The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-06-05

workman was struck in the abdomen
! by the nozzle Of a big hydraulic ant
instantly killed At another time
huge chunk of Ignite coal fell ava,
from one Of the cliffs and crushed {
workman to death.
The number of cubic yards of eartf
removed during the first eight years
of this regrade work in Seattle WAS
10,560000. al a cost of 50, 16s, 900. The
amount Of work now in actual progress
covers 100000 cubic yards. at a cost
Of 81. 1874, 000. The amount of work
authorized by resolution. but only as
yet partly authorized to be done by
court proceedings. embraces II. 200. otd
cubic yards. which it is expected vii
cost about $4,000 600 for removal
Therefore, the total yardage aetu.l,
contracted for in the whole regra,iu
scheme amounts to 16 46o. 600 cubls
yards, and the total contract price is
$685., 900.
That portion of the city where the
ude-hats are being reclaimed presents
an altogether different appearance.
Fronting the observer are long rows OF
buildings, mounted on tall piles or
frame supports such as house movers
use, all of them between twenty and
thirty feet in the air, waiting for five
million cubic yards of dirt TO ba
sluiced down under them from the
hills above. If a foreign visitor. I'M
acquainted with Seattle's ways of
handling hills and bellows in her own
sweet fashion, We're suddenly to view
this forest of stills surmounted with
rows of houses, he might be justified in
imagining that it was to escape some
monster tidal wave that the residents
had planted their dwellings in mid
air
Stretching to the south from this por-
ton of the city are two new and wide
arteries of traffic which will revoIu-
tionize the aspect of things in the
southern limits of the city. These new
roadways are now on stills, or more
properly speaking. built UP in the air
on piles. Beneath the level plank
roadways thirty feet of filing is to be
made as soon as the countless tons of
sand and gravel are washed down
from the hills above. These roadways
will provide greatly needed means of
handling traffic of all kinds from the |
central wholesale and retail district of |
Seattle to the southern portion of the |
u. L
will be used by automobilists working |
their wav to the verdant rural districts /
south of the city; by the owners or /
fancy turnouts; and by all manner of |
teams bringing produce from the gar
dens and farms of the nearby valleys |
Such a vast amount of Improvement /
is necessary because of the unfortunate
selection of the site of the city. Henry
Yesler built a sawmiIl, and another
fellow came along and put ur board
ing house to feed the mill hands That
was the birth of Seattle. Yesler. select
ed this site because there was a spring
nearby, and with no thought of the
millions his short-sightedness would
cost other generations Had he gone
4 half mile either north or south, all |
this trouble and expense would have
been saved. But neither Yesler nor
anyone else had any idea that a city
was going to grow around his saw
mill
At first the population divided it
self into separate towns located here
and there in the valleys nesting be-
tween the hills. Owing to the natural
difficulties in the way these places
their separate individuality
much longer than they otherwise would
nave. They are all included in the
limits of Seattle now. ex
,ept Georgetown, although the city has
grown completely around this place
md two miles to the south of it.
The necessity for cutting away the
ills and providing arteriaI highways
between the valley towns now merged ,
nto one city, is based on the prin
,iple of life that without circulation
he hndxr "a thrive To iodI1np !
,rty owners to bear the expense Of {
he work the argument was advanced
hat into whatever portion of the body
he best circulation enters, there are
he best developed organs. A city must
lave accessible streets for its traffic I
II it will develop chronic commercial
nvalidism.
The work is authorized by condem-
ation proceedings in court. When s
egrade is decided upon in a certain ."
district, the cost is first estimated.
hen a careful examination is made OF
ach piece of property that will be
enefited by the Improvement The q
resent market value of the property s
: ascertained, as well as the enhance il
nent of value likely to result from the /
A special assessment is
hen levied on all property within the +
one of benefit, and the work rushed G
o completion as rapidly as possible. 4
ometimes only the property in the inn i
1ediate vicinity Of a regrade is as I
essed, and again the benefits will ex- /
end mile and half from the scene.
he work not only proves the inesti- u
liable value TO the city, but invariably .
esults in enormous profits to property +
wners.
The rebuilding of Seattle is causing :
wonderful transformation in the :
lace At one point a big hill has been =
ut down IA feet to let 90-foot
go through directly under :,
here a house formerly stood. a
ouble-track tunnel a mile and a half =
ing has been bored under the city
1 order to get rid of the trains. Half -
dozen churches have been shifted in =
heir positions, and five-story school
uilding has been pushed back out of =
he way In the retail district bar \
ain sale was in progress in one Of the
torres The shoppers were rushing in 9
nd out of the big brick building with .
ut knowing that it was on wheels and :,
liding backward nine feet