The following letter was sent to the Ballard Mayor and City Council in 1903 [sic throughout]:

Ballard Mar 17th 1903 Block 4 Gilman Park & Ship St

Your Honerable Mayor & Council Gentleman

This is something that some of the Council knows before, but if you please Mr Clerk read this aloud so they will all hear it now.

This is concerning the water trouble between Mr Porter & Mr H Langenbacker & myself Johan Jansen. Some two months ago Mr Porter went to work on Sunday & worked hard wheeled all the ashes he found at the schoolhouse on to his lot, packed & covered up his waterdrain that had been running through his lot, so the water had no outlet, then the water had to run on the top of the ground & over on to Mr Langenbacker’s lots, & on part of mine. The three waterclosets got full & overflowed, so it was bound to leave a kind of a dung soup on three lots.

And now when the sun comes out warm it is bound to steam so we will not need any other kind of perfume in this neighborhood.

Now then I want the City Council & the City Atty & the Health Officers to let me know if that was right for Mr Porter to do so.

Now then if it is right for Mr Porter to do so certainly it must be right for me to close up the drain that runs through my lot so Ship St be flooded and those that join Ship St.

Mr Porter came to me last Sunday & said to me now if you do not stop the water from running over my lot, then I will go right to work & build a concrete wall along the fence between us, so then you will have all the water on your lots.

If I was living on Mr Porter’s place then I would open the drain & give the water an outlet so that the dirty water would not run up to my kitchen door, or neither would Mr Porter & Mr Langenbacker had to come to me last Sunday for to give me a racket, because I did not stop the water & rain from coming down from above here.

I for my part am very sorry that there is such men that can make such a racket with neighbors without any cause.

Yours Resp. Johan Jansen

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