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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 8 |
| 1872 | 110 |
| 1876 | 122 |
| 1877 | 95 |
| 1878 | 216 |
| 1879 | 10 |
| 1880 | 62 |
623 stories
- The 'Lava-Bed Ranger' and the Brawl at the Saloon
A rowdy evening in 1876 Seattle ends in a courtroom, highlighting the rough-and-tumble street life of a frontier town.
- The Sheriff’s Grim Job Application
A newly elected Seattle sheriff faces a long line of patronage seekers, eventually offering a 'job' that none of them really wanted.
- The Jailbreak at the Lava-Beds
A woman held in a Seattle lockup executes a daring escape, shedding her clothes and fleeing toward the wilderness after outsmarting her captor.
- The Silver Dollar Crusade: Seattle’s Local Echo of a National Money War
While the nation debates bimetallism and Indian Wars, Washington Territory officials in Seattle are quietly preparing for a federal commission that could reshape the region's economy.
- The Logger Who Waited in Silence
A brutal ax wound and a stoic patience define the daily risks of Puyallup Valley labor in 1876.
- The Wool Seller’s Thanksgiving: A Farmer’s Wallet Meets Reality
In a moment of pure 1876 optimism, a local farmer bursts into a Seattle restaurant celebrating his wool sale—only to realize that luxury costs more than he thought.
- The Audacity of the Midnight Knife: A Burglary Attempt on Fourth Avenue
Two men risked everything to crack a store's back door in the dead of night, only to be thwarted by a vigilant clerk and the sound of sawing.
- The Man Who Slept in a Law Office Window
A destitute former resident of Chimacum is found crawling into a Seattle law office window, claiming he has nowhere else to go.
- The Man Who Would Build His Own Locomotives
In 1876, Seattle industrialist J.M. Colman rejected foreign machinery in favor of local manufacturing, predicting a self-sufficient Pacific Northwest within five years.
- The Hill Is Sliding Into the Sea: Seattle’s First Landslide Crisis
In November 1876, a slow-motion disaster threatened to bury a jeweler’s home and block Mill Street as nature reclaimed the southern slopes of Pioneer Square.
- The Lumber Barons Are Starving Themselves: Why Puget Sound Should Be Feeding Its Own Cows
A local editorial argues that Washington’s reliance on imported dairy is an economic absurdity, urging farmers to switch from beef to Devon and Jersey cattle to capitalize on our unique climate.
- The Great Sailor Shortage: Why Seattle’s Labor Market Was Starving for Hands
In December 1876, the city faced a paradoxical crisis: despite the suspension of summer logging work, sailors were vanishing from the docks. Commissioner Ballou reported that a single crewman was worth more than a pair of jacks in poker, as wages had to be inflated just to secure basic maritime labor.
- The Pig That Pays the Bills: How Swine Became Puget Sound’s Secret Wealth
In 1876, while Seattle looked to timber and fish for its future, a local article argued that raising hogs on wheat stubble was the most reliable path to prosperity.
- The Sailor Who Sold the Editor
A seafaring impostor weaves a tale of tragedy and shipwreck to con a meal out of local journalists, exposing the desperate vulnerability of the early Seattle news beat.
- The Sisters of Providence Take Over Seattle's County Farm
In an era of rapid expansion, King County commissioners shift the burden of social welfare for the impoverished and ill to the Sisters of the House of Providence for a fixed annual rent.
- The Great Chicken Scandal of 1877
A wave of missing poultry in early Seattle highlights the city's growing anxiety over poverty, xenophobia, and the 'vagabond' population of the waterfront.
- The Unscripted Tragedy at Yesler's Hall
A young child’s refusal to follow the script during a dramatic performance forces the lead actor to lower the curtain on the show.
- The Price of Panic: Mass Foreclosures in 1877 Seattle
As the territorial economy tightens, a single Sheriff’s notice reveals the vast, liquidated assets of early Seattle real estate speculators.
- The Automatic Suitor-Smacker
A fed-up father builds a booby-trapped gate to drive away his daughters' persistent suitors, turning a domestic headache into a mechanical triumph.
- The Simple Logic of a Territorial Divorce
A jilted husband pens a candid letter to a Justice of the Peace, asking how to dissolve his marriage and if the court might offer a replacement wife.
- The Waterfront Fugitives of Milton
When two men were caught butchering stolen beef, a routine arrest at the water's edge turned into a desperate aquatic brawl.
- The Sad Case of the Shoe-Snatching Prisoner
A man’s desperate theft of footwear ends in a courtroom, highlighting the meager choices available to the poor in 1870s Seattle.
- The Lost Currency of a Civil War Tragedy
A $10 Confederate note, exchanged for a canteen of water amidst the chaos of the Battle of Cedar Creek, surfaced in Seattle sixteen years later.
- A Painful Step in Belltown
A late-night walk leads to a broken leg and a warning about the precarious state of city sidewalks in 1877.
- The Midnight Pork-Thieves of Belltown
A wave of petty food thefts from residential pantries has Seattle neighbors on edge, prompting warnings about the 'nocturnal nippers' prowling the city's outskirts.