Cut-Over Lands of Western Washington: A Study of Settlement Experience and Opportunities

Excerpts from the report: Settlement of cut-over lands in western Washington received a fresh impetus during the 1930's because of lack of employment in urban areas and because of migration to the Pacific Northwest of distressed farming populations from other areas, particularly the Great Plains. An understanding of the problems and possibilities of the settlement of cut-over land is important to the settlers themselves, to local, State, and National Governments, and to the many individuals who may be contemplating movement onto such land. More than one-half of the 1,051 families living in the five local areas studied had taken over their farms after 1929. Many of these settlers moved onto farms that had been developed previously. About 50 percent of these settlers were from the State of Washington. Slightly less than one-half of those from outside Washington, or 22 percent of all new settlers, came from the Great Plains. The study here reported was planned to disclose the problems encountered by settlers on cut-over lands of western Washington; how settlers are meeting these problems; what success, if any, these settlers are having in getting a living; and what policies and action might be adopted in connection with this kind of settlement.