Sheriff's Auction: King County Land Sold to Settle a Debt
A 1878 legal notice reveals a grim snapshot of early King County land struggles, as a riverside homestead goes to auction to satisfy a debt.
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.
By virtue of an order of sale issued out of the District Court of the Third Judicial District of Washington Territory, holding terms at the City of Seattle, in King County, for the counties of King and Kitsap, in the action of D. R. M. against William H. Snyder and M. J. Snyder, his wife, and John Doe, defendants, duly attested this 20th day of February, A.D. 1878, I have levied upon the following land and premises situated in the County of King, in said Territory of Washington: Beginning at a post which bears north 11 chains, west 8 chains, and north 9.92 chains from the quarter section corner on the north and south line between sections 11 and 12 in township 23 north of range 4 east, and running thence west, 17.00 chains, thence south 12.00 chains to the north and right bank of the Duwamish river, thence up stream following the meanders of said river to a white fir tree 10 inches in diameter, standing at the northeast corner of Sidney McMullen's land on the right bank of said river, thence east 8.00 chains, thence north 22 deg. east 12.56 chains, thence east 4.33 chains, thence north 2.02 chains, thence west 3.33 chains to the point of beginning, containing 48 acres of land, all situated in King County, Washington Territory. Now, therefore, notice is hereby given that on MONDAY, MARCH 25th, A.D. 1878, at the hour of 10 o'clock A.M. at the court house door in the city of Seattle, and county of King aforesaid, I will sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, gold coin, the above described lands and premises.
“I will sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, gold coin, the above described lands and premises.”
This 1878 foreclosure notice highlights the precarious nature of early pioneer land ownership in the Duwamish Valley. Today, the struggle for land in Seattle has shifted from rural homesteads to urban housing, but the fundamental tension of displacement through debt and legal proceedings remains a consistent, often painful, feature of the region's history.
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