The Oyster Bed Loophole
A Supreme Court ruling on tide lands inadvertently threatens the state's control over valuable oyster beds.
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.
It would appear from the recent decision of the supreme court in the case of Smith against the commissioner of public lands that the state is liable to be deprived of valuable tide land reserves unless there be some legal means of avoiding it. This is attributable to the local tide land appraisers in failing, as required by law, to file with the commissioner of public lands a plat of natural oyster beds in their several counties. The inference drawn from the decision is that there being no such plats filed, the legal presumption is there are no such beds; hence the commissioner must issue a certificate of purchase at the rate of $10 an acre, although the fact is well known that such purchaser is acquiring valuable oyster beds, which it was the intent of the law to reserve from sale. No doubt an effort will be made to avoid such loss.
“The inference drawn from the decision is that there being no such plats filed the legal presumption is there are no such beds.”
This story highlights the perennial battle for control over Washington's public tidelands and shoreline resources. It shows how bureaucratic technicalities—like failing to file a map—can turn protected public commons into private property overnight, a tension that still defines Washington coastal land use.
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