Person

Governor Ferry

Named in 30 stories. Back to all names

Jun 5, 1876The Lottery That Built Seattle: How a $5 Ticket Bought a Sawmill and City BlocksIn 1876, the Washington Territory authorized a massive state lottery to fund a road through the Cascades. The prize? A steam sawmill worth $100,000 and prime real estate in downtown Seattle.Seattle, WA
Jun 8, 1876The Million-Dollar Ticket: How Seattle Bet Its Future on a LotteryIn 1876, the city’s most prominent businessman launched a massive lottery to fund a mountain road, offering a steam sawmill valued at $100,000 as the grand prize.Seattle, WA
Nov 11, 1876The Great Vote Fraud Scandal: How Federal Officials 'Colonized' Portland Voters to Steal Washington's Delegate SeatIn the wake of the 1876 presidential election, a local Democratic paper exposes a brazen scheme by Republican Governor Frederick Ferry and Collector of the Port William Scott to ferry voters from Vancouver, WA, across the river to Portland, OR, to swing the territorial delegate race in favor of Judge Jacobs.Vancouver, WA
Aug 20, 1878The Frontier Scares of 1878A report from Kittitas detailing a violent encounter on Poll Creek sparks fears of conflict between settlers and Wilbur’s band of Indians in the Yakima territory.Yakima, WA
Dec 16, 1883A Prideful Property Shuffle Among Seattle's McNaught BrothersWhen the McNaughts overdrew their bank accounts by $30,000, they staged a sale to Governor Ferry and a mortgage to a San Francisco firm rather than admit they needed a loan.Seattle, WA
Jul 15, 1885The Political Tidal Wave that Swept Seattle’s CouncilAfter a crushing defeat at the polls, the incumbent 'Law and Order' party leaders signal they will voluntarily step down, ending a bitter period of civic paralysis in 1885 Seattle.Front Street, Seattle, WA
Jan 1, 1891When Puget Sound Timber Built the WorldIn 1890, Seattle and Washington’s mills weren’t just fueling local growth—they were exporting millions of feet of fir to every corner of the globe.Seattle, WA
Feb 12, 1891The Governor's 'Miraculous' AbsenceDid Washington's Governor fake an illness to tilt a Senate election?Olympia, WA
Oct 10, 1891The Late-Night Fight That Killed Washington's First University BuildingA governor's-office showdown between the state auditor and the university building commission halted construction, left laborers unpaid, and pushed Olympia toward a special legislative session.Olympia, WA
Oct 21, 1891A Brick Barn or a University? Olympia Presses Seattle on Its Grand CampusA newspaper duel over the University of Washington's costly new buildings asks who pays for civic grandeur—and whether Seattle's generosity comes with unpaid debts.University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Oct 22, 1891The Governor Orders a Military Court MartialA simmering internal conflict within the Washington National Guard reaches a breaking point as a colonel faces formal charges.Olympia, WA
Oct 22, 1891A Medical Board Member’s $100 Ghost BillDr. Minkler told Thurston County he had paid two Centralia doctors for help. They said they never got the money — and a legal technicality kept the case alive only as a threat of removal.Chehalis, WA
Oct 24, 1891The $4-an-Acre Shoreline FightOlympia’s Tribune rebuts a Spokane paper’s claim that Washington tide lands were being handed away for a pittance—and asks whether Governor Ferry must share the blame.Port Gardner, Everett, WA
Nov 9, 1891The Court-Martial That Dismissed ItselfColonel Haines walks free after a military court decides it had no authority to try him—leaving Governor Ferry to answer for the expense.Olympia, WA
Nov 11, 1891A Chicago Broker Returns to Find Olympia UnrecognizableAway for more than two decades, I. I. Hackney marvels at the capital city's real-estate boom, new statehouse ambitions, and the wilderness he once knew as Tacoma.Olympia, WA
Nov 16, 1891No Appropriation, No Warrants: Washington's 1891 Budget StandoffThe state treasurer refuses to honor university and militia warrants the legislature never funded, the Supreme Court backs him up, and Governor Ferry — in poor health — lets the idea of an extra session die.Olympia, WA
Nov 20, 1891The Governor Who Filled Washington Returns, and Finds It FullSixteen years after leaving office, former territorial governor Edward Salomon walks back into an Olympia hotel and finds old friends grown wealthy — and a young state he helped populate now competing with Seattle and Tacoma for its own future.Olympia Hotel, Olympia, WA
Nov 23, 1891The Sunday Search of Olympia's Chinese GardensA newly sworn customs inspector found opium hidden among vegetables and buried in boxes, arrested one man, and left the city's Chinese market gardens under guard.Olympia, WA
Nov 28, 1891The Governor, the Corporations, and the Session He Wouldn't CallA leaked cabinet meeting shows Governor Ferry weighing an extra legislative session against the wrath of corporations—and his own officials split over whether the state can wait.Olympia, WA
Nov 30, 1891The Governor's White Elephant and a Newspaper DealA proposed $2,500 purchase of the Daily Olympian sets off talk of a King County power play, a governor's relief, and a political machine in the making.Olympia, WA
Dec 5, 1891The Governor's Telegram: How the Militia Was Called Out to the King County Coal FieldsColonel J. C. Haines lays out the paper trail behind the 1891 deployment of National Guard troops to the coal towns of Gilman and Franklin — and the labor war that nearly became a dawn battle.Issaquah, WA
Dec 8, 1891The Boy Too Tough for the Reform SchoolA teenage burglar escapes Chehalis, stumps the trustees, and triggers a constitutional standoff over who must deal with an incorrigible child.Chehalis, WA
Dec 9, 1891The Governor's $50,000 BondA defaulting King County treasurer's case reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, leaving Governor Ferry and other bondsmen on the hook for $34,000.Seattle, WA
Dec 17, 1891Orting’s New Soldiers’ Home Is Running on 47 Cents a DayForty-six veterans—including a father who lost three sons at Antietam—are already living at the state’s new home, which needs a federal per-resident allowance and a library.Washington Soldiers Home, Orting, WA
Dec 18, 1891The State Must Pay the Men It Called to Put Down the King County RiotsThe Washington Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Gov. Ferry's National Guard troops were in state service during the King County riots—and that the state, not the soldiers, must bear the cost.Olympia, WA
Feb 7, 1892The London Scandal That Followed a Man to SeattleA local saloon owner is pardoned after spending months in jail, with rumors swirling that his conviction was a orchestrated hit job by high-society English rivals.Seattle, WA
Apr 2, 1892The Shadow of the Mine Wars at Seattle City HallA citizen's public protest exposes the appointment of a former strike-breaking enforcer to the Seattle police force, sparking a clash over the legitimacy of law enforcement.Seattle, WA
Jun 26, 1892The Great Encampment SquabbleWashington's citizen-soldiers spar over the location of their permanent training grounds and the pride of hosting a Fourth of July parade.American Lake, Lakewood, WA
Dec 20, 1892The Fight for 'Japanese Jennie'A Spokane court battles a Montana requisition order for a woman held under a restrictive labor contract, marking a local test of indentured servitude.Spokane, WA
Jan 1, 1893The Great School Land ScandalA scathing state report reveals that county commissioners are exploiting their power to fix land prices, effectively buying state-owned school lands for themselves.Olympia, WA