Squatter’s Rights and the Railroad Tie Cutters
A land dispute in Maple Valley leads to the arrest of six men accused of harvesting timber on claimed but contested land.
J. F. Kleider, William Bryan, Michael Carmichael, P. L. Scott, S. A. Graham, and Lawrence Gaffney were arrested Saturday by Deputy United States Marshal E. W. Mudgett on charges of illegal timber cutting with intent to sell. Thomas Reddington, the complaining witness, alleges he has lived on the land in question—located on the Maple Valley extension of the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad—for eleven years and intended to file a claim under federal law. He claims the men were cutting ties for the railroad without his permission. The accused men do not deny the cutting, but maintain the land rightfully belongs to F. L. Scott. They were brought before Commissioner James Kleider and released on $500 bail each.
“The men arrested do not deny that they have cut timber for ties, but claim the property upon which they cut belongs to F. L. Scott.”
The tension between rail infrastructure development and the 'squatter' rights of early settlers was a common feature of Pacific Northwest expansion, highlighting the tenuous nature of land ownership before official patenting was settled.
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