State Land Is 'Marked State' and Sitting Idle — A Settler Offers 200 Families a Home

Port Townsend, Jan. 4.—To the Editor: The state of Washington a little over a year ago awakened to the knowledge that her lands were being appropriated by the people so fast that a little less than one-third of her millions of acres remained, and to the fact that she had put her private seal upon a very small fraction of her vast domain. She thereupon passed a law that all townships for the future must be cruised by certain officers immediately upon the acceptance by the government of the surveys, all good land not in the possession of settlers, more commonly called squatters, to be taken as state lands and be disposed of in the future to cash purchasers. To show how well these cruisers are doing their duty, I may mention one township in range 15, in the western part of the state, where 23 square miles of the 36 miles are marked "state" on the general maps. This proceeding leaves but one opportunity to the would-be settler—he must "squat."

There are yet thousands of square miles unsurveyed (but not yet accepted) in the western part of the state, and in my immediate neighborhood, the Queets Valley, Jefferson County, there is room for hundreds of home seekers on the best lands in the country. I am not asking too much of you to publish this fact and to state my offer to place from 100 to 200 families, or any part of the number, upon these lands free of all charge. We have already quite a large and prosperous settlement. We do not want to see the lands lie idle or be held by the state indefinitely. We know that it means stagnation to the growth of our community. We know it means no improvements: no wagon or rail for years, and these improvements by vacant lands will be almost valueless. Help us, Editor, by proclaiming these facts; we will do the rest, and in so doing will not only help us, but be the means of providing homes for many who will live long in the land of plenty. Thanking you and the Post-Intelligencer, I will gladly correspond with any who think seriously of taking a claim.