Research the archive
Narrow 27,002 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine2 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1891 | 5 |
| 1892 | 9 |
| 1893 | 13 |
| 1894 | 5 |
| 1895 | 6 |
42 stories
- A Coupeville Pioneer Takes His Own Life
Charles Crockett, a resident of Whidbey Island since 1854, is found dead at his home in a sudden and tragic suicide.
- A Nun, a Frightened Team, and a Forty-Foot Plunge on Whidbey
Sister Gertrude was driving alone on church work when her buggy backed over an Admiralty Head bluff. She survived the fall—and was nursed at the lighthouse.
- A Black Skiff, a Stranger, and a House That Burned
A Whidbey Island man rowed out with an unknown companion on a windy February afternoon in 1895. Neither was seen again — and six days later his house went up in flames.
- The Mysterious Abandoned Schooner
A local man discovers a waterlogged schooner adrift in the Straits of Georgia with only a dead dog aboard.
- The Whidbey Island Smuggling Chase
Customs officials miss a boatload of undocumented Chinese immigrants by an hour, highlighting the cat-and-mouse game on the Puget Sound.
- A Peoria Syndicate Tried to Turn Whidbey Island Into One Big Orchard
With $100,000 in capital and 10,000 acres, outside investors promised a prune empire, new roads, wharves and Eastern colonies — but insisted they were not selling a townsite.
- The Colony Train Bound for Whidbey Island
Eighteen Michigan farm families arrived in Seattle to take land near Oak Harbor, part of a Dutch-led colonization push promising dairies, fruit farms and a thousand new households on Puget Sound.
- Utsalady Bay's Dream of a Great City
An 1890 advertisement pitches the deep-water harbor of Utsalady as the inevitable next metropolis of the Pacific Northwest.
- An 1891 Investor's Case for Utsalady
In 1891, real estate promoters pitched Utsalady as the inevitable future metropolis of the Puget Sound, promising that its deep-water harbor and timber wealth would eclipse every other city in the region.
- The Boomtown That Never Was: The Dreams of Utsalady
In 1891, real estate speculators pitched the small harbor town of Utsalady as a future metropolis destined to surpass Seattle.
- A Dutch Colony for Whidbey Island
Farmers from Michigan and South Dakota are heading to the Sound to establish a new agricultural settlement.
- The Whidbey Island Rancher Who Vanished Without a Trace
John G. Phinney has been missing for days from his ranch at Penn Cove. A search party aboard the steamer Idaho has not returned, and neighbors now fear he drowned — or met foul play.
- Tugboat Captains Sue for Massive Salvage Fees
A collision between the Willamette and the Premier led to a $20,000 legal battle over rescue services rendered near Whidby Island.
- Mystery Body on Whidbey Island
An unidentified logger is found decomposed on the beach, sparking a coroner's inquiry.
- The Wild New Town of Penn’s Cove
Construction is booming at the head of Penn’s Cove as a new town rises, while residents grapple with a local scarlet rash and the arrival of a new real estate office.
- The Girls' Camp at Whidbey Island
A group of twenty young ladies establish a summer encampment in the wilderness of Whidbey Island, embracing the freedom of life away from the city.
- The Ghost City of Utsalady
In 1891, a developer touted Utsalady as a burgeoning industrial giant on the Sound, envisioning it as a 'second Seattle' fueled by timber, coal, and mineral wealth. History took a different path.