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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 5 |
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54 stories matching lieu
- Palouse Settlers Win Decisive Victory Over Railroad Interests
A landmark federal decision voids railroad claims to 'lieu lands,' prompting town-wide celebrations and jubilation among homesteaders.
- Big Bend Settlers Win Land Rights Over Northern Pacific
Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith rules against the railroad in a landmark case involving indemnity lands in Eastern Washington.
- Corporations Used Dummies in Vast Timber Land Fraud
Corporations are using the lieu land law to snatch up millions of dollars worth of public timberland in the Pacific Northwest, leaving the honest homesteader with nothing.
- Legal Battle Over Wishkah River Timber Rights
A local man is held on charges of cutting timber on government land, setting the stage for a major legal test involving the Northern Pacific Railroad.
- Supreme Court Rules on School Land Squatters
A definitive U.S. Supreme Court decision resolves decades of uncertainty regarding land titles for Washington State school lands, ending claims by settlers like Anton Johansen.
- The Price of a Marital Settlement
A wife files a scathing counter-complaint alleging coercion, threats, and a secret financial pact in a high-stakes divorce suit.
- Seattle Ends the 'Pay-to-Play' Liquor Fines
A local judge breaks with a years-long precedent of allowing restaurant owners to pay a monthly fee in lieu of a full liquor license.
- The Paper That Stood Between Jung Wing and Deportation
Arrested at a Point Roberts cannery for lacking a registration certificate, Jung Wing wins a month to prove he is the man named on a lost Portland certificate—or face deportation.
- The Road Less Traveled: Seattle’s Shameful Contrast with Victoria’s Fine Highways
In 1876, the local press lambasted King County’s broken road system, praising British Columbia’s turnpikes as a model for Seattle’s own stagnant development.
- 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 Birth of Washington Territory
Arthur Denny recounts the 1852 Monticello Convention that successfully petitioned Congress to split the Washington territory from Oregon.
- The Mayor's Right to Fight City Hall
A landmark Washington Supreme Court ruling affirmed a mayor's authority to hire private counsel when the city's own legal department refused to defend the city against an illegal bond ordinance.
- The Land Grab That Built Tacoma: How the Northern Pacific Railroad Stole Millions of Acres
A furious editorial in the Seattle Star exposes the Northern Pacific Railroad’s scheme to misappropriate public lands for a private coal line, arguing that the company is using legal loopholes to steal from settlers in King and Snohomish counties.
- The Decades-Long Battle for the McAleer Tract Ends in Court
After years of tangled legal claims, Judge Hanford rules against the McAleer heirs, clearing the way for new development on a large, vacant stretch of land once visible from the old Lake Washington cable cars.
- An Umbrella, A Locked Door, and a Young Girl's Ordeal
A teenager finds herself an unwilling prisoner in a Pacific Avenue hotel room after a chance meeting on a streetcar leads to an alleged theft and coercion.
- The Anacortes Land Syndicate's Unraveling
A complex five-day trial over the Fidalgo Island land deal concludes as the court rules the formation of the Fidalgo Land Company did not absolve investors of their debt.
- The Night the City Tried to Eat Itself: A Confidence Man’s Flight Through the Woods
In May 1877, a swindler stole cash from a saloon, fought off a citizen, and fled into the Seattle wilderness—only to be caught by an officer hiding among ruins at dawn.
- The Railroad That Couldn't Steal His Home
How a local homesteader outlasted the Northern Pacific Railway in a decade-long legal battle over land rights.
- The Tax War That Almost Killed Seattle's Economy
In 1877, a federal order threatened to strip Seattle of its tax base by forcing steamships to register their 'home port' in Port Townsend. The local press warned that without this revenue, the county would collapse.
- The First Veto: A Stand Against Seattle's Risky Debt
Mayor White halts an ordinance that would have saddled the city with private developers' debts under the guise of street improvement bonds.
- The Paperwork Error That Challenged Seattle’s Property Claims
A legal dispute over a real estate deed in 1885 reveals how bureaucratic technicalities—specifically a missing county seal—threatened the validity of early land titles in King County.
- The City Wharf as a Stone Yard: Seattle's Plan to Put Its Idle Men to Work
A petition signed by dozens of prominent Seattle businessmen asks the city council to turn the waterfront into a public stone yard, trading honest labor for meals and lodging — and to run the beggars out of town.
- The Guilford Miller Land Case Resolved
A landmark victory for settlers against the Northern Pacific Railroad.
- Walla Walla School Board Admits to Illegal Spending
After building a high school without public vote, the school board confesses to issuing over $63,000 in unauthorized warrants.
- The Myth of the Great Land Scandal
A federal official dismisses widespread rumors of a $50 million land fraud, even as regional timber speculators continue to exploit loopholes in the law.