Seattle Water Dept. historical files, 1889-1964.

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Seattle Water Dept. historical files, 1889-1964.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/218217175

The Water Dept. Historical Files, an artificial collection of public documents that were gathered in the process of writing an agency history, contains two types of records. The first type is comprised of the records that Mary McWilliams compiled from several sources within the department. These include correspondence, reports, leases, ordinances, specifications, articles and speeches, contracts, financial records, and other records relating to the history of the Water Dept. and the City's water system. The second type consists of McWilliams' research notes and a typescript of her book manuscript. The departmental records that McWilliams pulled together are a valuable compilation of materials that cannot be found elsewhere. Examples are Superintendent Luther B. Young's correspondence (1906-1923); various reports on the water system and water-related issues by Benezette Williams, Reginald H. Thomson, and Virgil Bogue; forest management correspondence and reports by the department's forester, Allen E. Thompson; health and sanitation records related to the watershed; and documents providing information on logging and railroads in the watershed. The records also provide a glimpse at the organizational structure of the department, municipal utility finances, and other detailed minutiae including equipment inventories and civil service issues. A small body of material was added to the collection after McWilliams finished the book. Presumably this was done with the idea that the collection would serve as a living body of records that would serve a reference function for the department. McWilliams' research notes include drafts of topical sections, partial transcriptions of interviews, transcribed copies of records that she was not allowed to compile into this collection, and various other notes. Examples include 13 pages she transcribed from the 1916 Joint Report of the City Engineer and Superintendent of Water Works, and a 1934 report by R.H. Thomson on the possibility of incorporating the Tolt River watershed into the City's water system. In using these notes, researchers should be aware the dates given to the folders are the dates McWilliams compiled the notes. The dates of issues and events covered by the notes are often found in the folder titles.

4.6 cubic ft. (12 boxes)

Seattle Municipal Archives

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7020585

Related Entities

There are 8 Entities related to this resource.

Thomson, Reginald Heber, 1856-1949

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t72tjj (person)

Reginald Heber Thomson (1856-1949) served multiple terms as Seattle City Engineer, from 1883 to 1886, 1892 to 1911 and from 1930 to 1931. He was born in Hanover, Indiana in 1856, graduating from Hanover College in 1877 with a doctorate in philosophy. After graduating, Thomson moved to Oakland, California and briefly taught mathematics at the Healdsburg Institute (later known as Pacific Union College). Thomson arrived in Seattle on September 25, 1881. During his tenure as Seattle City Engineer, h...

McWilliams, Mary

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6q27q1t (person)

Bogue, Virgil Gay, 1846-1916

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67h3kh2 (person)

Williams, Benezette

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62p2wxz (person)

Young, Luther B.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6h78d9x (person)

Seattle (Wash.). Dept. of Lighting and Water Works.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hf5z0f (corporateBody)

Thompson, Allen Emmett

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6036qfn (person)

Seattle (Wash.). Water Dept.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n95cr4 (corporateBody)

From 1854 until 1890, Seattle's water was provided by wells, springs and private water companies. A public waterworks was created by City Charter Amendment in 1875. However, Seattle was served primarily by small private water companies for the next decade and a half. In 1888, prompted by a tenfold population increase during the previous decade, Seattle's mayor and city council called for an election to decide if the city should own and operate its own water system. Shortly before the election, t...