The Railroad Stakes a Claim on the Tide Lands
The Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad issues a public warning regarding ownership of Seattle's tide lands.
Whereas, by an act of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, approved 1873, the city of Seattle conveyed to the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad and Transportation Company, all the lands south of King street, in said city of Seattle, in, along, around and about the bay, from extreme high to extreme low tide and deep water lands. Now, therefore, the said Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company gives notice that it proposes to occupy said lands and build wharves and other structures, and that all persons are hereby warned to refrain from occupying any of said lands without the written consent of said Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company.
“All persons are hereby warned to refrain from occupying any of said lands without the written consent of said Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company.”
The struggle over the 'tide lands'—the muddy shoreline below high tide—was the defining economic battle of 19th-century Seattle. This aggressive claim by the railroad company foreshadows the massive, monopolistic control of the waterfront that fueled decades of labor and civic friction.
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