The Seattle Land Grab of 1880

For some time, the press has contained articles charging Mr. Burke with dereliction of duty in allowing the Northern Pacific Railroad to hold a large quantity of land in King County. These articles bear the unmistakable earmarks of John J. McGilvra, Mr. Burke's father-in-law. Knowing that Judge Jacobs was in Washington at the time this grant was allowed to the railroad company, and feeling assured that the Judge was conversant with all the particulars, we requested a statement of facts. Judge Jacobs stated: 'I was Delegate in Congress at the time the bill came up allowing the Northern Pacific Railroad Company a grant of twenty miles of public land on either side of their coal road from Tacoma to the interior. I made a formidable fight, and the Committee on Pacific Railroads agreed with me that the grant should be reduced to ten miles. About this time, John J. McGilvra was sent to Washington by the people of Seattle and King County as their special attorney to assist in having this grant restored to the public domain. On Friday, the committee agreed that the company should not be allowed to hold lands further off the line than ten miles. On Saturday, without consulting me, John J. McGilvra went before them and consented to the extension of the grant twenty miles north. This was done after the railroad and the committee had both agreed with me that ten miles would be satisfactory. When I learned of this, I was very angry. The people of King County, by the officious intermeddling of John J. McGilvra, thus lost nearly a thousand quarter-section farms.'