Tumwater Gets Electric Lights but Still No Crossings—Two Ladies Stuck in the Mud
New lights on Reserve Street only made the missing crossings more obvious when two women tried to walk from the wagon bridge to the post office and sank to a standstill.
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.
Electric lights have been placed at the principal corners on Reserve street. How would it do to carry the good work a little farther and put in two or three street crossings? It is almost impossible at times for people on the east side to get over to the post office. One day this week two ladies attempted to cross from the wagon bridge to the post office, and midway came to a standstill, with nothing solid to stand on. Any one who understands the total depravity of rubbers in a trying situation and the utter hopelessness of trying to hold one's dress skirts and an umbrella, and fish a rubber out of the mud at the same time, will appreciate the situation. There were several petrified relics of the prehistoric ages reclining in graceful attitudes against the wall. One of them withdrew his pipe from his mouth long enough to say to his companions: “Stuck in the mud. Let 'em stay there; they're only new comers, and nobody cares.”
“Stuck in the mud. Let 'em stay there; they're only new comers, and nobody cares.”
Tumwater's complaint about lights without crossings is a small, sharp reminder that infrastructure is never just about the ribbon-cutting. Then as now, residents judge public investment by whether they can actually get from one side of town to the other.
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