In eulogizing Furth , Judge Thomas Burke said of him , Some seventy years later , Bill Speidel was more succinct : " All Jacob Furth did was take a squalid little village named Seattle and turn it into a world class city . He made good on Doc Maynard 's dream . " Shortly after his arrival in Seattle , Furth ( along with Gatzert and '' Seattle Post-Intelligencer '' founder John Leary ) rescued the Spring Hill Water system from bankruptcy . The privately owned firm supplied the city 's water . A new pumping station on Lake Washington in what is now the Mount Baker neighborhood made the system viable , doubling its previous capacity . Although the deal was initially viewed largely as a matter of public service , Furth 's financial acumen resulted in a profit . After the Great Seattle Fire of June 6 , 1889 , which the Spring Hill system failed to put out , Furth broke with most of the city 's business interests to back city engineer R. H. Thomson 's proposal for a municipally owned gravity-flow system . J.J. McGilvra was the only other member of the Seattle establishment to take this side in the fight
Great Seattle Fire
Great Seattle Fire
Jacob Furth