The Smallholder’s Victory Against the Railroad Giant
In a landmark 1883 ruling, the General Land Office denied the Northern Pacific Railroad's claim to homestead land within Tacoma, protecting a local settler's right to his 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.
Jacobs & Jenner, attorneys, received information yesterday morning from their correspondent in Washington D.C. of an important decision by Commissioner Sparks regarding a land dispute in Tacoma. Nearly two years ago, applications were filed under the homestead law for a forty-acre tract in section 5, township 20 north, range 3 east, Willamette meridian, the same being within the corporate limits of the town of Tacoma. The Northern Pacific Railroad Company claimed the land under their charter, asserting it was part of their grant earned by building the line from Kalama to Tacoma. All the applications were rejected by the Olympia land office, the decision being in favor of the railroad. Donald McRae, one of the homestead applicants, retained the firm of Jacobs & Jenner. They argued that the Northern Pacific Railroad Company was not entitled to the land because the joint resolution authorizing the construction contained no words of grant other than those pertaining to the right of way, and no grant could be created by implication. The Commissioner ruled in favor of Donald McRae, deciding that the railroad company had neither earned nor is entitled to any lands by the construction of their line from Kalama to Tacoma.
“The Commissioner decides in favor of the homestead claim of Donald McRae, and against the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and he further decides that said company has neither earned nor is entitled to any lands.”
This 1883 legal battle over public land and corporate encroachment mirrors contemporary tensions regarding land use in the Puget Sound area. Just as local settlers once fought to secure homesteads against massive railroad grants, modern Seattle residents grapple with how corporate development and land ownership impact the affordability and accessibility of their city.
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