Supreme Court Rules on School Land Squatters
A definitive U.S. Supreme Court decision resolves decades of uncertainty regarding land titles for Washington State school lands, ending claims by settlers like Anton Johansen.
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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.
Olympia, Wash. The state's title to thousands of acres of lieu school lands has been finally and forever affirmed by a decision of the United States Supreme Court. The lands affected are those selected by boards of county commissioners under the territorial organic act, prior to the admission of the state to the union. A legal challenge arose from the theory that the state had no claim upon these lands, leading settlers to occupy them. One man, Anton Johansen, squatted upon 120 acres of lieu lands near Seattle in 1890. The state brought suit to eject him, and after traveling through the state courts, the case has been decided in favor of the state by the U.S. Supreme Court. Had Johansen won, it would have opened thousands of acres of land to settlement by squatters, but the ruling cements the state's ownership.
“The state's title to thousands of acres of lieu school lands has been finally and forever affirmed.”
This ruling was pivotal for Washington's public land management, establishing that 'lieu' lands granted to the state for school funding were not open to homesteading. It remains a foundational case for understanding public resource ownership in the Pacific Northwest.
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