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54 stories matching squatter
- The Waterfront Tug-of-War: Squatters vs. The Empire of A.A. Denny
As Seattle's waterfront boomed, property titan A.A. Denny moved to clear 'squatters' from valuable harbor land, sparking a public anxiety over property titles that echoes through the city's growth.
- The Great Squatter Takeover of 1891
A landmark court ruling in Tacoma triggered a chaotic, overnight land grab as hundreds of squatters claimed property near the city's residential core.
- Clearing the Beach Squatters
City authorities order the removal of squatters living on the tide lands as the city begins to enforce strict land claims.
- Seattle Squatters Push Land Fight to District Court
Squatters on the Seattle tidelands win a legal delay in a high-stakes title fight against A.A. Denny, as the city watches a $100,000 property dispute head to district court.
- Eviction Threatens Historical Black Settlement in Tacoma
A US Marshal is ordered to collect rent from 450 squatters living on a 163-acre tract established by early Black settlers.
- Timber Syndicates Used Dummy Squatters to Seize Washington’s State Lands
A state land cruiser describes a systematic scheme: Eastern syndicates paid men to squat on the best timber, commute it cheaply, then move on to the next quarter section—land meant to fund schools and public institutions.
- The Squatter-Citizens of Port Angeles
Before Port Angeles was fully incorporated, a determined association of residents occupied government land to force federal recognition and protect their homes from wealthy speculators.
- The Shantytown Showdown
While the city council debates the impeachment of the police chief, the residents of Seattle's 'Shantytown' organize a desperate legal defense against eviction.
- Two Hundred Axes Clear the Woods for a 2,500-Soldier Colony
Port Angeles turned out an ax-and-saw brigade to fell forty blocks of townsite timber before a Michigan colony of veteran soldiers arrived — and the Secretary of the Interior steamed in to bless the work and the squatters' shaky claims.
- The Waterfront Land Wars
A railroad company wins an eviction suit against waterfront 'squatters,' highlighting the precarious state of living for those occupying valuable tide lands.
- Squatter Killed in Massive Railroad Slide
A catastrophic hillside failure near Monroe Street buries part of a shantytown; a local man is missing and presumed dead.
- The Great Land Grab: Tacoma Citizens Unite Against Northern Pacific’s ‘Squatter’ Tactics
In a packed hall at Reinig’s Hall, leading citizens condemn the railroad’s seizure of public lands and its attempt to claim hundreds of thousands of acres for a coal line that will never be built.
- Wild Goose Bill Dies in the Doorway of the Hollis King Ranch
The squatter who founded the town of Wilbur came to the King ranch with a six-shooter, shot the woman who had left him, and was killed by the dying man who shot back.
- Washington Wins Its Tide Lands—and Willapa Oystermen May Finally Get Title
A federal ruling clears the way for state ownership of tide lands, threatening South Bend's mill wharf while offering squatters on Willapa Harbor a path to legal claim.
- Fatal Family Dispute Over Squatter's Rights
A Lake Chelan property feud ends in a fatal shooting after a father and son attempt to intimidate a relative.
- The Battle for the Tide-Flats
A group of enterprising squatters use the cover of darkness to plant cabins on disputed Seattle waterfront land, challenging a prominent businessman's claim.
- The Squatters of Port Angeles
A government land reservation intended for protection is caught in a web of bureaucratic delays, shifting administrations, and local political infighting.
- The Shack Clearers of the Waterfront
A laborer finds himself in jail after being ordered by a railway company to tear down the homes of squatters living on the Seattle tideflats.
- The Battle for Salmon Bay’s Sand Spit
A multi-year legal feud over a railway right-of-way and a squatter’s claim reaches the courtroom.
- The Squatter’s Shack on the Waterfront
A railroad company wins its eviction battle against a man living on a harbor spit.
- 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 Squatter’s Right to the Land
The federal government defines the fine line between a settler's homesteading right and illegal timber harvesting on public lands.
- The Valley Nobody Surveyed: Pioneers Wait for a Government Pen
A settlers' advocate returns from the surveyor-general with promises and a rapturous account of a hidden valley where poor young farmers are hewing homes out of the forest without so much as a title to their land.
- The State Can't Find Its Land — and Timber Companies Got There First
A state land cruiser reports that Washington's 670,000-acre capitol grant is mostly poor land already claimed by squatters working for big lumber outfits.
- Tragedy in the Mount St. Helens Backcountry
A toddler is maimed after an accident with a hatchet in a remote squatter camp.
Also about this, in other words
- 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 Squatter’s Defense
A Seattle homesteader fights back against accusations of ‘land grabbing’ in an era of rapid frontier development.
- The Squatter at Point Roberts
A persistent settler claims a strategic military reserve, forcing the U.S. government to defend its borders against encroaching private interests.
- The Landlady of Cherry Street
A Seattle lodging house keeper is hauled into court after an altercation with a troublesome tenant—a minor dispute that reveals the grit of a changing city.
- 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 Pioneer's Protest Against the Building Tax
A pioneer stands his ground against city ordinances, preferring jail to paying what he calls an 'unjust tax.'
- The Anatomy of a 'Quitter' in the Labor Movement
A fiery editorial from the era defines the unionist's ideal of solidarity—and the absolute contempt reserved for those who broke ranks.
- The Midnight Laborer of Seattle’s Waterfront
A rare, intimate portrait of a 19th-century 'night worker' advertising his specialized sanitation services in the growing settlement of Seattle.