The Whispered Land Grab in Whitman County's School Lands
A state land official reports that valuable school lands were leased for 'trifling sums' through a secret arrangement involving county commissioners, a Colfax lawyer and a banker—but stops short of naming names.
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.
OLYMPIA, Aug. 9.—[Special.]—The report submitted by Secretary Cowen to the state land commission relative to state lands in Whitman County contains the following paragraph:
'While on the subject of leases I feel that I should inform the board of the state of facts commonly reported by men of affairs in Whitman County. In the absence of absolute proof confirmatory of the charges made I refrain from mentioning the names of those alleged to have been conspicuous in this transaction. It is said that in 1891 certain members of the board of county commissioners, together with a high official of the county, a well-known lawyer of Colfax and a prominent banker, entered upon some secret arrangement whereby large areas of the most valuable school land in Whitman County were leased for trifling sums to those whom they might designate. To some degree the record of the leases confirms this statement, and no doubt a patient investigation of the subject would throw a great deal of light on the fraudulent and reckless manner in which the land leases of the state have been manipulated.'
“large areas of the most valuable school land in Whitman County were leased for trifling sums to those whom they might designate”
Public school lands were meant to fund education, so leasing them cheaply to insiders was a theft from every taxpayer and schoolchild. The episode echoes modern fights over public-land leases, appraisals and whether officials disclose enough for the public to judge who benefits.
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