The City Surveyor’s Summer Retreat
While Seattle’s real estate market remains frantic, the City Surveyor is taking a quiet break in a tent at Lake Washington.
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 City Surveyor, Mr. S. H. Hedges, together with Mrs. Hedges, are enjoying the summer in camp on the shores of Lake Washington. They are quartered in tents about one-half mile below the end of Main Street. Mr. Hedges is traveling back and forth, looking after his city office. Their camp was established two weeks ago, and will not be broken until the rain begins to fall. Inquiry at his office last night disclosed the fact that he is busy supervising the laying of the sewers, while yet in his youth.
“Their camp was established two weeks ago, and will not be broken until the rain begins to fall.”
In 1889, Seattle was in the midst of a massive building boom, with the City Surveyor escaping the chaos to a tent on the lakeshore. Today, the struggle to find any 'quiet retreat' in the city—and the relentless pressure of urban development—remains a central, unresolved tension of Seattle life.
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