W. S. Ladd purchases the site of Mount Baker business district (Seattle) for settlement on May 26, 1870.

  • By Greg Lange
  • Posted 3/15/2001
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 3108
On May 26, 1870, W. S. Ladd purchases 80 acres from the federal government in what would become business district of the Mount Baker neighborhood of Seattle. The total purchase price is $100.

His land extended from S Atlantic Street to S Dearborn Street and from 28th Avenue S to 32nd Avenue S.

The land had to be surveyed by the office of the Surveyor General of the United States before such purchases could be made. This portion of Mount Baker was surveyed in September 1861. On what would become S Atlantic Street, the surveyors found "land broken, soil second rate, timber, Fir, Cedar & Maple. Undergrowth the same with Fern & Sallal."


Sources: "The Washington Tract Books," Vols. 126 and 127, Record Group 49, Pacific Northwest Region National Archives, Seattle, Washington; U. S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, "Cadastral survey field notes and plats for Oregon and Washington," Township 24 North, Range 4 East," University of Washington Microfiche M-3066, Newspapers and Microform, University of Washington Libraries, Seattle, Washington.

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