Metronatural: Inventing and Taming Nature in Seattle - Politics of Urban Runoff: Nature, Technology, and the Sustainable City - page 112

instances of perennial instability. Klingle notes that Seattle's regrading ex-
perts had created “hybrid landscapes, neither fully natural nor fully under
human control. Engineers had produced, very often, landscapes more dan-
gerous and less reliable than those they had altered.” 98 Prometheans were
committed to the impossible goal of complete control over nature while
their activities often shifted problems either geographically or temporally
rather than resolve them. 99
From the earliest times, landslides and unstable soil conditions plagued
Seattle residents; in many cases, civic improvement projects served to ex-
acerbate these conditions. The glacial history of the region resulted in the
deposit of unconsolidated or partially consolidated soils; although most of
these sediments are compacted under several thousand feet of glacial ice,
they are not solid rock. As noted earlier, this geologic confi guration was
benefi cial for hydraulic sluicing activities but served as a less than desir-
able foundation for urban development, particularly on steep slopes. 100
Furthermore, the subsurface consists of a lattice of water fl ows that slowly
loosens the layers of sediment and eventually causes landslides. The con-
struction of roads, buildings, and underground utilities starting at the end
of the nineteenth century would change these subsurface drainage patterns,
resulting in landslides in unanticipated areas. Alteration of the landscape
for urbanization not only implicated surface features but also the complex
amalgam of soil, rock, and water in the subsurface. Landslide mitigation
emerged as another municipal service to mediate the relationship between
Seattleites and the landscape (see table 5.3).

Table 5.3
City of Seattle slide removal activities, total cubic yards of material removed,
1923-1935

Year Hand removal Gas shovel Year Hand removal Gas shovel

1923 5,316 18,360 1930 1,222 2,724

1924 1,684 20,584 1931 2,614 *

1925 2,094 31,365 1932 2,523 *

1926 832 6,496 1933 5,754 *

1927 3,365 5,972 1934 41,763 *

1928 2,317 32,886 1935 19,250 *

1929 1,032 12,258

Source : City of Seattle Streets and Sewers Department Annual Reports, 1924-
1936.
* = No data reported.