Mill Owners Battle State Over Waterfront Rights
A major lumber company files an injunction to stop the State Harbor Line Commission from seizing mill property and wharves under new, secret harbor mapping.
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The Northwestern Lumber Company has filed a bill in equity in the United States District Court, seeking an injunction against the Washington State Harbor Lines Commission. The company challenges the commission's attempt to establish harbor lines that would effectively seize their Willapa River mill properties. The lumber company asserts it has long held title to the land and that its wharves, warehouses, and log booms—costing over $100,000—were built in accordance with territorial customs and laws. The commission is accused of secret surveying and drawing lines that deliberately enclose private wharves and shorelines for state control, threatening to destroy the value of the mill and strip the owners of their access to navigable waters without compensation.
“The defendants are asserting the right of the state to take possession of, and destroy or sell to private individuals the said wharves, piers and other improvements which have been erected by the complainant.”
This 1892 struggle over private infrastructure versus state land control highlights the foundational tension in Washington's history regarding tidelands. It echoes current debates in Aberdeen and surrounding coastal communities over the ownership and management of the waterfront as the city balances historical industrial uses with modern environmental and public access mandates.
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