Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-10-24
CHANGE OF WEATHER.


Az is frequently the case in Seattle.
everybody was complaining yesterday
! morning. OF very disagreeable smell
arising from the beach. II WIS dis
agreeable and tha. ia a fact. Bat for
all that it differed only IL degree. not
IN kind. from similar smells arising
from all sea beaches IN anything like
proximity to towns. cities or other
aggregations of men or women. Indeed,
sea beaches, except where the beach is
fine sand. and where the broad ocean
has free sweep at it, are liable to send
| np more or less Of disaQreeabie effiu-
vIurn at certain times. Particularly is
this the case just before storm. A
few months ago We went in . row boat
from point about mile above Ia
coma, the old town. to Pages logging
camp. As we passed along. almost
within q stones throw of the beach. A
commingled odor of salt surf. sea weed
and sour saw dust greeted our nostrils,
One Of our companions noticing that
We observed it, said, ''oh, that Is moth
ing, merely the stencil of the beach"
We, at that time. were not obiecting 10
the smell. Il suggested the healing
properties of Iodine in yaporized
form, more than anything that was dis
agreeable. But the peculiar smell OF a
beach not washed by very active waters.
vas there. 1t lacked the sweetness of
the salt sea. Our companion pursuing
the subject. said, 1T will rain tonor-
row" and it did. lew weeks ago we
sojourned for while at Port Townsend.
We retain very vivid and very pleasant
recollections of our sojourn there. For
weeks We thou hit that such thing ar
an unpleasant smell from the beach was
n thing that our friends In that pleasant
town. need never apprehend. One
evening there were clouds III the sky and
there Was dampness in the air. 1t
needed nolprophet to foreteli rain.i In an
idle hour We leaned over the wharf
ratings. The waters of the bay were az
smooth as glass. A natural aquarium
Was beneath Us. Star fish, eel. founder,
crao. porgies and other deniZens of the
water sported at their will and afforded
an agreeable study. While looking, we
saw small bubbles break loose from the
salt OoZe and slowly ascend to the sur
face. Reacking it. they burst and spread
in ever widening c0Rcentric rings, dis
playing in their Kaleidoscope changes.
all the hues of the rainbow. untiitheir
power of expansion seemed lost and
diffusing themselves over the surface of
the water. they gave place to other bub-
bles and new and constantly expanding
circles. That night the fresh pure air
We had been breathing gave place to an
impure air heavily laden with mephitic
vapors. We remained in Port Town
send long enough to note the same
phenomenon three separate times.
We have noted it more than once
in Seattle. Two months ago-perhaps
not quite 80 much-it was verv offens-
sive. For the past few weeks. until
yesterday. its absence was noticeable.
Its recurrence was noticeable. disa-
greeably noticeable yesterday.
On the beach between Tacoma and
Pages logging camp, at Port Town
send, and at Seattle, its recurrence has
been signaliZed by a change in the
weather. Such will always be the case
at these three points, and at all points
on the Sound. There is this thing to
be taken into consideration in connec-
ton with these phen The do
caying vegetable matter along the
beaches of Puget Sound, not adjacent to
centers of population, will always create
more or less OF basis for mephitic ex-
DO particularly dangerous to human
life, and AZ a general rule there will be a
great many people to suffer therefrom
But, wherever there is city like Seat
tie, or n town like Port Townsend, there
will be people enough, unless there is u
very thorough system Of sewerage to
add enough focal. and otherwise foul
matter, to the natural decay Of yege-
"a nla and 1aa1 irnn1 FOR 70, 70
Just snch a misunderstanding smell as
everybody complained of yesterday.
In the PosT-lNTELLIGENCER of the 22d
inst. this subject was discussed intelli-
gently and forcibly from one stand
point. We add these suggestions to
that article. We tell the people of Sc
attic, and the people chosen by them to
legislate locally for them, that they can
not, in justice to the people who live
here now, who are to come after US.
neglect this subject except ut tho risk of
serious loss Of all that goes to make any
city desirable place of residence.
The stencil of the beach," the natural
stencil is bad enough Just before a
storm, but when the rotten animal and
vegetable matter which sinks to the
bedrock. and becomes, as becomes it
must. basis for mephitic exhalations.
is supplemented by the outpourings of
tho cesspool and kitchensink, and a
dozen other sources of impurity. it be-
comes dangerous. We are not finding
fault with Seattle particularly. II is
not one whit worse Oft in this respect
than Port Townsend, Olympia, or New
or old Tacoma. All of these places
want a system Of sewerage which will
carry their filth ont into deep water.
When these systems are established we
need not fear being asphyxiated with
foul smells. We submit the subject for
the present with these few remarks,