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.
Refine1 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 |
399 stories
- Smuggling Ring Exposed at Port Townsend
A customs inspector is accused of taking bribes to let opium cross the border, revealing a deeper scandal within the agency.
- Storms and Steamers on the Sound
The steamer Rosalie returns to port after springing a leak in heavy seas, as gale winds batter the Puget Sound maritime trade.
- The Steam Came Through the Firebox
Fred Hutchinson was feeding wood into the Monticello's boiler when a loose pipe cap gave way. Scalded across his face, neck, chest and hands, he was rushed to Port Townsend while the steamer was towed in.
- The Border Drawn Through the Hop Fields
First Nations pickers from British Columbia were crossing into Washington to bring in the hop crop. The Treasury ordered them deported — while the inspector admitted the growers could not do without them.
- The Postmaster’s Morality Purge
A Port Townsend postmaster suspends a Methodist minister and mail carrier, citing the moral tone of the department—while his own divorce scandal simmers.
- A Seven-Foot Sea Serpent Washes Up Near Cape Flattery
Capt. Stratton of Neah Bay brings a finned, many-toothed monster to Port Townsend, and the local editor reaches for the Laocoön to describe it.
- The Monster Canoe That Defeated a Donkey Engine
Judge James Swan's colossal Northwest canoe sat nine months on the wharf — until one determined shipping agent and a hundred willing hands hauled it aboard the Dakota for Philadelphia.
- The Preacher Who Turned 170 Acres of Wilderness Into a Home
When Port Townsend could not pay its Methodist minister enough to live on, Rev. Laubach moved to Discovery Bay and built a farm — house, fences, orchard and skiff — with his own hands.
- A Ferry Before the Ferry: The Fight to Replace Open Boats on Admiralty Inlet
Whidbey Islanders were crossing to Port Townsend in open rowboats through tide rips and chopping seas. Local merchants and an island resident with $4,000 wanted piers, a steamer and a regular route.
- A Campaign Comes Ashore in Port Townsend
In 1876, Democratic candidates arrived by steamer to cannon fire and a cornet band, then packed Good Templars Hall for a night of speeches.
- 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.
- The Silk in Her Bustle: A Port Townsend Smuggling Arrest
A customs inspector grows suspicious of Mrs. M. E. Collins’s unusually pronounced bustle aboard the City of Kingston—and finds a bolt of contraband silk.
- Four Sailors, a Filthy Jail, and a Test of the Law at Port Townsend
A British crew refused duty after the ship changed course for Puget Sound. Their answer was a jail cell — and a writ of habeas corpus to see whether the territory could legally hold them.
- The Sickening Sight: A Pardoned Murderer Left to Die in Port Townsend
John N. Young's cancer-eaten face shocked an editor into asking why Washington Territory released sick convicts to become county burdens.
- A Customs Official, a Forged Check, and the Opium Hidden in Coal-Oil Tins
Ex-immigration inspector Thomas M. Fisher was arrested at Port Townsend for allegedly forging a Canadian officer's endorsement and pocketing a $350 opium-seizure reward.
- 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.
- Three Deaths Haunt One Ship in Port Townsend Harbor
Archibald Anderson is knocked into the hold and killed instantly, capping a grim three-month run of fatal misfortune aboard the British ship Linlithgowshire.
- The Customs Officer and the Paper Trail
A San Francisco dispatch accuses a former Port Townsend customs inspector of leading a ring that forged Chinese immigration certificates. His neighbors call it a smear.
- A Son of the Clallam Chief Goes to Court to Settle His Brother's Estate
In what the paper calls the first case of its kind in the country, an Indigenous man asks a Port Townsend judge to let him administer his late brother's estate — a son of the Duke of York.
- The Ghost of a Shipwrecked Log
A bottle washed ashore at Cape Flattery brings a message from a ship doomed by fire, while a local business turns the tragedy into a strange marketing stunt.
- The High Price of Opium Smuggling
A ship's cook is arrested in Port Townsend after attempting to bribe an inspector to ignore a hidden cache of opium.
- The Fight Over Washington’s Missing School Sections
A Port Townsend case over “lieu lands” reaches a federal courtroom—and the title to hundreds of thousands of acres of school land.
- Tragedy at Sea
A squall off Cape Flattery claims the life of a captain's wife and child.
- The Messy Business of Mapping the Waterfront
A state land commission discovers chaotic record-keeping that effectively clouded the titles to Jefferson County’s prime waterfront property.
- The Collector’s Trap: A Seattle Customs Scandal
A clever merchant’s attempt to recoup a fine through a legislative loophole backfires, leaving him out $500 in an era of federal bureaucracy.