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NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08178399 9
K.PU
ING King County ( Was) IXD
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King County Court House and Municipal Building
Contractor: PUGET SOUND BRIDGE & DREDGING CO. Architect: A. WARREN GOULD
11,240
Dedicated May 4, 1916 COST COMPLETE, $1,271,645.83
( WASHINGTON)
History and Progress of King County
M. J. CARRIGAN FIRST DISTRICT
M L. HAMILTON CHAIRMAN SECOND DISTRICT
KRIST KNUDSEN THIRD DISTRICT
Board of County Commissioners King County, Washington
REGULAR MEETING DAYS MONDAY AND TUESDAY OF EACH WEEK
BYRON PHELPS
COUNTY AUDITOR AND EX OFFICIO CLERK OF THE BOARD N M. WARDALL, DEPUTY CLERK OF BOARD
Scuttle
April 15, 1916.
Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Co.,
Central Building,
Seattle, Washington.
Gentlemen:
Having accepted the New King County Court House from you as completed under your contract, we take this opportunity of expressing to you our sincere thanks and appreciation for the prompt, able and efficient manner in which you handled this job. It is seldom that the construction of a building of this magnitude is completed without more or less friction between owners and contractor over the interpretation of specifications and other details. We are pleased to say that in all matters in controversy, you have met us in a spirit of absolute fairness at all times, thus enabling an adjustment of alb questions at issue without bitterness on either side.
Thanking you again for the many courtesies extended us, and wishing you success, we are,
Very respectfully yours,
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON
By
Chairman.
60 m Phelps Clerk of Board. H.M. Glandace
By
Deputy
CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE,
By
Chairman.
Seatthe Public Library
HISTORY and PROGRESS of KING COUNTY, Washington
Raging River Bridge on the Issaquah-Falls City Road. An Example of Permanent and Artistic Bridge Construction. Built by Charles G. Huber.
Richest in Natural Diversified Resources of Any County West of Chicago and North of San Francisco
1
Present Commissioners: M. L. HAMILTON, M. J. CARRIGAN, KRIST KNUDSEN
Published by CHARLES J. HUTCHINSON 1916
Printed by H. C. PIGOTT Printing Concern
:
RAF
Y
FOREWORD
T always seems to me that a book is not com- plete without a "foreword," which I inter- pret to mean an excuse for its existence. The sole exense for the publication of this book is to better acquaint the people of King County-the real people who pay the taxes -- with the properties they own: the eqniva- lent given them for the money they advanced in the form of taxes, sometimes veritable "blood money."
"Tax" is the cost of goverment : civilization may not exist without goverment. nor government exist with- out the power of levying taxes.
That our government is erude in spots goes without saying, whether it be national, state. or municipal. Gov. ermment may be economical or wasteful, it may be wise or grossly lacking in that wisdom which spends not only for the present betterments but that posterity may have "a place in the sun."
In my mind's eve I compare the coming of the Den- ny party and their landing at Alki in 1851, a land then known to be barren of all but inhospitable forests and hostile Indians, with the landing of the Pilgrims on Ply- month Rock centuries before.
When that little band of pioneers reached Puget Sound they carried with them no return tickets: there were no anchored steamships in the waterway awaiting their pleasure. These pioneers had burned their bridges -they had come for all time-and they are buried here.
Is it strange that their offspring should be imbued with that spirit of bravery and integrity that makes shin- ing examples in our social and commercial world of today ? * *
King County is a municipality, a commission form of goverment so to speak, whose destiny is presided over by three men. nominated in their respective districts but voted upon by the entire electorate of the county.
I read local history largely from the landmarks, and as I read it, I am convinced that each set of county officials has progressed somewhat in broadness beyond the set that went before.
That some of the boards were criminally profligate with the people's money will go without saying : that they in almost every instance builded for the future. And in most cases built unwisely may as well be understood. There probably was as great a protest in the early days against the building of a log jail for disorderly Indians as there was but yesterday against the expenditure of over a mil- lion dollars for the construction of the modern municipal building dedicated this day, alight with electricity-gen- erated by Seattle's own water power-and steam heated with coal mined as a natural resource of King County.
It is a far cry from Denny's discovery of the mud flats to belching furnaces on those same Plats where was manufactured the steel which entered so laregely into
the fabrication of the new Court House. It was not dreamed by the Indians or the first settlers that a great waterfall. miles and miles away. would sometime light paved streets, transport passengers and lift loads of hu- manity to the uttermost heights of our present day sky- scrapers. A Rip Van Winkle would go back into another doze when he looked upon the impossible.
