The Railroad Draws a Line in the Mud: Seattle's Tidelands Declared Off-Limits
In a public notice, the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company claims every foot of Elliott Bay shore south of King Street — wet sand, deep water and all — and warns the public to keep off without written permission.
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.
OFFICE OF THE COLUMBIA AND PUGET SOUND RAILROAD COMPANY, Seattle, W. T., July 27, 1883.
Whereas, by deed bearing date August 19, 1873, executed in pursuance of an ordinance approved August 18, 1873, the city of Seattle conveyed to the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad and Transportation Company all the tide lands south of King street, in said city of Seattle, in, along, around and about Elliott bay, from extreme high to extreme low tide and deep water; and
Whereas, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, by an act approved November 8, 1873, ratified and confirmed said grant and conveyance upon certain conditions, which have been fully performed by said company; and
Whereas, said act of the Legislative Assembly vested the title of said lands in said Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad and Transportation Company in fee simple; and
Whereas, the United States has acquiesced in said grant and conveyance; and
Whereas, the said Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad and Transportation Company has transferred and conveyed all of said lands to the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company:
Now, therefore, the said Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company hereby give notice that it claims the exclusive right to occupy said lands and to erect wharves and other structures thereon, and that all persons are hereby notified to refrain from occupying or entering upon any of said lands without the consent, in writing, of said Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company.
COLUMBIA AND PUGET SOUND R. R. CO. By E. P. Weymouth, Assistant Superintendent.
“All persons are hereby notified to refrain from occupying or entering upon any of said lands without the consent, in writing, of said Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company.”
The tidelands this notice claimed became the subject of litigation that ran for decades and helped fix the boundary between private waterfront and public harbor in Seattle. The same question — who owns the shore, and who gets to build on it — resurfaces every time the city redesigns its central waterfront today.
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