The Broken Promises of the Northern Pacific Railroad
A critical report on the railroad's failure to honor its land grant agreements with settlers in the Washington Territory.
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 resolution of the House committee providing for the forfeiture of the Northern Pacific land grant will undoubtedly be adopted by the House, though it may be modified somewhat in favor of the railroad company before it finally passes through Congress. This resolution provides for the cancellation of the entire grant between the Missouri river and Wallula Junction. The railroad company, for some reason satisfactory to itself, went back on its promise to sell land to actual settlers at $2.50 an acre, and by refusing to sell at that price, subjected many people to great hardships. It advanced the price of lands and affixed conditions—such as the reservation of mineral and coal rights and forcing purchasers to fence against future railroads—that are grievous to be borne. Some of the most conservative and influential newspapers in Washington Territory, such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Walla Walla Watchman, have protested against this policy as unjust and adverse to the interest of both the railroad company and the country.
“These lands were donated to the company, not to make its managers... millionaires, but to extend the facilities of intercourse and transportation through an undeveloped region.”
This reflects the long-standing tension in the Pacific Northwest between powerful land-grant monopolies and the public interest. The debate over who owns the land and the obligations of corporations to the communities they traverse remains a recurring theme in Seattle's political history.
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