I know pretty nearly every foot of King County. I have talked with the gnarled old men and the bent women who together ent and 'removed' the great forests that grew in our valleys and it is not for me. nor for any his- torian, to tell the real story of King County.
We of the present day talk of hard times and de- pression in business! Let us talk to the man who walked the trails and dodged the savage bullet to bring food to a half-starved family, which he raised in the worship of God. And to the hardy wife who spent days while the husband labored away from home, her companions being the eradled infant-and the ever-ready, muzzle-loading rifle. Let us talk with the men who found logs in the road too large to ent and who built bridges of smaller logs over them to reach their destination, with families and household goods drawn by starving oxen.
Let us talk with them and then drive over the bricked highways of King County upon inflated rubber tires : drive over this fertile country on roads made possible by the blood and bone and sinew of these pioneers who came and left a county better for their having lived !
1 ask no credit as an anthor for the compilation of this book. For I did not write it; at least not enough of it npon which to leave my impress. The information herein contained is largely the work of famed authors. and I will here give them credit rather than in the body of the work. The reference department at the Seattle Public Library rendered me services that made the history possible by selecting for me books that contained the in- formation I needed. It was the kindly offices of the librarian and his able assistants who brought to my at- tention the works of Professor Edward S. Meany. Thomas W. Prosch, Grant's History of Washington, the Pioneer's Record of Early Days, Welford Beaton's "Seattle and Its Makers, " Snowden's History of Washington. Alice Har- riman, C. B. Bagley, and many other authors and their works: also early editors of The Seattle Times. The Post- Intelligencer, The Argus, and other publications of repute.
I also wish to pay my respects in passing to the man who stood sponsor for this work-to lose money if neces- sary- and to him I dedicate the result of my labors. I refer in all kindness to
MR. CHARLES J. HUTCHINSON.
And with apolgies. I offer it,
IL. (. PIGOTT.
I
XXIX>
VIEW OF THE ENTRANCE OF THE NEW COUNTY COURT HOUSE AND MUNICIPAL BUILDING
Authentic Pioneers' Record of Early Events
Chronological notes of the early settlement of that part of
Washington now embraced principally in King County
N the 16th day of September, 1851. Henry Van landed J. N. Low. Win. N. Bell, C. D. Boren and A. A. Asselt. Jacob Mapel, Samuel Mapel and L. M. Denny with their families. Collins selected claims on the Duwamish River and on the 27th of the next month moved on to them from the Nisqually River where Collins had previously located.
"On the 25th or 26th of September, 1851, John N. Low, Lee Terry and David T. Denny arrived at Alki Point where Low and Terry located a claim, and on the 28th of September Terry and Denny laid the foundation for the first home on the claim, Low having returned to Portland for his family.
"5th of November, 1851. the Schooner Exaet sailed Trom Portland for Puget Sound. and Queen Charlotte's Island with passengers for the Sound and a party of gold miners for the island.
"15th of February, 1852, Bell, Boren and A. A. Deny located clains on the east side of Elliott Bay extending north from what is now the head of Commercial Street (now First Avenue) to Bell's present northern boundary, and on the 23rd of March Boren and D. T. Denny started to the Willamette Valley for the stock, leaving Bell and A. A. Denny to look after the claims until their return.
"13th of March, 1853, Dr. D. S. Maynard arrived at Alki Point. and Bell and Denny agreed to move their southern boundary north to what is now Mill Street (now Yesler Way), in order to give Maynard a claim south of theirs.
"3rd of April, 1852, Bell, Boren's family and May- nard moved on to the claim before the return of Boren
"13th of November she arrived at Alki Point and and D. T. Denny, leaving A. A. Deny and family sick
Page Four
HISTORY AND PROGRESS of
at Alki Point until a house could be prepared for them on the claim.
".In October, 1852. Il. L. Yester arrived from Port- land and the land claims were again readjusted to enable him to hold a claim including the site he had selected for a steam saw mill which was the first steam mill built on the Sound.
"23rd of May, 1853. the first plat of Seattle was filed for record by C. D. Boren and A. A. Denny, and subse- quently on the same day the plat of another portion was filed by D. S. Maynard.
