Thomson became City Engineer in 1892 and appointed Cotterill as an assistant . They developed the basis of what remains Seattle 's main water supply over a century later ( '' see Seattle Public Utilities '' ) , bringing in water from the Cedar River . The financial hurdles were almost as daunting as the technical difficulties . In an 8 July 1889 election , barely a month after the Great Seattle Fire ( 6 June 1889 ) Seattle 's citizens had voted 1,875 to 51 to acquire and operate their own water system . However , the Panic of 1893 wrecked the city 's finances . Cotterill devised the then-novel plan of borrowing money for the pipeline by pledging the receipts from the water to be delivered when the $ 1,250,000 system was completed . This brought Cotterill into electoral politics for the first time , supporting his own plan in an 1895 special election . The Klondike Gold Rush put Seattle on a sound economic footing and the 1901 completion of Cedar River Supply System No. 1 ( active from 21 February 1901 ) gave the city a steady supply of clean water
Great Seattle Fire
Great Seattle Fire
George F. Cotterill