 On
March 22, 1886, representatives of Thomas Edison demonstrate
the first electrical generator in Seattle. The Seattle
Electric Company's steam-powered dynamo, located in Pioneer
Square, powers the first incandescent light bulb to shine
west of the Rocky Mountains.
RIGHT:
Seattle's waterfront at Columbia and Madison in 1886,
showing Frye's Opera House
Edison agents Sidney
Mitchell and F. H. Sparling arrived in Seattle in 1885. They
arranged for generous municipal franchises and solicited
investors for a new Seattle Electric Company. George D. Hill
and J. M. Frink constructed the city's first central
electric power station. They purchased the required
generating equipment from the Edison Machine Works.
The first electrical power station was installed on Jackson
Street between Commercial Street (later 1st Avenue S) and
2nd Street (later Occidental Avenue). In 1886, the City of
Seattle awarded their new firm, Seattle Electric Light
Company, a 25-year franchise to use city streets and alleys
for their light poles. By 1889, the rapid growth of
electrical usage required new generating equipment and a
larger plant.
Mitchell later wrote, "One pillar of
the community said, 'How foolish of these young men to build
the generating station on the waterfront. If they had put it
at the top of the hill the electricity would run down the
wires by gravity. Now they'll have to pump it'" (Dick).
In 1898, Sidney Mitchell invited agents of the national
Stone & Webster utility cartel to visit Seattle. That same
year, Charles Baker completed the region's first
hydroelectric plant at Snoqualmie Falls.
By 1900,
Stone & Webster controlled Seattle Electric, the Snoqualmie
plant, and virtually all of greater Seattle's private
electric utilities and street railways. It ultimately
consolidated management into the Puget Sound Traction, Light
& Power Company, forerunner of Puget Power and today's
(2000) Washington Energy.
Fear of monopoly control
spurred development of Seattle City Light, beginning in
1902. After decades of political and economic competition,
in 1950 City Light acquired Puget Power's services and
assets within the Seattle city limits.
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