" In the winter of 1852-53. J. J. Felt arrived and after somewhat extensive exploration located at Apple Tree Cove and built a mill which he removed to Port Madison early in 1854.
** In the spring of 1853, Captain William Renton came to Alki, and during the summer built a mill which he. early in 1854. removed to Port Orchard.
"In April, 1853. Thomas Mereer and Dexter Horton
arrived. and Mercer settled on the claim where he still lives.
".In December, 1852. A. A. and D. T. Denny dis- covered and explored Sahnon Bay which was previously unknown to the white settlers.
"HENRY VAN ASSELT. ". W. N. BELL, "IL. L. YESLER, ". DAVID T. DENNY. "(. D. BOREN, Jany. Ist. 1880." "A. A. DENNY." "Note: This epitome of historical events was pre- pared and signed by the above well known pioneers. Arthur A. Denny was the prime mover, and the original is in his safe at the family residence .- Editor of the Pio- neers' Record of Early Events of King County."
It is right that the above chronology should have been prepared by those hardy pioneers, all living on January 1st. 1880-but all having passed to the great beyond at the time this history is being prepared.
"Passing of the Wilderness"
VER NINETY YEARS AGO, or to be more exact, he moved that the bill be indefinitely postponed and his on the twenty-fifth day of February, 1825, Hon. motion carried by a vote of ninteen ayes to seventeen noes. Mahlon Dickerson, United States Senator from New Jersey, made a speech in the Senate upon a bill which provided for a grant of land to settlers to indnee them to locate in the Oregon Territory, in which he said that Oregon could never become one of the I'nited States and that the country would never be of any essen- tial benefit to the Union, either as a colony or as a State.
Remember now, that all of that land now embraced within the confines of the state of Washington, was at that time part of the then "Oregon Country."
Repeating the declaration that Oregon would never be a member of the Union, he undertook to show that it would be extremely difficult if not altogether impossible to secure from it a representative in Congress. lle es- timated the distance form the Columbia River to Wash- ington. D. ( .. at 4,650 miles, and said that a member of Congress from the state of Oregon would travel, going to and returning from the seat of government, 9,300 miles. and supposing he would travel at the rate of thirty miles a day, and allowing for Sundays, it would take him 350 days of the year to go to Washington and return. This would allow him only a fortnight to rest himself in the capital before commencing his journey home. As a con- siderable part of the way was over rugged mountains, covered the larger part of the year with a great depth of snow, he stated that traveling at the rate of thirty miles a day would be a hardship.
It is evident that his views were shared by a major- ity of the senate, because at the conchision of his speech
During the controversy with Great Britian over the boundary it was even proposed that this section of Oregon Territory where is now located Seattle, be traded For the Island of New Foundland and had it not been for the heroic patriotism and energy of Marcus Whitman, who rode across the whole Continent to plead the cause of the far Northwest before the powers in Washington, it is more than probable that this country would have been lost to the United States.
The passing of the wilderness in the Pacific North- west is one of the most interesting stories in American history. The great Northwest is interesting because it is the only section of the United States that never ar- knowledged allegiance to any other government and has never recognized any flag but the Stars and Stripes of Freedom.
The "Old Oregon Country" ineluded all that terri- tory which now embraces the state of Washington, Ore- gon and Idaho, with a small part of Western Montana and Wyoming. It was only accessible by vessels sailing around Cape Horn or by land route over the Isthmus of Panama.
The first attempt at settlement in what is now King County, was made by lohn Holgate in the fall of 1849, when he staked out a land claim near the month of the Duwamish River, which he intended to make his future home, but he went back to the Willamette Valley and took no steps to file on it as a "donation claim." In September of 1851. Henry Van Asselt, Luther M. Collins, lacob Maple and his son Samuel settled on the prairie land where the Denny Tile Works now stand and Maple and his son filed upon the land Holgate intended to take.
THE BOTHELL BRICK HIGHWAY ON THE NORTH AND WEST SHORE OF LAKE WASHINGTON, A SECTION OF THE PACIFIC HIGHWAY LEADING TO EVERETT AND BELLINGHAM
Planning King's Highways
A Story of Engineering and Road Building
By J. R. Morrison, Chief Deputy County Engineer
The first regularly established road on record in King County was surveyed and located July, 1854, by order of the Territorial Legislature, appointing Thomas Mercer, Henry Van Asselt and Henry H. Tobin as viewers, to "view and lo- cate" a "road from Seattle to intersect the road from Steila- coom."
