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| Year | Stories |
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| 1877 | 1 |
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54 stories matching squatter
- The Great Spokane Land Rush
Hundreds of 'boomers' flooded a disputed railroad tract in the heart of Spokane after a legal ruling fueled rumors of unclaimed land.
- The Great Land Grab of 1890
Official records from the Seattle land office reveal a massive migration of settlers moving into Washington’s 'virgin soil,' fueling a population boom and shifting the region's economy toward private ownership.
- The Desperate Plea of a Starving Squatter
A man living in an abandoned log house on the Puyallup reservation describes the violent standoff that led to his arrest and the shooting of a local sheriff.
- The Tide Flat Grabbers: Seattle’s Fight for Its Own Shoreline
As the statehood deadline looms, a fierce editorial battle erupts over who owns the valuable mudflats of Elliott Bay—speculators or the public?
- The Homestead That Built Everett
A multi-year land dispute over a timber claim settles in favor of the heirs of a deceased squatter, clearing the way for the city's future.
- Mayor Struve Disputes Plummer's Waterfront Land Claim
Mayor H. G. Struve acts against a squatter who fenced off city-claimed land on the Seattle waterfront.
- The State Claims the Cedar River Timber
A last-minute state filing on timber lands near Cedar Lake leaves dozens of hopeful homesteaders empty-handed.
- The Squatters of Front Street
When a building’s rent price surged following the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the owner tried to renege on an existing lease—leading to a tense standoff and a vigilante guard force.
- The Strange Fortune of 'Blanket Bill' Jarman
A pioneer who once lived among the Samish people as a captive, then as a squatter, discovers he is an heir to English estates.
- The Rancher and the Land-Grabbers
A San Juan Island homesteader faces trial for fighting off a crew of surveyors intent on jumping his claim.
- The Bitter Fight for Indemnity Lands
Settlers and railroads are locked in a high-stakes legal battle over land titles, with residents calling for a final resolution to the chaos.
- The Union Veteran Who Sued the Railroad for a Million-Dollar Tacoma
Anthony P. Carr says Northern Pacific agents helped a claim-jumper steal his homestead. More than a thousand Tacoma lots—and the people living on them—depend on what the Supreme Court decides.
- Canoeing the Queets: Promise and Dispossession on the Olympic Peninsula
An 1892 travelogue celebrates homesteaders in the Queets River valley while arguing that Native hunters should be confined to the reservation.
- The $10,000 Bet That Built Seattle’s Front Street
Superintendent Thompson risks a fortune to beat the calendar, while a separate land dispute erupts over tide flats near Grant Street.
- The Skirmish at Chelan River
Two Indigenous farmers and two white squatters face off in a dispute over land rights and cultivation.
- The Solitary Tragedy of Maple Valley
A lonely squatter, once neighborly, ends his life in a wretched cabin while local settlers eye his unclaimed homestead.
- The Waterfront Property War
A high-stakes legal battle over Seattle's tide lands pits powerful developers against squatters in a fight for the future of the harbor.
- The Struggle for Shore Access at the Waterfront
A squatter on the Northern Pacific tide lands faces a showdown with a steam-powered pile driver.
- The City Hall that Moved into a Squatter's House
After the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the city found itself without a seat of government, forcing the council to move into a private residence that the owner refused to vacate.
- The Fight to Save Washington’s Timber
Edmond S. Meany urges the federal government to secure forest reserves around Mount Rainier and the Olympic Peninsula to protect the state’s massive natural heritage.
- The Ghost Island of Arcadia
A squatter fights for the right to claim a six-acre island that the federal government officially claims doesn't exist.
- The Cabin on the Woods
A remote Clallam County murder is solved when a mysterious note arrives at the sheriff's office.
- The Squatter in the Two-Story House
A landowner is fighting a legal battle to evict a tenant who allegedly obtained permission to pitch a tent on the property only to move into the main house.
- The Bachelor's Defiant Defense
A long-time squatter proves his sanity after his sister and brother-in-law attempt to seize his property by branding him 'crazy'.
- The Squatter’s Defense
A Seattle homesteader fights back against accusations of ‘land grabbing’ in an era of rapid frontier development.