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Old newspapers, pinned to the places they wrote about — the streets you can still walk today.
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Thousands gathered for the burial of Peter C. Stanup, a Presbyterian minister and activist who sought to lead his people toward the rights of citizenship.
“He was a reformer, and fought to bring his people out of bondage into the rights of citizenship, and because of his efforts in behalf of his people, he has been made the first martyr in the cause which he advocated.”
In a bold act of agrarian rebellion on the Fourth of July, Stuck River farmers used dynamite to destroy the White River dam, draining the muck and reclaiming their land.
Seattle and Tacoma detachments of the Industrial Army unite in a rainy camp, bracing for a confrontation as state and railroad authorities mobilize.
“Jumbo promptly placed himself at the head of the two contingents and is looked up to, as he expresses it, as 'da main guy of de hull works.'”
A passenger train traveling through the Puyallup Indian reservation is targeted by gunfire, narrowly missing a non-union engineer.
“At first the engineer, thinking the shots were torpedoes, slowed down, but when he realized they were shots he threw the throttle wide open.”
While General 'Jumbo' Cantwell rallies unemployed protesters with fiery rhetoric, Northern Pacific officials and U.S. marshals prepare for a train-seizure confrontation.
“If we, the people, vote to take that which is ours, there ain't marshals enough in the country to prevent it.”
Striking workers and the 'Industrial Army' face infighting and skeptical local authorities as they try to push for transport to Washington, D.C.
“The poor people were going to have money or have blood.”
As Coxey's 'Industrial Army' traverses Washington, cold, hungry men turn to rail-hopping and the kindness of strangers to reach their destination.
“The Commonwealers, most of whom were from Seattle, had to make the best of pancakes made from a mixture of flour, baking powder and salt.”
Striking workers and federal marshals exchange fire on the rails near Puyallup as the 1894 Pullman strike grips Western Washington.
“The only thing the marshals could see to fire at was the smoke from the assailants' pistols.”
A man living in an abandoned log house on the Puyallup reservation describes the violent standoff that led to his arrest and the shooting of a local sheriff.
“The pain made me crazy and then I shot through the door and hit the stout man. I wouldn't have shot him if I had known he was the sheriff.”
After the death of Peter C. Stanup, documents were discovered detailing an ambitious plan for an Indian-led university on the Puyallup reservation.
“The objects for which this corporation is formed are to create and maintain a university for the education of the youth of the founders hereof and others in the arts and sciences and all branches of learning.”
In a tense standoff on the White River, Pierce County cattlemen illegally dammed the waterway to protect their pastures, forcing King County officials to ride out with Winchester rifles to avert a violent conflict.
In 1877, a booming agricultural industry turned the Puyallup Valley into a high-stakes arena of heavy capital, immigrant labor, and unpredictable environmental risks.
“The price of hops varies so from year to year, that many who one year fancy themselves independent, the next year are plunged almost hopelessly in debt.”
A local meeting of citizens and the Sheriff turns into a mass swearing-in of deputy sheriffs as anti-Chinese agitation reaches a fever pitch.
“The Chinese question is at present absorbing the minds of a large portion of our people, and while I know and am satisfied that the substantial portion of our people... would discourage and resent any act of riot, violence or unlawful means, yet I realize that the proper and necessary precautions should be taken.”
A wealthy Puyallup man is dead after a dispute in a saloon leads to a violent, racially charged assault.
“Bob resented the insult quickly and, as all had been drinking, blows and more insulting epithets followed.”
Sam B. Duelnberre, a pillar of the local banking community, is charged with embezzling $41,000 from his shuttered bank.
“Some of the bad debts of the bank have been charged up to Mr. Duelnberre, it is said, and he is held responsible when the responsibility does not rest with him.”
In a historic shift, local indigenous farmers take the first step toward independent hop production.
“This is the first step ever taken by the Indians toward producing hops themselves, although they are ever ready to pick for the Boston man.”
After a long period of waiting, Puyallup families have finally received land patents as the reservation is divided into 167 tracts.
“The Indians have long been anxiously awaiting the news of their patents, and they celebrated the event in great style upon the reservation.”
A standoff between a local traveler, a 10-year-old boy, and law enforcement leaves one man dead and another wounded in a remote cabin near Puyallup.
“Immediately two pistols appeared in the opening and the man inside began pumping lead at the three men outside.”
An old Pierce County resident says a white man, Jim Riley, shot an Indigenous man without cause—and asks voters not to let the case die.
“The Indian stammered out that Mr. Riley had shot him, and with so much fright that he could hardly speak.”
In 1890, Puyallup was a bustling, bank-rich agricultural hub defined by Ezra Meeker’s hop empire and massive infrastructure investments.
“There is no doubt that the fact of Puyallup being the chief hop market of Washington accounts to a large extent for its exceptional prosperity.”
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