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 |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 8 |
| 1872 | 110 |
| 1876 | 122 |
| 1877 | 95 |
| 1878 | 216 |
| 1879 | 10 |
| 1880 | 62 |
623 stories
- Abandoned at the Docks: The Crew of the Bark Northwest Sues for Wages
Thirteen mariners, stranded in Seattle after their voyage to Port Madison, take their employer to court to recover months of unpaid labor.
- The Forgotten Mariners of Puget Sound
Two sailors sue for unpaid wages in 1880, revealing the rough, transient life of the maritime labor force that powered Seattle's early economy.
- The City’s Biggest Celebration
Athletic contests and a tense yacht race on the Sound defined Seattle's 1880 Fourth of July.
- The Skagit River Navigation Feud
Seattle editors slam federal engineers and local delegates for failing to properly fund or understand the realities of river navigation.
- A Frontier Political Vendetta Over Voting Rights
A decade-old shooting incident in Oregon returns to haunt a Seattle man, sparking an unusual legal battle over his right to cast a ballot.
- A Night of Political Fervor at Yesler's Hall
Hundreds pack the Seattle venue to hear Judge Thomas Burke and local speakers rally support for the Democratic ticket.
- The Widow’s Pension Legal Trap
A woman finds her pension rights threatened by the complex, shifting definitions of marriage under 19th-century law.
- The Collapse of a Partisan Press
The editor of 'The Dispatch' announces the closure of the publication after a series of financial betrayals and political infighting.
- The Mule-Mounted Howitzer Fiasco
An ambitious Army experiment at a Western fort goes hilariously and dangerously wrong when a cannon-strapped mule decides to take matters into his own hooves.
- The City Council Bans Dumping at the Harbor’s Edge
Facing mounting concerns over the obstruction of commerce, Seattle’s early leadership passes a strict ordinance against dumping ship ballast into Elliott Bay.
- The Tragedy of a Seattle Longshoreman
John Cousins, a laborer, collapsed and died in the arms of a friend in a sudden, grim reminder of the precarity of life on the Seattle waterfront in 1876.
- The Contractor Who Left a Trail of Debt
After securing $1,500 in contract payments, a local builder vanished in a rowboat, leaving his creditors behind in the dust.
- Seattle Boarding House Ad Barred Chinese Workers in 1876
In 1876, a Seattle boarding house advertised that it would not employ Chinese cooks, a public exclusion that reflected rising anti-Asian sentiment and helped shape the city’s labor history.
- The Bigamist Who Beat the System: John Miller’s Shocking Acquittal
A notorious fraudster accused of stealing $10,000 from Leland Stanford’s Credit Mobilier pool walks free for lack of evidence, prompting a sarcastic editorial jab at Oregon Republicans.
- The Wooden Walls of Puget Sound
A survey of the booming fleet of vessels built in Washington Territory in 1877, and why the local economy was missing out on the profits of its own timber.
- The Captain's Final Voyage
A maritime tragedy in Seattle, as a hardened ship captain finds faith and a peaceful end following the sudden, harrowing loss of his wife.
- Racing the Iron Horse on the Trestle
A man’s late-night walk toward the city turns into a desperate sprint for life against an oncoming train.
- The Price of Living 'Down on the Sawdust'
A Seattle laborer was fined $5 after evicting his partner for public intoxication, offering a stark look at the criminalization of poverty and survival in the 1870s.
- The Perils of the Seattle Coal Incline
Two railroad workers are severely injured within 24 hours while attempting to board moving coal cars in a grim, repetitive industrial accident.
- The Price of Panic: Foreclosures in 1878 Seattle
A wave of Sheriff’s sales, spurred by defaulted debt and legal judgments, reveals the precarious financial reality of Seattle property owners during the late 1870s.
- The Unlikely Hero of the Fire Escape
When a local doctor patented a new fire escape in 1878, he had to prove it could survive the ultimate test: a 'timid' gentleman from the New England Hotel climbing down from a third-story window.
- The Perils of the Lumber Truck
A young boy narrowly escapes a gruesome fate after a tumble on Seattle's busy waterfront.
- The Solitary End of a Salmon Bay Logger
A lonely worker’s death by suicide at a cabin in Salmon Bay highlights the hidden struggles of the frontier laborers who built the region's early economy.
- The Price of Order: Seattle’s 1878 County Budget
A deep dive into the 1878 King County audit reveals a frontier government struggling to balance the books through liquor licenses, jail construction, and the high cost of local justice.
- The Gold Rush to Ruby Creek
A local merchant receives a singular order for gold scales from miners in the North Cascades, signaling a major mineral boom on the Upper Skagit.