The Great Tide Land Grab

The brief of Reriah Brown, Jr., attorney for Milton L. Baer, the appellant in the Valentine scrip cases, has just been published. The case concerns the eviction of Moran Brothers from land Baer sought to claim using 'Valentine scrip.' The case was decided against Baer in the superior court in September 1890 and appealed in December. At issue is whether the U.S. government, during the territorial period, held the power to grant land below the high-water mark to private citizens as part of the Valentine grant. The appellant argues that the act of Congress approved April 5, 1872, gave Thomas B. Valentine the right to select unoccupied and unappropriated public lands. Baer contends that the mud-flats of Seattle, situated between high and low tide, were indeed public lands of the United States at the time of his entry. The opposition claims that such tracts were not public lands of the U.S. and therefore could not be claimed by scrip. Baer asserts that the state of Washington's own constitution, by disclaiming title to tide lands patented by the U.S., implicitly confirms the validity of these claims. The outcome of this dispute threatens to upend property rights across the Seattle waterfront.