The Great Washington Oyster Land Grab
In a defiant legislative maneuver, the state senate pushed through a bill ceding valuable tide lands, sparking accusations of corruption.
Olympia, March 12.—The oyster land grab bill was rushed through the senate yesterday in defiance of the rules, and what Senator Stevenson declared 'the worst blot on a legislature by no means free from blots' became a law. The bill gives up the state's rights in oyster lands worth probably $2,000,000.
“The worst blot on a legislature by no means free from blots.”
This event reflects the long-standing tension in Washington over the privatization of public tidelands and natural resources. The struggle over who owns the 'ground under the water' remains a persistent theme in Pacific Northwest property law and environmental politics.
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