The Pioneer Road Builders of Lake Washington
A correspondent reports on the impressive transformation of a rugged trail into a county-grade road, achieved entirely through the voluntary labor of local settlers.
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.
About a year ago I passed along the narrow trail running northwesterly from Northop’s Landing on Lake Washington to the woods. As far as I recall, after several years, the trail extended through brush, over logs, and down ravines and through wet mud, the only bridge being fallen timber. After traveling two or three miles I was obliged to return, as tired as if I had walked ten miles. Passing the road a few days ago, I found it had so improved one could ride all the way and the road was passable. The logs and brush were all cut and burned. I came to a very deep creek, where heretofore the settlers had found it difficult to see their teams crossed by falling down the banks. To my surprise there was a fine bridge, which had been built a day or two before by the men of the settlement, under the supervision of Mr. Geo. W. Hall, road supervisor. The stringers are 40 feet in length, which with the span to at the base, make a bridge over 50 feet long covered with split planking. This bridge was built and the surrounding brush cleared by this small force of settlers in a short space of ten days. At another place, where a year ago it was so wet I had to walk carefully to keep out of the water, it is now graded and passable. This looks to me to be a move in the right direction. I walked over the road as far as section 31, or within three fourths of a mile of Coal Creek, and it all looked passable. This has of late become a county road. Much credit is due to the team settlers for making such a road by voluntary labor, without any aid from the county. I hope other settlements will follow their example.
“Much credit is due to the team settlers for making such a road by voluntary labor, without any aid from the county.”
Long before Seattle’s modern grid was fully paved, the region’s early infrastructure relied on 'sweat equity' from local settlers. This 1880s report of neighbors building their own bridges to bypass impassable mud captures the spirit of self-reliance that eventually pushed Seattle to consolidate its roads into the massive public works system we navigate today.
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