The Railroad Is a Trespasser on My River Front
J.R. Patterson advertised his ranch and his grievance: a contractor clearing right-of-way without permission while the railroad still owed a condemnation judgment.
In this space I told you last week that I had a 48-acre tract for sale at $37.50 per acre. I announce now that I have 76 acres more at $60 per acre or the whole ranch at $50 per acre.
One Mile of River Front
The I.W.N. R.R. is to be completed through the ranch by the 1st of June, rumor says. If so it looks now as if it will be built on my land.
A contractor has camped all winter on my river front, helped himself to firewood, has been and is now clearing land for right-of-way purposes without my permission, is now and will be a trespasser till the completion of the railroad without any compensation to me whatever. The I.W.N. Railroad has not paid me the judgment of the court, nor even paid the expenses of its own witnesses in condemnation suits.
And yet we are "all obstructionists" and the railroad has to "fight every inch of its way."
A chicken dinner at my place, opp. Conquest Landing.
J. R. Patterson Newport, Wash.
“A contractor has camped all winter on my river front, helped himself to firewood, has been and is now clearing land for right-of-way purposes without my permission, is now and will be a trespasser till the completion of the railroad without any compensation to me whatever.”
Eminent domain and railroad right-of-way fights still hinge on the same questions Patterson raised: what compensation is owed, and who gets to use private land before the paperwork is settled. His ad is a reminder that infrastructure booms are built on individual parcels—and sometimes on unpaid bills.
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