The Checkerboard Trap: How the Northern Pacific Railroad Hoarded Washington’s Land
An editorial in The Daily Intelligencer exposes how the railroad company used federal land grants to block settlers from claiming homesteads, leaving thousands of acres in legal limbo and stalling the growth of Seattle and Tacoma.
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 Northern Pacific Railroad Company’s land grant is a fact little known and appreciated by the public: it covers nearly the entire area of Washington Territory, thereby excluding from pre-emption, homestead, or sale every odd section of land within the limits of such withdrawals. This action has increased the minimum price of even sections from $1.25 to $2.50 per acre.
These withdrawals took place on the main line in 1870 and on the branch line in 1871. The grant was made in 1864, with completion time expiring in July 1877. Only the portion from Kalama to Tacoma (105 miles) has been built and earned. The main line was fixed along the coast shore of Puget Sound to Bellingham Bay, and lands withdrawn as far north as township 26 north.
The branch line was fixed from Lake Pend Oreille via the mountains to Puget Sound, then southerly to Tacoma. Despite legal precedents stating that title can only be divested by judicial or legislative action, the Board of Directors abandoned their original route over Skagit Pass in favor of a new route via Natchez Pass in November 1875. This move appears designed to make land available for a spur road to coal fields on the Puyallup River, rather than completing the transcontinental link.
This maneuver is obstructed by Senate Bill No. 14, which would restore withdrawn lands to the public domain if passed. However, the company refused to consent to reasonable amendments proposed by Delegate J.K. Luttrell that would have restored agricultural lands west of the Cascades. Consequently, the bill died in committee.
The result is a 'checkerboard' of forbidden ground where settlers cannot farm or build roads. This has retarded the settlement and growth of the country far beyond what was initially thought. The remedy is an act of Congress restoring all lands north of Tacoma to the government for settlement under pre-emption and homestead laws.
This 1877 editorial captures a foundational grievance in Pacific Northwest history: the tension between corporate land monopolies and small-scale settlers. The Northern Pacific's strategy of holding vast tracts of 'odd sections' to force development or sell at premium prices mirrors modern debates over housing affordability, where large institutional investors and developers are accused of hoarding inventory and driving up costs for everyday buyers.
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