Armed Standoff at the Green River Coal Mines
A local syndicate and a railroad-backed corporation clash over mineral rights in the Green River country, as hired men and revolvers complicate property disputes.
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 two years ago, Messrs. Whitworth, Smithern and a number of other respectable citizens of this county discovered rich coal deposits on Section 34, in the Green River country, and at once located on that section. In order to develop the mines, they organized a syndicate and kept experienced coal miners at work. To induce the Villard combination to build a road into that section, the proprietors offered the land to the Villard people at a reasonable consideration. Mr. Howard agreed to buy it, provided it would be transferred to him personally, which the holders refused to do. Finally, the railroad concluded they wanted the land and, instead of paying for it, hired a man named Chick, a brother-in-law of the company's attorney, James McNaught, to drive the citizens off the land. Chick appeared with revolvers, claiming to be backed by more capital than 'old Vanderbilt.' When he found the syndicate's employees would not leave, he rode to Seattle for instructions. The syndicate called on Sheriff McGraw to arrest Chick and his gang for forcible entry. Chick disappeared, but the syndicate remains, warning: 'If they imagine the respectable citizens of this country... are going to be driven from their possessions by a lot of misguided hirelings they make a great mistake.'
“If they imagine the respectable citizens of this country... are going to be driven from their possessions by a lot of misguided hirelings they make a great mistake.”
This 1883 standoff over Green River coal rights underscores the early, often violent, friction between independent prospectors and the massive corporate interests, like the Villard syndicate, that consolidated Washington's resource economy. The 'don't tread on me' defiance from the local syndicate mirrors ongoing civic debates regarding land ownership and corporate vs. public interest in the region's natural resources.
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