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 |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 2 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1862 | 7 |
| 1863 | 3 |
| 1872 | 4 |
| 1876 | 43 |
| 1877 | 26 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 20 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 20 |
| 1886 | 8 |
| 1887 | 6 |
| 1888 | 22 |
| 1889 | 18 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 8 |
| 1892 | 47 |
| 1893 | 63 |
| 1894 | 37 |
| 1895 | 34 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1904 | 8 |
| 1909 | 3 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1911 | 3 |
| 1912 | 1 |
26 stories
- Fatal Wharfside Shooting Leaves Town in Uproar
A long-standing feud ends in murder on Union Wharf, with the suspect fleeing by boat as the community demands accountability from local law enforcement.
- The Tragic End of a Timber Titan
Arthur Phinney, the driving force behind the Port Ludlow mill, dies from a long-standing internal injury.
- The Last Voyage of Arthur Phinney: A Fleet of Steamers Bids Farewell to a Pioneer
In June 1877, the death of Port Ludlow founder Arthur Phinney triggered an unprecedented maritime funeral procession on Puget Sound, uniting rival steamship lines and hundreds of mourners in a tribute to a man who championed labor and community.
- Robert Ingersoll’s Warning to the Washington Clerk
The famous orator and freethinker warns young men against the soul-crushing nature of government bureaucracy in Washington D.C.
- A Convent Escape and a Steamer Waiting: The Elopement That Ended in Port Townsend
When her parents opposed the match on religious grounds, Mary Emma Kealy was cloistered in a convent. She escaped in a carriage, reached a waiting steamer, and married Ward Debeck in Port Townsend.
- A Telegraph Prank Turned a Boat Trip into an Armed Standoff
When someone wired Port Ludlow that a steamer carried smallpox, the town's 'commercial travelers' met a wall of shotguns — and a joke got out of hand.
- Sheriff Blocks 28 Miners From Landing — a Newspaper Calls Out the 'Chronic Pauper Hunter'
In 1877, a steamboat captain brought 28 out-of-work miners from Victoria to Port Townsend. The sheriff said they were paupers and refused to let them off the boat. This Seattle editor wasn't having it.
- The Great Quarantine: Port Ludlow’s Armed Stand Against 'Commercial Agents'
In a rare display of local vigilante health policy, armed residents of Port Ludlow blocked a boat from Victoria, British Columbia, forcing it away after learning the passengers had smallpox.
- The Night Port Townsend Refused a Boatload of Strikebreakers
Twenty-eight destitute men from a Nanaimo miners' strike were shipped to Port Townsend aboard the North Pacific. Sheriff Miller met them at the wharf and said they could not land.
- Governor Ferry Calls for a Special Election
Following a tie vote in the November 1876 election, the Governor orders a new vote for the Territorial Assembly representative for Clallam and San Juan counties.
- A Murder on the Nooksack, and the Question of Who Pays for Justice
After Tawes killed William, the territory and the United States sparred over jurisdiction—exposing the legal limbo of non-treaty Indians in Washington Territory.
- The Newspaper War of Port Townsend
When a local political faction decided they needed a newspaper organ, the resulting publication became a scandal-mongering scandal itself.
- The Boiler That Killed Safety: How Neglect Nearly Sank the Oliver Walcott
A steamboat captain’s repeated warnings about a faulty boiler were ignored by department officials until the vessel burst into the dock at Port Townsend, leaving it stranded for repairs.
- Squall Capsizes Boat Near Discovery Bay; Thomas Quinn Drowns
A logging excursion near Discovery Bay ends in a fatal struggle for survival when a sudden squall capsizes a small boat.
- Life at the Port Discovery Mill
A dispatch from the bustling lumber town of Port Discovery, where 200 men—including Chinese and Indigenous laborers—keep one of the Pacific Coast's largest mills running day and night.
- Smallpox Aboard the David Hoadley—and a Health Officer’s Warning
A vessel bound for Port Gamble brought a smallpox case into Port Townsend harbor. Dr. Minor had the bark fumigated and the crew quarantined, then told the owners the captain’s recklessness would not be tolerated again.
- A Heartbreaking Reunion Aboard the Dakota
The final journey of a dying man and his devoted wife captures the cruel reality of terminal illness in the pioneer era.
- The Mill That Could Have Been: A Snohomish Tragedy of Ambition and Illness
In June 1877, the Northern Star reported on the collapse of a massive new mill project at Port Ludlow, blaming the death of its owner, Arthur Phinney, for halting construction that promised to rival any in the territory.
- Why Is There No Sawmill on Port Townsend Bay?
With foreign lumber ships crowding the harbor and the mills all seventy miles up the Sound, the Argus does the arithmetic on what the town is throwing away.
- The Blue Glass Delusion
A local man's obsession with the 'blue glass' health craze leads to a domestic disaster involving laundry bluing and a very angry wife.
- A Bottle of Whisky, a Deadly Dose, and a Doctor Called in Time
A ship's steward and his wife nearly die after drinking from a bottle doctored with croton oil — whether by accident or by design no one can say.
- Midnight Fire at the Mill
A sawmill employee barely escapes a late-night cabin blaze, losing his winter supplies to the flames.
- The Tragedy of Edward Panicle: A Life Cut Short by Drink and Despair
In the early days of Seattle, a native of Ireland died by suicide at Fort Ludlow, his death attributed to alcohol-induced mental instability—a stark reminder of the era's fragile social safety nets.
- A Tale of Two Trials: Inequality in the Courtroom
A commentary on how disparate legal outcomes for two accused men—John Thompson and a man named Sutton—reveal the systemic influence of wealth, counsel, and community perception on justice in the Washington Territory.
- The Mill That Built a Town: Inside Port Discovery’s Industrial Heart
A rare look inside the massive lumber operation on Port Discovery Bay, where 60 men worked around the clock to feed the timber boom of the Pacific Northwest.