The Great Timber Sell-Off
Thousands of acres of Snohomish County wilderness go under the hammer as the estate of Arthur Phinney is liquidated.
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.
In the Probate Court of Snohomish County, Washington Territory, on the 29th day of April 1878, in the matter of the estate of Arthur Phinney, deceased, the undersigned executors of said estate were authorized to sell at public auction, the real estate of the said deceased. Under the order made by the Probate Court of Snohomish, the 7th day of August, A.D. 1878, at eleven o'clock a.m. at Port Ludlow, in said county, there will be sold 2,000 acres of timber land, together with all mills, tools and machinery and appliances, stock of goods, teams, cars and ore trucks in said Phinney property.
The said executors will also sell at Public Auction, in accordance with the order of sale, in Snohomish City, Snohomish County, Washington Territory, on Tuesday the 12th day of November 1878, at the hour of ten o'clock a.m., in front of the store of J. T. Ferguson, several thousand acres of timber land situated in said Snohomish County, subject to confirmation by the said Probate Court. The lands include vast sections in Townships 28 and 31, ranging from 40 to 640-acre parcels. Terms and conditions of sale are in Gold Coin; ten per cent of the purchase money to be paid on the day of the sale, and the remainder on confirmation thereof. Deed at the expense of the purchaser. S. L. H. Phinney, Executor of the Estate of Arthur Phinney, deceased.
“Terms and conditions of sale Gold Coin; ten per cent of the purchase money to be paid to the said Executors, on the day of the sale.”
This 1878 estate sale illustrates the rapid privatization of the Pacific Northwest landscape during the territorial era. While today's Snohomish housing market is dominated by residential developers and zoning debates, this notice captures the 'frontier' phase where the region's massive timber tracts were auctioned off in bulk to secure liquid wealth for heirs.
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