In 1876 Dan Harris acquired a second tract of public land about one mile east of his DLC. This was a direct purchase made under the Land Act passed by the U.S. Congress on April 24, 1820 that reduced the sale price of Government Lands from $1.65 to $1.25 per acre, lowered the minimum tract size from 160 to 80 acres, eliminated credit terms and required a minimum deposit of $100. It also stipulated that fractional tracts under 160 acres be sold intact. The parcel that Dan acquired was described as being:

Lots numbered six and eight [sic] and the West half of the South East Quarter of Section Six in township [sic] thirty seven [sic] North of Range three east [sic] . . . containing one hundred and forty seven acres and ninety six hundredths of an acre.⁶⁷

    The patent for this land was issued on May 15, 1876,⁶⁸ however it was not recorded in Whatcom County until December 15, 1882 just thirteen days before Dan sold the property. The previously-mentioned posthumous newspaper interview of Dan' brother, George, indicated that Dan had extracted coal from this property and delivered it in a boat named "Bounding Ball."⁶⁹

    Just five weeks before filing his plat of Fairhaven, Dan Harris sold the 147.96 acre tract of land in Section 6 of Township 37 North Range 3 East that he had purchased in 1876 for $184.95 as previously noted.⁷⁰ The date of this sale was November 28, 1882, the purchaser was James Fuller and the price was $600. This represented a profit of $414.05. Given the active real estate market that emerged in both the Towns of Bellingham and Fairhaven during 1883, Dan Harris may have shortly asked himself why, after holding this nearby property for six years, he had not retained it for possible development. Click on Map 5 to see the boundaries of Dan's second claim.