William A. Strickler was called in as surveyor and lo- cated the road from Seattle in a southerly direction crossing Black River and terminating at White River, near the present town of Aubnrn.
The next road requiring a survey was County Road No. 6 located in November, 1864, ten years later, by Edwin Rich- ardson, U. S. deputy surveyor. This road is described as be-
ginning at the northeast corner of Block 72 on Madison Street, and ran in a northeasterly direction to Lake Washington at a point several hundred feet south of the present terminus of Madison Street, at Lake Washington, and following the general course of Madison Street as it exists today.
The report of the viewers of this road states. "The coun- try through which said road will pass is mostly of a fertile character, not only heavily timbered and remarkably well adapted for a wagon road, being generally level and what hills there are, are of an easy grade."
An interval of three years occurred before the services of a surveyor were again required. In 1867 H. J. Stevenson appeas as viewer and surveyor of Road No. 18 for the sur-
Page Six
HISTORY AND PROGRESS of
J. R. MORRISON Formerly County Engineer, Now Chief Deputy Under Arthur P. Denton
vey and location of a wagon road from a point opposite Fort Kidd, on White River, to a point on the military road about one-quarter of a mile north of Steele's ferry on the Duwamish River.
Difficulties in regard to right-of-way for county roads are not of recent origin as evidenced by the following petition, dated June 25. 1870: "We, the undersigned citizens of King County, Washington Territory, do respectfully petition your Honorable Body to vacate the portion of county road that has been laid out across the garden and timothy fields of D. A. Neely and establish the old road from the new shed to what is known as the old Washburn House. (To avoid all further litigation) As in duty bound we will ever pray."
The record is not clear as to the first county surveyor of King Tounty. The first mention of the office of county surveyor to be found in the commissioners' proceedings Was March 30, 1872, where it is stated, "The object of the meet- ing being to fill a vacancy in the office of county surveyor, it is hereby ordered that George F. Whitworth be and is here- by appointed county surveyor, for the County of King, to fill a vacancy existing in said office."
The early roads of King County were generally located by "viewers" appointed by the Board of County Commissioners and they rarely deemed it necessary to call any engineering talent to their assistance.
With the rapid growth of the county, the road problem became an increasingly important one as well as to other counties in the state and in the year 1907 the Legislature created the office of county engineer, changing the title from county surveyor to county engineer. Mr. A. L. Valentine, now superintendent of public utilities for the city of Seattle, was then county surveyor and has the honor of being the first county engineer of King County.
At this time a gravel road was the highest type of con- struction in the county and during the winter it was almost impossible to hanl more than an empty wagon into the city of Seattle over the roads, either north or south of the city. Today King County has 54.71 miles of paved highways. Con- tracts are about to be let for 18 miles of paving which will make a total mileage of paved highways at the close of this
year of 71.71 miles. Almost every type of standard highway paving surface is represented, including brick, concrete, bitulithic and asphaltic.
in 1912 the citizens of King County voted a bond issue of $3,000,000 for the purpose of establishing the ground work for a comprehensive general highway system for King County, two million dollars of this fund to be expended in the county and one million dollars to assist the city of Seattle to improve the streets which will connect with the county highways.
The Automobile Club of Seattle and the Good Roads or- ganizations of the county proposed this plan of issuing bonds to the Board of County Commissioners and were active in urging it adoption by the voters.
The late Col. Alden J. Blethen of The Times and Mr. Scott C. Bone of The Post-Intelligencer became personally in - terested in the movement and the success of the bond issue was largely due to their effective work.
The preliminary plans for the roads to be included under the bond issue were made up by Commissioner M. L. Hamilton, A. L. Rutherford and County Engineer J. R. Morrison. It is due to their thorough knowledge of the county and its require- ments that such a practical and generally satisfactory scheme was evolved in the very short time allowed for this work, which was only three days.
The main object sought was to provide every important section of the county with a main trunk highway, to be laid out on easy grades and with as little curvature as the con- ditions would permit. Only two projects included paving, No. 7, Seattle to Renton, and No. 11, Seattle to Pierce County. The other roads were to be graded and given a surfacing of gravel which would serve until the new grades had time to settle and the growing importance of some particular de- manded its being paved.
