Surveyors Armed at Sucia Islands
Tensions rise over property disputes as land surveyors face armed interference in the San Juan Islands.
The story, cleaned up
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The revenue cutter Wolcott brought to the city last evening Deputy United States Marshal E. W. Mudgett, with two prisoners, C. H. Wiggins and James McLaughlin, charged with interrupting R. H. Thompson, deputy United States surveyor, in the survey of government lands. Wiggins and McLaughlin live at the Sucia islands, in San Juan county. They are accused of interfering with Thompson's work by threats and even going so far as to point their guns at him. On Saturday night Deputy Marshal Mudgett went to Port Townsend and boarded the Wolcott. On Sunday the cutter sailed for the Sucia Islands. Mudgett landed with a file of soldiers and took the two men prisoners. Last evening the accused men were taken before United States Commissioner Kiefer, but being unprepared for trial they were placed under $1,000 bond each and remanded to the county jail.
“They are accused of interfering with Thompson's work by threats and even going so far as to point their guns at him.”
Conflicts over land use and survey rights in the San Juan Islands have a long, fractious history. While the era of armed confrontation with federal surveyors has passed, the tension between local property owners and public land access remains a persistent issue in the region.
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