The Great Kitsap County Seat Heist
A peaceful expedition of 150 men and a team of oxen descends on Port Madison to relocate the county records to Sidney.
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.
The county seat of Kitsap County was formally changed from Port Madison to Sidney yesterday. Despite rumors of potential resistance, the records were transferred without incident. At 7:00 AM, the steamer Ellis departed Sidney with 150 men arranged in squads under the direction of Major E. Garrison and Ira Rockwell. Carrying wagons and tools, the group arrived at Port Madison to find the locals grumbling but compliant. The work proceeded rapidly; despite the heavy lifting—including one safe requiring forty men and a team of oxen—everything was secured on the steamer by noon. Upon returning to Sidney, the town celebrated the milestone, having already completed a new, debt-free courthouse to house the county property.
“As a means of keeping peace between the people of the two towns, no liquor was allowed on board the boat.”
This territorial dispute over the county seat was settled by a physical removal of archives, a stark contrast to modern jurisdictional debates. Sidney was later renamed Port Orchard, which remains the Kitsap County seat today.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.