The Fight to Forfeit the Northern Pacific Land Grants
A fiery congressional minority report slams corporate lobbyists and land speculators while demanding the government reclaim unfinished rail corridors.
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.
From the House Committee on Public Lands, a report was submitted to the floor regarding the bill to forfeit the entire land grant of the Northern Pacific Railroad west of Bismarck. The report, signed by Messrs. Van Eaton, Strait, and Stevenson, reviews the history of the Pacific railroad companies and condemns the policy of the government during the period in which so many millions of acres of public domain were squandered. It criticizes the course of certain demagogues who do nothing but howl for the forfeiture of land grants, stating: 'Who knows what the public mind is? These great corporations are here by their agents and attorneys, using their influence against the whole policy of forfeiture on the one hand, while upon the other are numerous shysters, speculators, and lobbyists in the guise of patriots and representatives of the people, urging Congress to forfeit the lands where there is the slightest pretext for it.' The report concludes that while the main line is complete, the company has failed to construct the road from Wallula Junction to Portland, a distance of 214 miles. The substitute bill provides that because the company abandoned the building of their own road between these points, the United States should reserve the title to those lands and repeal the original land grant act for that section, returning the territory to the public domain.
“These great corporations are here by their agents and attorneys, using their influence against the whole policy of forfeiture on the one hand, while upon the other are numerous shysters, speculators, and lobbyists.”
This 1886 debate over 'shysters and lobbyists' versus corporate land grants echoes modern-day Seattle conflicts over the ownership of public lands, waterfront property, and the influence of major developers on city planning. The tension between the expansionist 'growth machine' and those seeking to claw back public land remains a central, unresolved argument in the Pacific Northwest.
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