Oak Harbor Farm With Orchard and Good Water for Sale
An 1878 classified advertisement offers a 'mostly prairie' farm for sale near Oak Harbor, detailing a self-sufficient life built from the ground up.
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.
Whim Island Farm, near Oak Harbor, for sale. Mostly prairie and swamp, now well-drained. Fifty acres under good cultivation with a good threshing floor and a well of excellent water at the door. A stable and a shed, and a thrifty orchard of choice fruit all bearing. Title perfect. A span of good horses, a wagon, and farming implements can be had on the place. Anybody desirous of seeing the above described place can call on Frank DeLorme, on the premises, or Major G. O. Haller, at Coupeville, W.T.
“Fifty acres under good cultivation, with a good threshing floor and a well of excellent water at the door.”
While modern Oak Harbor is defined by its military history and suburban sprawl, this 1878 advertisement captures the era of the 'homesteading' mindset that originally carved farms out of the prairie. The appeal to a 'perfect title' and a 'thrifty orchard' highlights how fundamental land ownership was to the identity of early Washington settlers.
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