Seattle's Waterfront Was Up for Grabs — and Everyone Filed a Claim

With the filing of the plats of the Seattle tide lands, numerous applications for purchase have been filed with the state land commissioner for lands in Seattle harbor, and applications are still being filed at a rapid rate, but the conflicting claims are so numerous as to threaten prolonged litigation. The last report from Olympia was to the effect that more than 399 applications had been made, and from present indications it is safe to prophesy that the number will be largely increased. There are four forms of application, as follows: By the owners of abutting uplands; by those holding and claiming by virtue of a conveyance from the upland owner; by owners of valuable improvements on the tide lands erected for actual use for commerce, trade or business, placed thereon prior to March 26; by owners of artificial oyster beds on tide lands, which last applies mainly to first-class lands, among which those of Seattle harbor are included.

The applications are principally of the first three classes, although there are numerous claims on the basis of proposed oyster beds — despite the restrictions in the law — the total number in Elliott bay reaching about 30, all of which possibly may be presented to the commission. In consequence of the variety of applications, the different grounds of claim and the angular line bounding the upland, the claims overlap many times; in some cases the number of applicants for a single piece of tide land being as high as 10. There is no definite rule by which an applicant can determine the exact boundaries of his claim.

The law gives to the upland owner the prior right, after the improvers, to purchase the tide lands in front of and abutting on his shore ownership, but beyond saying that the lines of the government survey shall be extended across the tide lands it does not provide any means of determining how coterminous claims are to be divided. In other cases — first-class tide lands — where there have been conflicting claims, the land commissioners have made an adjustment of true extension. Some applicants are extending lines westward to the west waterway and others eastward to the east waterway. The actual channel of the Duwamish river, which was recognized by the harbor line commission and the war department as a navigable channel, and which would have afforded some means of terminating the littoral rights of a shore owner, has not been shown by the appraisers. Had this been done it would have tended to simplify matters.

Owing to the absence of any direction in the law, at first it was thought that applications might be withheld until the applicant could determine exactly what he was entitled to; but the reverse has taken place. Instead of applicants delaying and being in doubt about the boundary line, a disposition has been shown to claim everything in sight, or everything that the applicant might by remotest possibility obtain, and the result has been numerous applications for fan-shaped tracts, the increasing area always favoring the applicant.

On account of the overlapping claims, it is predicted that litigation will spring up and that some of the titles will be held in court for many years. The first step in a contest will be taken before the state land commission, from which a case may go into the superior court and thence to the supreme court.

It is said that the only solution of the problem is to grant abutting upland owners a frontage on deep water proportional to their original frontage, making the question one for the surveyor. This is in accordance with the well known 'rule of three,' and has been made the basis of an equitable division in Massachusetts, where the problem of the tide lands was long a bone of contention and has been made the subject of exhaustive legal research.

Owing to unforeseen legal advice, and in spite of the objections raised by the board of state land commissioners and the commissioner of public lands, the board of appraisers platted to the government meander line in all cases. They are now engaged in making supplementary plats covering the area between the high tide line and the government meander line. This will be done before they go out of office on May 1. The appraisers are also completing a synopsis of the appraisement of the Seattle tide lands, which will be ready for the public in a few days.

In examining the plat a few days ago, C. M. Anderson discovered that the property line on sheet 2 is one-fourth of a mile north of the point where it rightly belongs. The mistake is merely a clerical error, but is liable to prove misleading. Clerical errors in the appraisement book are being discovered every day also.

A draughtsman yesterday said that the plats filed with the county auditor would not be permanent, because they had been made in green ink instead of black, and that it was probable the work would in time have to be done over.