Federal Pressure on Port Angeles Settlers
Senator John B. Allen pressures the Land Department to resolve the stalled Port Angeles townsite survey.
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.
Senator Allen has been so energetic in the interest of the Port Angeles settlers that the land department has sent the following telegram to Surveyor Shaw at Olympia: 'Further delay cannot be tolerated in making returns of Port Angeles townsite. If Deputy Ashley will not forthwith complete his work other steps must be taken.' It is expected that Ashley's field notes will be forthcoming when he finds that the land department will not have any further delay in the case.
“Further delay cannot be tolerated in making returns of Port Angeles townsite.”
Land use, surveying, and federal control over property were the primary drivers of growth in the Pacific Northwest. This story shows how local settlers relied on their federal senators to bypass bureaucratic gridlock—a dynamic that defined early Washington development.
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