The Fight for Gig Harbor Timber
A local settler exposes a land-grabbing ring in Pierce County, accusing them of fraudulent timber claims.
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.
To show how Government land is fraudulently taken up as timber land, I will call the attention of the special land agent here from Washington to a case in section 30, township 22 north, range 2 east, the natural outlet of which is Gig Harbor in Pierce county. The land in question is all good agricultural soil, being densely covered with alder of good size. On the ridges there are a few large firs. This valuable township is claimed as timber land by a land ring, which has its headquarters at New Tacoma. Only about two homesteads are settled. A good many bona fide settlers would come here, but are afraid to fight the aforementioned land ring. The settlers in the adjoining township, to the number of twenty, are all indignant, and intend to notify Secretary Teller, of the Interior Department, if the special land agent, who has been notified, does not attend to the case, as is his duty.
“A good many bona fide settlers would come here, but are afraid to fight the aforementioned land ring.”
Land speculation and the 'ring' dynamics described in 1883 were foundational to the development of the Puget Sound region. These struggles over resource access—who owns the ground vs. who lives on it—continue to shape the civic arguments about growth and equity in the modern Pacific Northwest.
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