The Peril of Floating Streets
As Seattle's waterfront development grew in 1876, the street commissioner sounded an alarm over the city's vulnerable, buoyant wooden pavements.
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.
Mr. Perry Davis, the street commissioner, has handed out the following note, which we publish for the purpose of calling the attention of property owners to an important matter: What will be done with the wood improved streets if the water continues to rise? It would be well to give a thought to this and try to devise some plan to prevent them from floating. As all Nicholson pavement or planking will float as soon as it is covered with water a few inches deep, it could be secured and held down in two lines along the streets by heavy chains, rocks, grindstone bags or barrels filled with sand. Such timely precautions might save many dollars to the owners. It is my opinion that something of the kind will have to be done and it is now time to give the subject a thought.
“As all Nicholson pavement or planking will float as soon as it is covered with water a few inches deep, it could be secured and held down in two lines along the streets by heavy chains, rocks, grindstone bags or barrels filled with sand.”
In 1876, Seattle was literally fighting to keep its infrastructure from floating away as the city filled in its mudflats and tidelands. This early battle with the geography of the waterfront prefigures the constant, expensive engineering feats required to keep Seattle's reclaimed land and coastal transit routes stable today.
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