160-Acre Farm for Sale on the Snoqualmie River
A Snoqualmie homesteader lists his hard-won riverfront acreage, citing 'weak lungs' as the reason for his departure.
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.
The undersigned offers his place on the Snoqualmie for sale. It contains 120 acres bottom land, and 40 acres timbered upland, sloping gently to the river. It is 12 miles from Snoqualmie City, at the river crossing, 9 miles from Lake Washington, and 20 from Seattle. Fifty acres slashed, 20 acres in grass, 4 acres of upland grubbed for an orchard; 20 tons of hay on hand. The place has three-quarters of a mile frontage on the river, is safe from overflow, and has a clear stream of water running through, which can be brought into the house, barn, or milk house. It is valuable for lumbering, having a good deal of timber on it, and is the first key point for getting the timber on the adjacent six or eight sections, and has a good bay for booming. The location is central, and affords a good steamboat landing. A hotel and store would do well there at the present time, and it is convenient to six logging camps now in operation. House and tools on the place. Cause of selling: weak lungs. For further particulars, inquire of George Woite, Snoqualmie River, W. T.
“Cause of selling: weak lungs.”
In 1878, George Woite’s notice for a Snoqualmie Valley farm highlights the grueling, physical reality of homesteading, where illness often forced a total liquidation of assets. Today, as the Snoqualmie Valley grapples with intense development pressure and the loss of agricultural land to suburban sprawl, the transition of a 160-acre farm into a 'hotel and store' opportunity feels like a precursor to the modern debates over rural preservation versus urban expansion.
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