The Logging Land War
A government agent triggers a legal battle by seizing logs over a disputed property boundary.
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.
About two weeks ago, a Mr. Tull of Olympia came to our county and seized two booms of logs from Messrs. Mowat & Hinman, who were logging on Ebey Slough and the Quilceda Creek. The alleged cause of seizure was that some of the logs were cut upon government land. The value of the two booms is about $1,500. Messrs. Mowat & Hinman own the land on which they were cutting the logs and seem to have exercised reasonable care to prevent their workmen from cutting over the line. After the seizure, they employed our county surveyor to run out and reestablish their lines, and he reports that they have not cut up to the government line in any place nearer than eight rods. Whereupon, they instituted legal proceedings for the recovery of the logs and damages. The case will come on for trial in the District Court of this county next month.
“The alleged cause of seizure was that some of the logs were cut upon government land.”
Disputes over land rights, logging boundaries, and federal oversight remain a flashpoint in Washington's political landscape. This 1876 case mirrors contemporary arguments about natural resource management and property law that still divide Snohomish County today.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.