The Price of Dirt in Washington
A Senate debate on land values turns into a bragging contest about the Pacific Northwest's booming real estate market.
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.
In the Senate today, Western and Northwestern senators challenged the assertion of Senator Vest that the Republican protective system had decreased the value of agricultural land. Senator Paddock of Nebraska claimed land values in his state had appreciated, a view echoed by Senators Allison of Iowa and Pettigrew of South Dakota. Then, Senator Allen rose to assert that in the state of Washington, land previously purchased at government prices—$1.25 per acre—was now selling for $20 to $30 per acre. Vest retorted that he had visited Seattle years ago when land was selling for $1,000 an inch. Mr. Allen responded: 'And the beauty of the whole matter is that the owners got what they asked for it.'
“And the beauty of the whole matter is that the owners got what they asked for it.”
The pride in soaring land values documented here mirrors Seattle's modern housing crisis. While the 1892 debate focused on agricultural land, the underlying logic—that skyrocketing prices are a sign of 'success'—has remained a defining and often destructive feature of the city's economic identity for over 130 years.
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