The Land Grab That Stalled Seattle’s Growth
A local editorial warns that the Northern Pacific Railroad’s hoarding of millions of acres is strangling settlement and development in Washington Territory.
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 and Its Land Grant.
Seattle, April 25, 1877
Sir: In reply to a former communication upon this subject, Mr. Booth, in an article in the daily INTELLIGENCER of the 16th inst., and also in the daily INTELLIGENCER of the 19th inst. on the subject of the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad, I alludes to the matter of the land grant, in connection with the project of that road, and also that of the Portland, Dalles and Salt Lake Road. It is to be hoped that Mr. Booth will not only continue to investigate and write upon these and kindred subjects in which our entire population is so much interested, but that others, and especially the editors of our three journals in Seattle, will likewise contribute with their pens to agitate all these matters at this opportune time.
I do not know as to the effort alluded to by Mr. Booth, on the part of the Portland, Dalles and Salt Lake Railroad Company, to procure a transfer to themselves of a portion of the lands heretofore granted to the Northern Pacific Railroad Co., etc. Such may be, and probably is the case, but one thing is certain. Congress will not grant any portion of these lands to any other company until it has first divested the title thereto, which now vests in the Northern Pacific Railroad Company; nor is it at all probable that they will do both by the same bill. Any effort of this kind should be promptly met and defeated at any cost.
Our Delegate, Hon. O. Jacobs, at the last Congress introduced a bill to grant a portion of these lands to the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad Company, but it was never reported from the committee.
Every effort should be made to secure aid in the building of the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad, but the first, and by far the most important, thing now to be done, is to divest from the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, the legal title to those vast tracts of land which have withdrawn from the market and settlement by homestead and pre-emption claimants, at their instance on lines that said company never propose to build; and also to prevent any part of this land grant being applied to aid in the building of the local coal road from Tacoma up the Puyallup river 51 miles to the coal mines. "One thing at a time and that done well," is an old and good rule. The Northern Pacific Railroad Company must have affirmative relief of an extension of time, else it forfeits its grant, and Congress will then have the power to restore all lands not earned, on both the main and branch lines, to the government, to be dealt with as other public lands.
When this relief is again asked, as it will be at the next session of Congress, is the time for vigorous and effective work by our people, unless they are willing to be bound hand and foot for the next twenty years as they have been for the seven years just past. Then and there is the time to make known to Congress, and any member thereof, the simple naked facts of the case, and thus prevent new lease of power to the company without suitable restrictions, at least in the matter of restoration of lands not earned or to be earned.
Who is to do this, and how is it to be done? There is an old and true adage to this effect that what is everybody's business is nobody's, and that is wherein the danger lies in this matter. In order to move the masses even in matters vital to their welfare, and enable them to act effectively, there must be some plan devised, and that plan must be carried into execution through some organized agency that can reach the people. What shall that plan and plan be in this case?
So far as I know and by way of hint for the benefit of the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad Company, there can be no better way than to have every man try, but the root of the matter lies in our own doors. Thereby no one can be entitled to that root of the writer, who may add a willing hand in his power to do that which is so necessary, and firmly that it may continue to be divested from the enemy that was the chance of the great West.
The Northern Pacific Railroad Company, at its last meeting, resolved that the company would not sell any portion of its lands for less than $2.50 per acre, while other lands in the vicinity could be bought for 10 to 20 cents. This is a monopoly which no one can be entitled to that root of the writer, who may add a willing hand in his power to do that which is so necessary.
The Northern Pacific Railroad Company has withdrawn from the market millions of acres of land, preventing settlement and development. The people of Seattle must organize to demand the return of these lands to the public domain.
This 1877 editorial captures a foundational tension in Washington’s history: the conflict between massive federal land grants given to railroad corporations and the needs of local settlers. The Northern Pacific Railroad held millions of acres but often left them undeveloped to speculate on future value, effectively locking out homesteaders and stifling regional growth—a dynamic that echoes modern debates over corporate land ownership, housing affordability, and infrastructure development.
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