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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 late-night blaze destroys two city blocks, leaving the community to battle the flames with a bucket brigade after water supply infrastructure fails.
“nothing could be done but to form a bucket brigade and pass water from the river.”
A boilers explosion on a passenger steamer leaves eight dead and others wounded while commuters were at dinner.
“The crown sheet of the boiler went straight up through the forward cabin and pilot house, blew the man at the wheel high in the air, killing him instantly.”
A local steamer bound for the Skagit River suffers a boiler explosion near Fort Susan, leaving several dead and the vessel a total wreck.
“The scene was terrible and indescribable. The wounded women and men were groaning and crying, and the uninjured were rushing frantically around the wreck.”
A devastating fire ravages the business district of Stanwood, leaving the community to fight flames with nothing but ladders and willpower.
“The log boom men, with their calked boots, ran over the steep roof on the charred shingles and poured water wherever necessary.”
A landmark state supreme court decision shields lumber merchants from liability for hidden defects in timber that cause mill accidents.
“A vendor can not be held responsible for a latent defect in a manufactured article sold by him.”
How three determined settlers cleared a quarter-mile of timber that engineers said would take years to move.
“They accomplished in a few months what good engineers had estimated to be the work of several years.”
Captains of steamers, long delayed by the Chinook Boom Company's gates, finally force federal intervention.
“For some time before the prosecution was begun, captains of steamers complained that they were often delayed for more than an hour before they could get through.”
A newly incorporated town challenges county commissioners over a last-minute franchise deal.
“The council will say under what terms the deal is made, notwithstanding the rights granted by the commissioners.”
A stern-wheel steamer, once a vital link for the Skagit River trade, is reduced to a smoking wreck after a fire breaks out at Port Susan.
“The crew and passengers, the latter being five in number, had barely time to escape, and some of them were compelled to go without their baggage.”
A search for health ends in death for a respected member of multiple fraternal orders.
“It was on his return that the unexplained accident occurred by which he lost his life.”
After being locked in a room by his mother for unruly behavior, a five-year-old boy used matches to ignite a fire that nearly destroyed the family's restaurant apartment.
“Just because his mother punished him for unruliness, a 5-year-old boy of Stanwood attempted to cremate himself and all his people.”
A detailed 1879 survey of the Stillaguamish River valley reveals a diverse community of pioneers, Prussian soldiers, and dreamers attempting to tame the wilderness of the upper valley.
“Although he does as much rough work as any of his neighbors... yet he preserves all the formal politeness in his every day intercourse with his fellows that so distinguishes a soldier.”
High prices for grain drive local ranchers to abandon hay production in favor of cash crops.
“The result may be to so far limit the raising of hay as to leave a shortage for home consumption and higher prices for that product.”
While the local economy struggles under an influx of job-seekers, a Snohomish County rancher embraces the march of progress with new steam machinery.
“Our place is over-run with men looking for work, not 'tramps,' but laborers who are willing to work.”
Voters along the Stillaguamish River signal a decisive shift toward Republican leadership in the 1880 election.
“These precincts are both strongly Republican; all of the Republican candidates being given majorities.”
A frontier celebration in the late 1870s brings together four river communities for a night of dancing and revelry.
“We were all so surprised when we heard that Mr. Will Oliver, of this place, and Miss Carrie A. Light, of Snohomish City, were to be joined in the net that love weaves.”
A look at the thriving retail trade in Snohomish County during the late 19th century, where general stores served as essential hubs for agriculture and logging life.
“We keep in general merchandise a full line of every article needed in a community.”
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