All of the bond issue roads will be completed or under contract before the end of the year.
%
The work of the county engineer's office covers a very wide range, embracing surveys and designs for roads, bridges, doeks and river improvements and the supervision of con- struction of all such work done under contract. The county engineer is required by law to make a yearly report of the condition of each of the 840 bridges and docks in the county. In timber bridges or combination timber and steel bridges it is necessary to examine each stick of timber in the whole structure.
The policy of the present Board of Commissioners is to use only steel or concrete for the more important bridges. King County is one of the very few counties designing its own bridges.
The unsual amount of work required to make the sur- veys and prepare plans and specifications for the bond issue roads, in addition to the customary work of the office, required a large force during the height of the work in 1915; ninety- five men were employed.
*
The duties of the county engineer are defined by the statutes of the State of Washington and what in some cases appears to be slow and expensive methods of the county en - gineer's office is due to the requirements of the law.
The total mileage of roads and number of bridges and docks in King County under the supervision of the Board of County Commissioners and county engineer, is as follows:
Miles
Earth roads
376.1
Gravel roads 1,057.9
Paved roads 54.7
Total
1,488.6
Bridges
840
Docks
41
Gravel bunkers
3
OLD KING COUNTY COURT HOUSE
The above cut represents the Old Court House as it stands today, grim in its dress of gray stone and cement, and soon to be abandoned for the new structure on Third Avenue. This building has witnessed everything-weddings, divorces, murders, hangings, and sometimes it was well that the figure of Justice was blindfolded, for even Justice was dealt to litigants in blind and unseeing manner. Within its walls is the jail which has housed many famous and infamous criminals .- H. C. Pigott in Seattle Saturday Night.
The Abandoned Court House
The old Court House with its base resting on a com- manding eminence nearly 300 feet above the harbor, pre- sented a very imposing appearance, its lofty tower pro- jeeting a total of 160 feet making 460 feet above sea level. The county voted an issuance of bonds to the amount of $200,000 for the erection of this old structure then long needed for the courts and county officers, and the com- missioners immediately selected a site and secured plans. The site chosen was on the hill on Seventh Street between Terrace and Jefferson Streets.
The only objection to the site was its inaccessibility and the steepness of the approaches from the business
streets. On the other hand, the elevation added much to the commanding appearance of the structure and rendered it so much more to the attractiveness of the city. * *
Plans for the old edifice were prepared by Mr. W. A. Ritchie, and these were drawn with an idea to combining beanty, solidity, and fireproof features. This structure was probably the best and handsomest yet erected on the Pacific Coast at the time of its building. It was construet- ed of stone, brick and iron and cement, the same grouping of materials as in the new building, yet note the contrast in the pietures.
HISTORY AND PROGRESS of
Page Eight
History of the Construction of the New Court House
By NORMAN M. WARDALL
T HE first official action taken looking toward the construction of a new Court House, dates back to the year 1903, at which the Charles Baker, now deceased, P. J. Smith and L. C. Smith constituted the Board of County Commissioners. P. J. Smith is now a resident of Issaquah, and L. (. Smith, who on retiring from the Board, served a four-year term as Sheriff. is at present living in Auburn. The need of a new building was clearly set out in a formal resolution passed by this Board on April 13, 1903, in which the statement is made that the "old building is inadequate for the present needs of the County, and the great increase in population and volume of business demands a more commodions struc- ture." and in conclusion it is ordered that the offer of the Yesler Estate to sell Block 33. (C. D. Boren's Addi- tion to Seattle, to the County for a Court House site at a consideration of $235,000.00 be areepted. There being no Innds available for the purpose of buying a Court House site, it was further provided that payment be made to the Yesler Estate in County Warrants drawing 57 interest. Deeds of conveyance were passed on May 5th, 1903, and four hundred and seventy $500.00 County War- rants were issued to the grantors. Provision was made in the next two annual tax levies to redeem warrants. For some reason, presumably financial considerations, no further action toward actual construction of a building was taken by this Board or the one immediately succeed- ing it. On the contrary, a five year ground lease was en- tered into with Geo. B. Lamping and associates in 1906 for the westerly half of the block, at an annual rental of $6,000.00. These parties constructed a temporary structure thereon, covering the entire half block, which was used for the first two years as a skating rink, and was known as the Coliseum. Later the building was tenanted to Sullivan & Considine and converted into the Orpheum Theatre.
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