The Man Who Bought a City for $5 an Acre
A Vermont native traded his old life for 80 acres in Seattle, proving that with one horse and sheer grit, the Pacific Northwest could be tamed.
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.
Fruit Growing in Washington.
A. A. Kinsley went from Vermont in the fall of 1894, being then near 60 years of age. He bought 80 acres of land at $5 an acre from a part of the city of Vancouver, Washington Territory, The United States Government claims. It cost him $400 an acre; removing the stumps and roots, putting it in shape for planting, costs $200 an acre on lots he has two stone frame houses and a cherry orchard. These are in full bearing now about 800 trees, many bearing fruit. Crops at first—cherry trees of which he had 150 grove. Also peach, pear, apple, plum, prune and apricot. The pear and pear trees were three years old; were bought for $2 with fruit last fall.
Also fine 8-acre peach grove. Also near by he has a lot of choice peaches, netting him $1,500 last year. He also has a large apple orchard which are now those fifteen annual fruit and all kinds of berries. The weather has been so favorable that he gathers 1,000 bushels. He disposed of his various strawberry beds, raspberry vines and planted the ground in sod and turn Kewlis' grape crop—well known as a fine grape.
He is well off with his sight acres, and is not disposed to glance backward toward the old Vermont home. After the first breaking up of the ground, he has performed all the labor with only one horse. Can you believe this anywhere on so new and not highly manured.
In an era when Seattle real estate was booming and land speculation was rampant, A.A. Kinsley’s story offers a rare glimpse into the agricultural reality behind the city's growth. His success with stone fruit and grapes in what is now Vancouver highlights how the region's microclimates were being exploited for high-value crops long before it became known primarily for timber or tech.
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