The Coal Under Cowlitz Pass: Settlers vs. the Government
North Yakima claimants who paid in full and held their receipts go to court to defend coal lands the federal geologist says aren't worth mining.
NORTH YAKIMA—Fighting for what they believe are valuable coal lands on the summit of the Cascade Mountains at Cowlitz Pass, a number of claimants, most of whom are from North Yakima, filed answers to the contest started by the government here. The final receipts had been issued to the claimants and they were awaiting their patents when the Government contested the claims on a report from a Federal geologist to the effect that the lands are not valuable for coal.
Judge Edward Whitson, who is one of the claimants, takes the stand that the Government has no jurisdiction because he had complied with all the conditions, made full payment and received his final receipt.
All the other claimants make the general denial of the government's charge that the lands are not valuable for the coal contained therein. The hearing will soon be held in the land office here and will be strongly fought on both sides.
“The Government has no jurisdiction because he had complied with all the conditions, made full payment and received his final receipt.”
Then as now, the question of who owns the ground under Washington—and whether a federal report can undo a paid-for claim—was worth fighting in court. The Cowlitz Pass coal contest is an early chapter in the long Pacific Northwest argument over resource extraction, mineral rights, and who gets to profit from public land.
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