The Bogus 'Happy Valley' Real Estate Scam
A swindler in Fairhaven has been selling plots in a 'Happy Valley' addition that exists only on paper and a mountain.
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.
Some measures should be devised to check the swindling operations of C. E. Pace, of Tacoma, with his bogus 'Happy Valley' addition to Fairhaven. A large number of persons, deceived by his representations, have been swindled out of from a few hundred to several thousand dollars during the past eighteen months. A prominent business man of Spokane, who had recently invested $3,000 in lots, arrived in town to view his property. Upon investigation he found that his property was lots in a remote and inaccessible location. Pace's method of operation is this: he owns a tract of land off on Chuckanut Mountain, valueless for any purpose. This he has platted under the deceptive name of 'Happy Valley addition.' His plat is an exact counterfeit of Judge Kellogg's Happy Valley addition. The names of the streets and numbers of lots and blocks are the same throughout. He has a wall map that is also a counterfeit of the Happy Valley addition. The genuine Happy Valley addition is located, as its name indicates, in Happy Valley, and is desirable inside property.
“His plat is an exact counterfeit of Judge Kellogg's Happy Valley addition.”
This 1893 real estate scheme highlights the timeless nature of land speculation fraud in the Pacific Northwest. While the specific geography of 'Happy Valley' may have been absorbed into modern Bellingham, the predatory practice of selling inaccessible land under the guise of 'prime development' remains a persistent issue in regional real estate history.
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