The Forgotten Fortune in the Chapin Mine
A Tacoma man claims he was cut out of a million-dollar mineral discovery that sparked a heated legal battle in the Washington Territory.
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.
Milwaukee, Jan. 27.—The Menominee Mining Company has been made a co-defendant in a suit brought by John Banfield, of Tacoma, W. T., to compel an accounting by Henry A. Chapin, discoverer of the noted Chapin mine in Washington Territory. Banfield alleges that in 1864, he entered into an agreement with Chapin, whereby the latter was to furnish money, land warrants or scrip, with which to locate mineral lands. The complainant was to make use of his knowledge of the mineral deposits and secure such lands from the United States. He and Chapin were to share equally in whatever profits should accrue. With this understanding, the plaintiff selected and purchased property on which the Chapin mine is located and procured a title therein. He turned the title over to Chapin until the latter should be paid the amount of his expenses. Since then, the mine has developed wonderfully, and Chapin refuses to acknowledge the plaintiff's right. The plaintiff is in poor circumstances and asks for an accounting for the royalties besides his individual half interest in the realty. The property involved is valued at $2,000,000, and $1,300,000 has already been paid in royalties. For this and other reasons, the suit has aroused a great sensation in mining circles.
“The plaintiff is in poor circumstances and asks for an accounting for the royalties besides his individual half interest in the realty.”
This 1887 legal dispute over mineral wealth and 'poor circumstances' echoes the long history of extraction in the Pacific Northwest, where the promise of resource-driven riches has often left the original prospectors or laborers fighting for their share of corporate profits. Today, the tensions have shifted from gold and iron to land use and urban equity, but the struggle for a piece of the city's growth remains a fundamental Seattle narrative.
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