A Land Office Says the Tide Flats Are Not for the Taking
George Louchs tried to pre-empt 123.8 acres of Seattle tide flats. A federal commissioner said the unsurveyed shore belonged to the public—for now.
Assistant Commissioner Bowers has affirmed the action of the local office in refusing to accept George Louchs' pre-emption application for 123.8 acres of tide flats. The local office rejected the application because there was no land of record at the points claimed and if there was it was not subject to pre-emption entry. An appeal was taken, in which it was claimed that Louchs made application to enter the land in order to protect his riparian and littoral rights, interests and improvements to the tide lands. He further claimed that under the ruling of September 6, 1889, by the general land office in the Burns case, holding tide lands to be public lands of the United States, he was entitled to file. This application was made before the admission of Washington into the Union. Mr. Bowers says in conclusion that the departmental decision reversing the action of the general land office in the Burns case covers the question in issue, and that the tide lands claimed by Louchs, being unsurveyed, are not subject to pre-emption.
“the tide lands claimed by Louchs, being unsurveyed, are not subject to pre-emption.”
The decision turned on a legal distinction between surveyed public land and unsurveyed tide flats, but it was really about who could claim the made ground of Seattle's waterfront. The same contest over public shore, private fill and riparian rights still shapes battles over SoDo and the Duwamish waterfront.
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