The Northern Pacific's Unsurveyed Empire Goes on the Tax Rolls
Congress orders the survey of hundreds of thousands of acres of Northern Pacific grant land in Washington and Idaho — with the railroad footing the bill or forfeiting the ground.
Washington, D. C., June 25. The senate and house today agreed to a conference report on the bill authorizing the survey of all unsurveyed railroad land grants, the expense to be borne by the railroad companies to which the lands were granted.
Railroads which fail to make deposits to cover the cost of the survey within 90 days after notice from the secretary of the interior will forfeit their lands.
The bill will result in the survey of 729,034 acres in Washington, and 571,520 acres in Idaho, all in the Northern Pacific grant.
When surveyed these lands will become subject to taxation.
“When surveyed these lands will become subject to taxation.”
The Northern Pacific's land grant was one of the largest transfers of public ground in Washington history, and for decades the railroad held vast tracts untaxed and unsurveyed. This 1910 bill forced the company to map — and pay taxes on — its holdings, a small but real check on the corporate ownership of the West. The same questions about who owns the land and who pays for it still shape rural county budgets today.
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