The Battle for the Tidelands
A public notice asserts private ownership over Seattle's valuable tidelands, signaling a major shift in city land use.
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.
Whereas, the City of Seattle conveyed to the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad and Transportation Company all the tide lands south of King street, in said city of Seattle; and whereas, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington confirmed said grant and conveyance; and whereas, the said Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad and Transportation Company has transferred and conveyed said lands to the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company: New, therefore, the said Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company has given notice that it claims the sole right to occupy said lands and to maintain wharves and other structures thereon, and that all persons are hereby warned to refrain from occupying or trespassing upon any of said lands without the consent in writing of said Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company.
“All persons are hereby warned to refrain from occupying or trespassing upon any of said lands without the consent in writing of said Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company.”
This notice marks the legal enclosure of Seattle's public waterfront for industrial use, a foundational act of the city's Gilded Age growth machine. The struggle over 'tidelands' and who gets to control the literal edge of the city persists today in debates over Port of Seattle expansion and shoreline development.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.