The Great Snohomish Land Sell-Off of 1860
Royal Haskell, a pioneer settler, prepares to abandon his Snohomish homestead and riverfront mill site, offering a window into the rapid transition of the early frontier economy.
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.
Wishing to return to the East, I offer for sale all my real and personal property in this county, consisting of a very fine ranch adjoining Snohomish City, of 147 acres; 70 acres bottom land, the balance upland, adjoining 30 acres cleared, and excellent stock range. An average of over 20 head of stock kept on the place the past two years. 35 are now there, of which 13 are milch cows. $300 worth of fruit is annually produced by the orchard on this place. The location is one of the best for a dairy ranch in this county. 80 tons of hay was cut on this place last year. I also offer for sale 170 acres of land at Quilceda, near the forks of the river, with a valuable mill privilege and building for a mill ready to put in the machinery. Besides these two valuable places I will sell one house and lot in Snohomish City. The house is well built, hard finished, one and one-half stories high and contains 7 rooms. For terms apply to the undersigned at Snohomish City. - Royal Haskell.
“The location is one of the best for a dairy ranch in this county. 80 tons of hay was cut on this place last year.”
Haskell’s advertisement reveals the intense economic pressure early settlers faced in turning raw timberland into productive ranching and milling operations. Today, the same riverfront areas near Snohomish and Quilceda serve as critical, high-value real estate, illustrating a century-long shift from sustenance farming to modern suburban land development.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.