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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1883 | 5 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 2 |
14 stories matching emption
- The Great Land Office Fire at Olympia
A catastrophic fire destroys essential territorial land records and plats, forcing homesteaders and pre-emption claimants to restart their filings from scratch.
- The Fight for Public Land
Seattle activists organize to challenge the Northern Pacific Railroad's control over vast swaths of Washington Territory.
- The Feds Crack Down on Land Fraud
A new circular from the General Land Office warns settlers that 'speculation' is illegal and will be met with criminal prosecution.
- The Chamber of Commerce vs. The People
Citizens are mobilizing to protest the Chamber of Commerce’s support for the Northern Pacific Railroad’s controversial land grant.
- The Unchecked Power of the Northern Pacific
A scathing editorial decries the 'bloodless, soulless' corporation for exploiting homesteaders and evading taxes while demanding public lands.
- Railroad Land Grab Defeated
A Supreme Court ruling halts the Northern Pacific Railroad's attempt to claim homesteaded lands in King and Yakima counties.
- The Homestead Scam That Turned Public Land Into a Speculator’s Prize
An 1883 exposé from Walla Walla describes how doctors, lawyers and merchants faked frontier residency to grab government land—and why the law made perjury easy.
- The Forgotten Pioneer Who Built Tacoma
Job Carr arrived in a wilderness with an ox team and a dream of a railroad terminal, only to die with a broken heart as the city he staked rose up to push him aside.
- The Battle for the Timber Claim
A settler challenges a Portland newspaper's account of a contested land filing near Mukilteo.
- Sawmill Company's 2,700-Acre Timber Land Fraud Exposed
A government investigation exposes how powerful sawmill companies in Washington Territory used dummy entrymen to systematically steal thousands of acres of federal forest land.
- The Deserted Wife Who Saved Her Homestead
When a man abandoned his land and his spouse in Olympia, the government tried to invalidate her claim—until a steely legal battle proved her right to stay.
- The Shadowy Land Claim at Quilayute
A local teacher exposes a fraudulent land grab scheme involving the intimidation of Indigenous residents and forged petitions to the Land Office.
- The Settler's Plight: Caught in the Crosshairs of Territorial Law
While Washington settlers face prosecution for working their land, Congress remains fixated on minor bureaucratic slights, ignoring the plight of the territories.
- Washington Territory's Missing Land Maps
Would-be settlers at Walla Walla say no one can show them the government tracts they came for—and railroad lands are not what they want.