The Manure War of Skagit County
A dispute over a pile of fertilizer between neighbors escalated into a shotgun confrontation on the county line.
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.
Ben Johnson, living in Skagit County, and John McArdie, just across the line in Snohomish County, had a quarrel yesterday over the ownership of a pile of manure. A fight ensued and at the close of it Johnson shot at McArdie with a shotgun at a distance of thirty feet, but missed his mark. McArdie swore out a warrant today in this city for Johnson's arrest. Both are well-to-do ranchers.
“A fight ensued and at the close of it Johnson shot at McArdie with a shotgun at a distance of thirty feet, but missed his mark.”
This incident serves as a stark reminder of how property disputes between neighbors often turned volatile in the frontier era, escalating rapidly from petty squabbles to lethal violence. The geographic focus on the county line reflects the fragmented nature of land oversight at the time.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.