shaped the port city. Today's debates over seawall permits, port leases and public waterfront access replay the same question: who gets to decide what happens at the water's edge.
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