The Strange Case of the County's Vanished Property
A legal battle over the former Collins claim reveals a messy history of county mismanagement, secret land deals, and invalid property sales.
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.
The property known as the county farm, which has been so long in litigation, is once more the property of the county, and the matter is now considered to be effectually settled. The farm is situated about five miles from Seattle and is a part of the Collins claim, which was the first located in this county—in the year 1849 or 1850. Some years after the claim was located, a man by the name of John Thompson purchased the portion which is now known as the county farm, containing some 160 acres. In the year 1866, Thompson died suddenly, leaving no heirs, and the property went to the county and was rented out by the commissioners until June 1874.
At that time, the commissioners made the following disposition: two lots were purchased from John Pinnell near the old 'mud house' for a county courthouse and jail, for which the commissioners agreed to pay him $2,000. One thousand dollars of this he received in cash, and for the other $1,000, they deeded to him the county farm, on the condition that he provide a $10,000 bond as a guarantee that no disreputable business would be conducted on the premises. Pinnell gave the bond and received the deed. Shortly after, he mortgaged both the farm and the 'mud house' property to Captain Kenton.
The county eventually began a lawsuit against Pinnell for breach of contract, and the mortgage holder began a suit to foreclose. The court decided that Pinnell's bond to the county was null and void. The county filed an answer, claiming the mortgage was invalid and that the original sale to Pinnell was null because the County Commissioners had no legal power to sell county real estate. The court rendered a decision yesterday in favor of the county, effectively reclaiming the land.
“The sale of the farm to Pinnell was invalid, as the County Commissioners had no power to sell the county's real estate.”
This 1877 legal tussle over the 'County Farm' highlights a classic era of Pacific Northwest land speculation and murky municipal jurisdiction. Today, Seattle continues to grapple with the complexities of public-owned land and the messy history of how civic resources are bought, sold, and contested in an evolving urban landscape.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.