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153 stories matching townsit
- The Land Grab That Stalled at Metaline
A speculator tried to claim the Metaline townsite by scrip, but found the ground already occupied. The fight moved to the surrounding land—and residents began pushing for a government townsite instead.
- Metaline Residents Fight Spokane Speculators for Their Townsite
A land-office contest in Spokane could cancel rival claims and clear the way for a government townsite at Metaline.
- Mining Claims vs. Townsites in Republic
A landmark land office ruling clarifies whether land should be used for mining or settlement.
- The Ghost of Grays Harbor City
Speculators learn the hard way as a subsidized townsite dies on the vine.
- Monte Cristo’s Residents vs. the Placer Claim
A federal commissioner orders a new hearing in the fight over whether a mining claim swallowed a Snohomish County townsite.
- Speculation Booms at the New 'Tunnel City' Townsite
Investors swarm the Land Office to secure property at the site of the new Cascade Mountain rail tunnel.
- The Battle for Metaline's Land
A complex legal dispute over the Metaline townsite ends in a victory for a scrip claimant, though the fight is far from over.
- Grays Harbor City Townsites Scheme Ends in 1891
How professional townsite boomers once built a 'city' of imagination that existed only on paper, leaving investors with nothing but worthless lithographs.
- The Town That Can't Be Bought
Federal land withdrawals have frozen property rights in Metaline, leaving residents in a legal limbo as they wait for the government to clear their titles.
- The Mysterious Land Grab of Enumclaw
A quiet town under the shadow of the Northern Pacific railroad suddenly erupts in land speculation, with rumors swirling that local figures are merely fronting for powerful railway interests.
- Railroad Money Buys the Ground for Ione
Deeds filed at Colville show the Idaho & Washington Northern’s investment company assembling the old Stecker ranch and nearby tracts for a brand-new townsite on the Pend Oreille.
- The Townsite Battle of the Okanogan
Brewster residents are lobbying against a new government-backed townsite, citing the history of failed settlements in the valley.
- The Unproven Future of the 'Attractive Townsite'
Northern Pacific President Thomas F. Oakes visits the burgeoning town of Everett in 1892, skeptical of its long-term viability despite the optimism of its East Coast developers.
- The Milwaukee Road Sets Its Sights on the Pacific
A townsite agent confirms the expansion of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad to the coast following massive terminal land buys in Tacoma.
- Federal Pressure on Port Angeles Settlers
Senator John B. Allen pressures the Land Department to resolve the stalled Port Angeles townsite survey.
- 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 Minor Land Grabbers of Port Angeles
Federal authorities rule that underage settlers may claim townsite lots, sparking a unique legal experiment.
- Real Estate Standoff Paralyzes Whatcom
A townsite dispute between original owners and a land colony halts development and freezes local business.
- The Townsite Scandal: Port Angeles Residents Revolt
Settlers on the Port Angeles military reserve hang an appraiser in effigy after discovering their land values were arbitrarily jacked up.
- Suspicious Blaze Destroys Inglewood Schoolhouse
A rural schoolhouse on the east side of Lake Sammamish is lost to a fire that trustees suspect was deliberately set.
- The Town That Might Move: Wenatchee Waits on the Great Northern
With the railroad undecided on its Columbia River crossing, Wenatchee's townsite company threatens to relocate the whole town—just as North Yakima was moved—and engineers send divers to probe the riverbed.
- A New Town Held Up in Washington: Sullivan Creek Waits on the Interior Department
The Sullivan Creek townsite is nearly ready for market, delayed because the land fell inside Secretary Ballinger's water-power withdrawal — and a brick plant is already on its way.
- 3,000 Acres of Reservation Land Pulled Off the Market — for a Town
The Secretary of the Interior withdraws nearly 3,000 acres at the meeting of the Columbia and Okanogan rivers, deciding farmland is not the best use for ground inside the Colville Indian Reservation.
- The Miracle Town Rising from the Sagebrush
A visiting reporter describes North Yakima’s rapid transformation from a vacant townsite to a bustling center of commerce and irrigation.
- The Town That Owned Nothing: Metaline's Squatters Fight Two Companies for Their Own Ground
Fifty residents of an unsurveyed Pend Oreille River mining camp petition the Spokane land office for a federal townsite — after a silver-lead company and a cement-clay claimant both tried to patent the ground out from under their homes.