Salted Gold and a School Section: Tacoma's Land Fight Heads to Hearing
State officials say a notorious South Tacoma placer claim was salted with gold colors, while the attorney general and ex-Governor Swineford trade charges over the investigation.
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.
TACOMA, Sept. 2.—[Special.]—The state claims to have evidence that in the notorious school section 16 contest the land has been salted with gold colors. The land is situated in the southern part of this city, and when the placer claims were first filed it was very valuable for town lot purposes. It comprises an entire section. The taking of testimony before the state land commission next week will very likely be pretty lively. Attorney General Jones says: 'I do not care to try the case in the newspapers, even if the distinguished gentleman (ex-Gov. Swineford, of Alaska), who is supposed to act in a neutral capacity, has seen fit to do so. I can only say that Mr. McBride was requested to designate where the main shaft should be sunk. He expressed no preference.' This is significant, inasmuch as Swineford has charged Jones with injuring the state's case by interfering with Mr. McBride and keeping him outside of the ropes and stockade. Mr. Jones denies interfering with McBride.
“The state claims to have evidence that in the notorious school section 16 contest the land has been salted with gold colors.”
Public-land disputes and speculative claims are an old Pacific Northwest story; this 1894 fight over a Tacoma school section shows how quickly a tract valued for town lots could become a mining controversy. The modern echo is in every fight over public land, zoning, and who gets to profit from a resource the state holds in trust.
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