A Dutch Colony for Whidbey Island
Farmers from Michigan and South Dakota are heading to the Sound to establish a new agricultural settlement.
General Agent R. C. Stevens of the Great Northern railroad has received notice from the East that within a short time two carloads of Dutchmen from Michigan will leave for Seattle to settle on land taken up for them on Whidbey Island by their agents. Some months ago, W. Diefman and W. Harrington arrived in the city from the East and cast about for a suitable site for a colony, and finally purchased 18,000 acres of land on Whidbey Island. The members of the colony, all of whom are young men of comfortable means and who are practical farmers, having been brought up on farms, will undoubtedly prove valuable acquisitions to the farming element of the Sound. Mr. Stevens also says that M. Kuyper, another native Hollander, who has had much experience in placing colonies, is now on the Sound in search of a suitable locality for twenty-five or thirty families of Hollanders who live in South Dakota. It is believed that this colony will also be located on Whidbey Island, as much good land can be purchased there at a nominal figure.
“The younger generation think that the field at home is too limited for successful farming and are consequently anxious to branch out.”
The 1895 vision of Whidbey Island as a massive, organized agricultural colony for immigrants contrasts sharply with its modern identity as a mix of rural farmland, military installations, and tourism. The Great Northern Railroad's active role in 'placing' these colonies highlights how corporate interests shaped the demographic and physical landscape of the Pacific Northwest during the late 19th-century boom.
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