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29 stories matching dispossess
- A Seattle Improvement Company Tried to Dispossess a Black Homeowner—He Cited the Constitution
S. H. Stone bought a lot in a 'high-class' residence addition. When white neighbors objected, the company moved to undo the sale—and his lawyer answered with the U.S. Constitution.
- The Unlawful Demolition of a Family Home
A Seattle property owner sues for damages after his house was forcibly torn down and hauled away by a mining company.
- Railroad Giant Stumbles in Palouse
A landmark court ruling strips the Northern Pacific of its right-of-way through Palouse City.
- The Great Tax Sale of 1885
Hundreds of property owners face dispossession as Seattle lists delinquent lands for auction to cover city debts.
- Northern Pacific Route Shifts Dispossessed Homesteaders
How the Northern Pacific Railroad manipulated government maps to seize millions of acres, crushing homesteaders in the process.
- A Blind Elder's Suit to Undo a Land Fraud
In 1889, Washington O-dit went to court to void a deed for 160 acres on the Ahtanum, saying it had been taken from him without his knowledge or consent.
- The Judge Who Cleared the Way to Sell Puyallup Reservation Land
In April 1895, a federal court refused to block the sale of Puyallup Indian Reservation lands, ending an injunction and setting the stage for dispossession.
- Pressing to Carve Up the Yakima Reservation
A colonel fresh from Washington, D.C. reports that the Indian commissioner is ready to send an agent within a month to allot Yakima lands — framed as kindness, it was the machinery of dispossession.
- Federal Land Decisions in Kittitas County
The Interior Department rejects land claims in the Yakima and Walla Walla districts.
- A Hostage Standoff on the First Road
A historical account of the 1858 construction of Whatcom County’s first road, involving an armed confrontation with Indigenous locals.
- A Pension for the Men Who Fought the 1855–56 'Indian War'
A Vancouver man leads a campaign to pension surviving white volunteers of the Inland Northwest's 1855–56 war, a conflict the article ties to the Stevens County gold rush and Indigenous dispossession.
- A Seattle Courtroom Custody Battle
A legal dispute over marital status and custody exposes the complicated landscape of family law for Chinese immigrants in 1903.
- Col. Wright's Column Drives Spokane Fighters Across the Plains
An 1858 campaign report describes a running fight on the Spokane Plains—and the violent logic of dispossession behind it.
- The Brutal Logic of Dispossession
Governor Newell’s biennial message advocates for the total dismantling of reservations in Washington Territory to prioritize white settlers' agricultural ambitions.
- Federal Directive Protects Indigenous Land Occupancy
A government order instructs land offices to refuse entries by white settlers on land already cultivated by Indigenous people.
- The Brutal Doctrine of 'Root Hog or Die'
A Seattle newspaper editorial argues for the forced assimilation and dispossession of Indigenous people, mirroring the era's harshest colonial policies.
- The Theater That Never Rose
A legal war erupts over a prime downtown corner as competing developers and a frustrated landowner fight over a failed opera house dream.
- Puyallup People Wait on Delayed Land Patents
A century-old battle for property rights reveals how corporate interests and federal delays threatened to dispossess the Puyallup people of their ancestral home.
- The Kendall Combination Delivers a Moving Performance of 'M'liss'
Seattle theatergoers are captivated by Mrs. Julia Kendall’s portrayal of the waif M'liss at Yesler's Hall.
- The Hostage Crisis of the Teanaway Woods
A territorial dispute over two Japanese women in North Yakima turns violent, forcing a desperate appeal for help in Seattle.
- The Lesson of the Tribes
A labor editorial invokes the history of Indigenous dispossession to argue that unions must unify or face the same fate as the tribes of North America.
- Timber Thieves and Stolen Homesteads
A federal land agent details how wealthy mill corporations are systematically dispossessing homesteaders and stealing public timber.
- The Dispossession of Josephine Hatch
A Snohomish widow, unable to speak English, sues a powerful land conglomerate for swindling her out of a multi-million dollar stake in the founding of Everett.
- Tacoma Petitions to Throw Open the Puyallup Reservation
Businessmen, railroad men and politicians circulate petitions to oust the Puyallup Indian agent and dismantle federal restrictions, arguing the reservation's lands and rail routes should be 'opened' — a dispossession dressed as progress.
- The Single Tax: A Seattle Paper Takes On Henry George
In 1894 the Post-Intelligencer mounts a full-throated attack on Henry George's land-value tax, warning it would 'rob labor' and hand the ground itself to the rich.
Also about this, in other words
- A Predatory Property Theft
An Indigenous woman fights to reclaim land she says was swindled from her in a saloon transaction.