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Old newspapers, pinned to the places they wrote about — the streets you can still walk today.
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A landmark federal decision voids railroad claims to 'lieu lands,' prompting town-wide celebrations and jubilation among homesteaders.
“Flags were raised, buildings decorated and the lieu-landers took possession of the town.”
Tragic news emerges from a local farm where a man took his family's lives before turning a weapon on himself.
“The little girl, when asked who did the murder, said her father had hit them with a stick in his rage.”
An unexpected shooting between two strangers in a small Washington town turns into a case of mistaken identity.
“He claims that the man who did the shooting was an entire stranger.”
A scarlet fever outbreak in Palouse City triggers a desperate quarantine, shuttering churches and schools after three children die in three days.
“The schools and churches have been closed, children driven from the streets and all houses containing the disease are quarantined.”
Two girls and a young man went down in a hidden hole in the Palouse River, and one rescuer after another failed — until Mrs. George A. Fairchild waded in and hauled all three to shore.
“the three could not have escaped had not Mrs. Fairchild plunged into the water and by some happy chance been able to keep her feet on the ledge surrounding the deeper water”
William Jensen returns from the Klondike with nothing but 60 cents and a story of survival, proving that in the Yukon, credit is worth more than gold.
When a railway company tried to seize land for a branch line without fair payment, a Whitman County farmer fought back by having the construction crew arrested.
“The agent said he would have the land condemned, and the work proceeded until Wednesday, when Keys had the contractor and his men arrested.”
A citizen accuses county authorities of abandoning families to suffer in the winter cold during a smallpox outbreak.
“They did not have fire wood and could not leave the house to get it if they respected quarantine regulations.”
In an era of rapid expansion and brutal labor conditions, a desperate man in Palouse City took the lives of his family, citing his inability to bear their suffering.
“I did not want to live in this world and that he could not leave his family behind to suffer without him.”
Farmers and settlers in the Palouse region faced a desperate agricultural crisis as a massive swarm of rabbits descended upon their fields.
“The animals appeared in swarms, moving in a line across the country, and in the space of a few hours, the wheat in their path is mowed down as cleanly as if it had been cut with a scythe.”
Farmers in Eastern Washington celebrate the enforcement of the Anderson Act, which drastically reduces freight costs and promises to revitalize wheat production.
“With such an enormous increase in production, and the further fact that wheat production upon journey in Eastern portions of the Union are not likely to diminish, if we are not to expect to derive some profit from our labor, we insist that the benefits of this bill are not only moderate but even generous to railroads.”
A Spokane County postmaster is left partially paralyzed after a grisly highway accident caused by a horse carcass left rotting on the mountain road.
“The negligence of the party who left the body of the horse in the road is reprehensible.”
In a display of small-town unity, the citizens of Palouse hosted a 'Wet' and 'Dry' banquet to focus on common infrastructure goals.
“This is the kind of spirit that makes a town worth living in whether it is wet or dry.”
A taxpayer injunction hits the Palouse city council after they authorized public funds to hire a private investigator to catch local saloon keepers breaking the law.
“This action is the outgrowth of the saloon fight which caused such a sensation in Palouse recently.”
A long-standing domestic conflict culminates in a fatal confrontation in the street.
“Vanderwalker was arrested and had an examination before a justice of the peace... he was discharged from custody, it being clearly proven he had acted strictly in self defense.”
Chief Wolf travels to Washington D.C. to protest state seizure of his horses over unpaid taxes on disputed land.
“The Indian bureau says that if he is living on lands separated from the tribe the tax is legal, but if he belongs to a wandering tribe of Indians the government will probably look into the matter.”
Settlers organize to petition the new Secretary of the Interior for land titles, dismissing reports that they oppose the Democratic administration.
“We hereby express our confidence in the wisdom and integrity of his excellency, Grover Cleveland, president of the United States, and heartily indorse the appointment of the Hon. Hoke Smith.”
A chance meeting at a wilderness camp forces a man to confront the guard who once brutalized him in a French prison.
“Do you recollect the day you cut me down with your sword? I shall always bear the mark of your brutality.”
A twelve-year-old boy is killed instantly after falling from a wagon.
“The skull was crushed terribly and the brain oozed out of the gaping wound.”
While grain markets slumped, one shrewd farmer used hog-raising to effectively boost his wheat profits by feeding his surplus crop to livestock.
“The majority of the farmers had no hogs for sale. As a consequence, the average farmer in the Palouse country feels the lack of ready cash when wheat is low.”
A classic 1892 horse-powered threshing machine, once a staple of local agriculture, has been purchased by agents for Henry Ford's private museum.
“There are probably no more machines like it manufactured.”
Heavy, unrelenting rains delay the spring wheat planting in Eastern Washington, causing concern for farmers.
“The soil is literally soaked with water, especially near the mountains.”
A tragicomic recovery setback highlights the fragility of health on the frontier.
“This was healing nicely, when she had occasion to sneeze which undone the work, tearing the pleura again.”
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