News
 | Email to a friend | 
|  |
Comment |  | Reprints |  |
Add to myDJC | Adjust font size |
January 5, 2000
Historic farmland is preserved
COUPEVILLE, Wash. (AP) -- Heartsick after failing to strike it rich in the California Gold Rush, William Engle moved next door to Isaac Ebey in 1852 and established a farm that is still in family hands Tuesday.
Even when Haida Indians killed Ebey, Whidbey Island's first permanent white settler, in 1857, the Engles stayed atop the windswept bluff overlooking Admiralty Inlet.
Now, the National Park Service has taken steps to preserve the breathtaking views of dark water, wheat-colored grassland and snow-flocked Olympic Mountains that first beckoned Ebey and Engle.
The Park Service's Ebey Landing National Historical Reserve has bought development rights to 103 acres of farmland still in the Engle family. The $600,000 deal preserves the scenic and historical landmark, said Rob Harbour of the trust board that advises the federal, state and local agencies that manage the reserve.
"The Engle family still owns the land," Harbour said. "They still have dairy cows and grow beets and seed crops. They still get to do their private things, like having family picnics and planting crops. But the land starts 400 feet from the trailhead, and it means hikers can always enjoy looking at that farm."
Visitors to the reserve, at Whidbey Island's elbow, walk the beaches and hike the Ebey's Landing Bluff Trail.
The Engle family farmland is part of Isaac Ebey's original claim, said Billie Jordan, of the Island County Historical Museum in Coupeville.
Ebey, a veteran of the War of 1812, arrived on Whidbey in 1850.
The Park Service reserve is a 17,000-acre tract in the middle of the island. It includes Coupeville and two state parks -- Fort Casey and Fort Ebey.
The Engle land includes about 950 feet of Admiralty Inlet waterfront. Roads and hedgerows trace those carved out of the prairie by settlers who staked out the original land claims.
Harbour said the Engle property, with its stunning views, was considered prime for subdivision and residential development.
The Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve was created by Congress in 1978. It is managed by four agencies: the Park Service, the state Parks and Recreation Commission, Island County and the town of Coupeville. Harbour's board, with local citizens and representatives from the public agencies, advises the management.
The board began working two years ago with the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit land-conservation organization based in San Francisco, to set aside the Engle land.
The Engle agreement began when the Trust for Public Land purchased an option to buy the property from the owners. The agency then helped draw up the easement language contained in the final agreement.