To our readers
Old newspapers, pinned to the places they wrote about — the streets you can still walk today.
New here? A 30-second tour of what’s on the map.
Showing San Juan Island only. Show the whole archive · browse other towns
A San Juan Island homesteader faces trial for fighting off a crew of surveyors intent on jumping his claim.
“Wiggins knocked Randolph down and threatened to shoot him, when Thomson explained the nature of his business.”
On San Juan Island, a man accused of killing a chief's son returned to face tribal justice—and his family watched him offer his own heart to the dead man's brother.
“I killed your son. He was a young brave; he did me no wrong; he was my friend. ... Mickenoek is very sorry, and deserves to die.”
Americans from Victoria and Puget Sound move to preempt land on the disputed island, betting that U.S. jurisdiction will follow—and warning that trouble may follow first.
“It is likely, unless the boundary question is soon settled, trouble may grow out of these movements.”
A wage dispute turns into a triple killing in a remote island neighborhood, and the accused are committed for trial.
“Manson then seized an axe in the house of Cook and killed him with it. ... The murderer followed her and killed her and her mother.”
A Victoria proposal to resettle Native people on disputed San Juan Island draws a sharp warning from Washington Territory.
“We seriously object, on the part of the people of this Territory, to such a plan, and would warn the authorities of Vancouver’s Island, in a spirit of friendship, against committing any such act of folly.”
Two young women in the San Juan Islands hunted a deer without a gun, pursuing it by rowboat until they could dispatch it with a knife.
“They towed their venison ashore in proud triumph. It took two strong men to carry the carcass.”
A local farmer warns neighbors of a strangling weed that threatens to wipe out clover fields across the island.
“If it does, the 'dodder' will be there to cling to it like an octopus.”
Elisha P. Ferry's old colleague recalled how the territorial governor ordered a British garrison off San Juan Island—backed by a worn-out cutter and a howitzer or two.
“The funny part of the whole affair is that at that time the only man-of-war ship on the Sound was the old revenue cutter Oliver Wolcott.”
No stories match these filters.
Try a wider date range, another category, or clear everything and start again.
All 8 stories shown
Browse them all as a list →