The Struggle for Shore Access at the Waterfront
A squatter on the Northern Pacific tide lands faces a showdown with a steam-powered pile driver.
There was a breath of excitement this morning at the wharf over the attempted removal of a building erected by one Neary on the Northern Pacific water front, next to Barlow’s warehouse. Neary had built his house on piles so that it would just clear high tide. He had been notified not to occupy the land (or water) but had persisted in building, and this morning the pile driver men made fast to his domicile, and were just in the act of pulling it into the bay by means of a steam capstan, when it was noticed that Neary’s children were in the house, and the pulling process was at once stopped. The officials finally decided to proceed with his removal through the courts. Neary says he is not bothering anybody, that he has a right over tide water, and he prefers to stay with it.
“Neary says he is not bothering anybody, that he has a right over tide water, and he prefers to stay with it.”
The precarious nature of waterfront property and the legal ambiguity of tide land rights were early defining features of Seattle's development. Today, the tension remains, as modern residents and developers continue to wrestle with the complex public-private ownership of the shoreline.
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