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218 stories matching plat
- The New Tide-Flat Plat Put a Foundry in the Street
Seattle shore owners crowded the county auditor's office to see how a new Elliott Bay plat redrew their waterfront—and some found their improvements sitting on paper streets.
- The State Tried to Plat Their Islands
Brawley and Kinnear went to court to stop a state tide-land plat from turning 140 acres of Elliott Bay into lots and streets.
- The Paper Town in the Canyon
Speculators filed a plat for 'National Park City,' a townsite consisting of 1,960 lots, some located on a sheer, uninhabitable basaltic mountain.
- The Log-Jam Monopoly: Who Controls a Western Washington River?
When Joseph Doyle’s logs were trapped inside a private boom company’s platted stretch of the Skokomish River, he sued—and put the whole question of river monopolies and public waterways on trial in Shelton.
- The Map That Erased a Business on the Seattle Waterfront
Property owners revolt as tide-land appraisers redraw the shore and wipe an upland business house off the map.
- Who Owns the Shoreline? Olympia’s Tide-Land Fight
A citizens’ commission debated street grids, meander lines, and property values as appraisers prepared to price the Olympia waterfront.
- The Tide Land Freeze: Ballard’s Waterfront Plats Go to Court
A judge restrains appraisers from filing supplemental tide-land plats as landowners, the state land commission and the county auditor fight over who controls the shore.
- The Streets Seattle Was About to Give Away
A city council committee votes to vacate waterfront streets south of Charles Street, and the city engineer warns that private tide-land leases could cut Seattle off from deep water.
- 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 Ladd Estate Fights to Keep the Tide-Land Mapmakers Off Its Riverfront
A South Seattle landowner sues state appraisers over new plats along the Duwamish, warning that the survey would cloud titles to reclaimed riverfront acres.
- Chris Ennis Carves a Suburb Out of 73 Acres East of Town
The old Aeils tract is platted into acre lots and put on the market, as Walla Walla's edge pushes outward toward Mill Creek.
- 130 Waterfront Owners, and Nobody Knows Where Their Land Is
A boom-era plat, a harbor replatted by the state without regard to it, and a tide land commission trying to untangle the mess at Whatcom before the courts get it.
- The Fight Over the Wishkah River
Prominent landowners seek an injunction to halt the surveying and platting of tide lands, citing concerns over potential river obstruction and property rights.
- The Tide Lands Plat: A Waterfront Laid Out for Sale
State appraisers file the plat for the Tacoma tide lands, opening 600 acres of shore and mud flats to sale—unless upland owners claim them first.
- A New Town Called Cady Rises with 37 Lots—and a Saloon
Engineer Fleming platted Cady a quarter-mile from Blueslide, where a hotel, store and saloon are already rising—and more saloons are expected by spring.
- The Town That Was Never Filed: A Buyer Sues Over Columbia's Missing Plat
Robert Blackburn paid for a lot in a heavily promoted new Seattle townsite, then discovered that no plat of Columbia had ever been recorded with the county auditor.
- The Man Who Sold Olympia's Eastside Like Hot Cakes
W. E. Sebree platted a tract on the Eastside, cleared nearly $40,000, toured Alaska and Europe — and came home to a town he hardly recognized.
- The Mayor Won't Sign, the Railroad Can't Build, and a Saloonkeeper Sues the Town
Newport's council spends a long evening tangled in street vacations for the Idaho & Washington Northern, unsafe crossings, a disputed plat of survey monuments — and trades a lawsuit for a liquor license.
- The Promised Land of Hayview
A new town platted on Padilla Bay promises a boom in lumber, and land-seekers are urged to stake their claims.
- The Oyster Bed Loophole
A Supreme Court ruling on tide lands inadvertently threatens the state's control over valuable oyster beds.
- Before the Tide Lands Sold, Seattle Had to Erase Its Own Streets
Property owners rushed the City Council to vacate old street lines across Elliott Bay tide lands before a May 13 purchase deadline—or risk tangled titles and lost waterfront.
- The City Council’s Petty Snub of Seattle’s Founder
A scathing editorial exposes how local politicians, led by a councilman, used a mundane land plat filing to insult A.A. Denny, a pivotal figure in Seattle’s development.
- The Blurred Map of Seattle's Early Real Estate Boom
A local property surveyor exposes a deceptive mapping practice meant to obscure the true boundaries of land parcels during a heated period of development.
- The 3,249-Acre Map That Laid Out Seattle’s Waterfront
In 1895, King County appraisers filed the first full plat of Seattle’s tide lands—reserving broad rail avenues, harbor blocks and a street grid that still shadows the modern waterfront.
- The Fight for Point Roberts’ Shoreline
A powerful fishing association is accused of manipulating land filings to secure a monopoly on the valuable tide lands, pushing out local competitors.