Land grants were the financial fuel enabling the Northern Pacific Railway to complete its transcontinental rail line from Minnesota to Puget Sound. Having already gone bankrupt twice, quality land was being sold by the NP at a reasonable price for those astute enough and financially secure enough to take advantage. Frederick Weyerhaeuser's acquisition of 1 million acres of timberland is perhaps the most notable bargain acquisition. However, other settler families also took advantage, including the Peacock family who in 1888 purchased 200 acres of NP land in the Hobart area. The price tag? $4 per acre. Following is a photo of the Peacock family farm taken in 1889.
Photo courtesy Washington State Historical Society and Maple Valley Historical Society, 2014.4.22.1, circa 1889
Note the location right next to the railroad, making it handy for shipping farm products and for people transportation. The narrative on the photo is interesting:
Charles logged the land and built a house and barn and other buildings. In addition to farming, Charles did logging, owned a sawmill and did carpentry work. The Peacocks lived in nearby Franklin where Charles worked in the coal mine before moving to this land.
To successfully make it as a settler required a wide varied of skills and lots and lots of determination. A willingness to also take seasonal work in Seattle or other towns was also common. Everyone in the family worked, doing whatever was required. This appears to be one case where the "settler stereotype" lives up to its hype.
p.s. Members of the Peacock family continue to live in the Maple Valley/Hobart area on land originally settled by the family in 1888.
Love hearing the history of this pioneer Hobart family. We pass by their "homestead" most every day!
Posted by: Pat Dowd | 09/19/2017 at 08:46 AM