The Shadowy Campaign for Seattle's Waterfront
Before the city was fully formed, a powerful railroad lobby attempted to secure the lucrative tide-lands of Elliott Bay through backroom deals.
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.
There is a scheme on foot in Olympia. A secret, silent game is being played with the object to obtain a title to the tide-lands of Elliott Bay. The Oregon Improvement Company and its lobby can afford to play a silent game. They hope to stack the cards so that the people will not know what is going on until they themselves have given away the valuable heritage which should be theirs. If these lands were secured by irresponsible jumpers, it would be infinitely worse to have them fall into the hands of the Oregon Improvement Company. In the former case, the handsome value which they represent would at least remain in the territory, while in the latter it would go to the estate and bondholders of stocks and the Eastern states. But these lands shall not fall into the hands of Western jumpers or of Eastern capitalists if the people are alert and true to their own interests. They belong to the state. If properly handled, they will serve to erect all the buildings necessary for the state and to pay the expenses of the government for all time. Why, then, should they be given away upon any pretext? The people must be on guard against just such schemes as that of the Oregon Improvement Company.
“They hope to stack the cards so that the people will not know what is going on until they themselves have given away the valuable heritage which should be theirs.”
This 1889 report captures the origins of Seattle's long-standing conflict over its public shoreline. Just as the Oregon Improvement Company once sought to privatize the tide-lands for profit, Seattle continues to grapple with the tension between private corporate development and the public's right to access and benefit from its waterfront land.
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