The Speculative Homestead That Built Everett
A federal land office ruling exposes how a 'homestead' was actually a calculated land grab to secure the future site of a new industrial city.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
An important decision, involving the title to forty acres of valuable property lying within the limits of the town of Everett, was given Saturday by Register Reed and Receiver Ogden of the local land office, canceling the homestead entry of William H. Hewitt. The contest was begun January 26, 1892, by William L. Overly, who alleged that Hewitt's entry was made for speculative purposes and was a fraud under the homestead law. William H. Hewitt made his homestead entry on October 20, 1890, and offered final proof in May 1891. Overly alleged that the claimant was the son of Henry Hewitt Jr., president of the Everett Land Company, and that the entry was made for the benefit of the company. From the testimony of W. F. Brown, Henry Hewitt Jr.'s agent, it appeared that the elder Hewitt had begun purchasing land for a townsite in August 1890. The opinion noted that the price paid for the relinquishment of the land was excessive for agricultural purposes, strongly corroborating the allegation of speculative intent. The register concluded that the purchase was made solely for speculative purposes, noting that the claimant had made no effort to cultivate the land, and thus ordered the homestead entry to be canceled.
“The price paid for and the quality of the land, circumstances concerning the purchase and relinquishment, and the fact that the claimant has made no effort to put his land under cultivation preclude the idea that this entry was made for agricultural purposes.”
This 1892 decision highlights the early, often murky intersection of federal land grants and private industrial development in the Pacific Northwest. While the Homestead Act was intended to settle the frontier through agriculture, land speculators quickly realized that 'proving up' a claim was often just a strategic step toward building the railroad terminals and factory sites that would define cities like Everett.
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