The Delinquent Tax Rolls of Territorial Seattle
A haunting, granular list of property owners from 1875 and 1876 whose land was seized by the county, documenting the precarious nature of early Seattle ownership.
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.
A record of lands sold to King County for unpaid taxes from 1875 and 1876. Among those listed: Alexander John, 1876, lot 5, block 17, Bell & Denny Addition; Levin Allen, 1876, northeast quarter of section 19, township 26, range 4 (160 acres); Allen & Johnson, 1876, lot 3, block 86, South Seattle; and Jacob Bonkham, 1875, west half of section 17, township 25, range 4. Further listings include various lots in the Maynard, Boren, and Law's additions, reflecting the early developmental footprint of a growing Seattle.
“The number of people who have been killed during the Chinese rebellions and wars is awfully enormous. These figures are so enormous as to seem incredible, and make one suspect that they love to extol even their barbarism by means of oriental exaggeration.”
This tax roll reads like a map of early Seattle's displacement and consolidation. While today's headlines focus on skyrocketing property taxes and modern development displacement, these 1875 records capture the foundational era when land was being carved out of the forest and quickly cycling through owners due to economic instability.
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