The 17,000-Acre Land Grab
A federal decision exposes how settlers were misled by illegitimate land claims near Wallula, Washington, setting off a scramble for government property.
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.
Following the appeal to the Secretary of the Interior of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, an order was issued on August 13, 1885, by which an order made by Commissioner Sparks of the General Land Office at Washington, D.C., changing the limit of the land grant to the north side of the line of the Northern Pacific railroad to the amount of about 17,000 acres, was reversed. Subsequent to the adjustment of the land held by the railroad, settlers who claimed to have bought and settled under the railway were left with titles of land held by the railroad that were, in fact, owned by the government. Secretary Lamar’s opinion is as follows: The order was erroneous in that it included the southern terminal limit through the terminal at Wallula as a broken instead of a straight line, and included in the grant 17,000 acres more land than would have been included by a straight line. The fact that the alleged settlers bought from the railroad company that which did not belong to the railway company, but was the property of the Government, would not furnish substantial equity which the Commissioner of the Land Office should have recognized. It was not shown that the officers of the land office authorized to represent the Government did any act or neglected any duty, by which the settlers were misled. A recognition of the doctrine that purchase from one who had no title would establish an equity against the real owner would be subversive of all principles. I think therefore that the position of the appellant is untenable.
“A recognition of the doctrine that purchase from one who had no title would establish an equity against the real owner would be subversive of all principles.”
This 1885 land dispute highlights the long history of speculative real estate schemes in Washington. Just as these settlers were sold land the railroad didn't actually own, modern buyers in the Pacific Northwest frequently navigate a complex landscape of property rights, development promises, and corporate overreach.
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