Seattle Raises Half a Million for Its Canal—and the State Cheers
Citizens subscribed $511,000 toward the Lake Washington canal enterprise, a private subsidy that boosters promised would unlock millions in commercial development.
Coupeville Times: The whole state has occasion to feel gratified over the raising of the canal subsidy of $500,000 by the enterprising and self-reliant citizens of Seattle. The subsidy has been accepted, which means that the work of developing that city's matchless commercial facilities will soon begin, and that five or six million dollars will be expended in a single enterprise during the next half dozen years. Seattle has an unfailing resource in the energy and indomitable public spirit of her people, and as long as these abide with her her commercial supremacy is assured.
Port Townsend Herald: The Seattle canal subsidy has gone through the hands of the "scaling committee," and the big bonus comes out $11,000 ahead. Such unity of action of her citizens, as evidenced by the subscription of $511,000 to the lake canal enterprise, excites admiration everywhere and will tend to strengthen confidence in the whole Puget Sound country. Seattle has the pluck that wins.
“Seattle has the pluck that wins.”
The Lake Washington Ship Canal did get built, and it reshaped Seattle's geography and economy. The 1895 subsidy drive—citizens putting up half a million dollars before government finished the job—is an ancestor of today's debates over who pays for big infrastructure.
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