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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 421 |
| 1877 | 288 |
| 1878 | 80 |
| 1880 | 80 |
869 stories
- Seattle Investors Plan a Boot Factory and Tannery
Before tech and aerospace, Seattle’s business elite plotted to stop shipping raw hides to San Francisco and instead build a city of tanneries and shoe factories.
- Stagecoach Chaos on Mill Street
A frightened team of horses sparks a wild ride through downtown Seattle, leaving a lone passenger clinging on for dear life.
- A Home for Books Above the Liquor Store
After years of neglect, the Seattle Public Library relocates to a more central, if modest, home on Front Street—sparking a debate over the city's duty to provide spaces for 'public culture' over saloons.
- The Jailhouse Houdini of Seattle
While awaiting trial for boat stealing, a prisoner named Burton used a hidden knife to fish biscuits through his jail bars and plotted his escape with remarkable bravado.
- The Miracle Cure at the Yesler Sawmill
In 1877 Seattle, a local laborer offers a glowing, desperate endorsement for a traveling 'nerve doctor' promising to cure the ills of the industrial grind.
- The Oyster Swindler of State Street
A mysterious philanthropist promises to feed the hungry of Seattle, only to vanish and leave the bill at a local restaurant.
- The Original Seattle Growth Strategy
In 1877, business leaders debated how to fund a private office to lure immigrants from 'grasshopper-stricken' regions, mirroring today's debates over attracting talent and industry to the Pacific Northwest.
- The Lawyer Who Couldn't Help: A Woman’s Disillusionment with Seattle’s Legal System
In April 1877, a desperate woman seeking financial support from her absent husband walked into a Griswold Street lawyer's office, only to leave more skeptical of the legal profession than when she arrived.
- The Mill That Stopped: A City Holds Its Breath
When Colman’s sawmill ceased its daily roar for repairs, the silence was so profound it forced Seattleites to confront their terrifying dependence on industrial machinery.
- The Butter Paradox
Why is Seattle, surrounded by some of the world's richest grazing land, importing its butter from California?
- The Great Rancher's Fiasco: When Seattle Met the 'Eastern Immigrant'
A local farmer’s desperate search for farmhands on the docks of Pioneer Square ends in comedy of errors, revealing a cultural clash between Washington Territory agriculture and the influx of Eastern settlers.
- The Man Who Paid for Nothing
A witty anecdote from Seattle's early days captures the city's growing confidence and irreverence toward authority.
- The Dog Who Defied Gravity (and the Mayor)
A canine visitor to Seattle’s Tremont Hotel proves that while political patronage is hard to shake, a dog’s instinct for self-preservation is stronger.
- The Canal That Could Freeze England: A Climate Warning from the Isthmus of Panama
In 1877, Seattle’s press warned that digging a canal through Central America might divert the Gulf Stream, plunging Europe into an ice age—a bizarre but prescient look at early environmental anxiety.
- The Steam Laundry That Would Save Your Clothes (And Your Wallet)
In May 1877, Seattle businessman L.D. Frank announced a bold new venture: a steam-powered laundry on Commercial Street that promised to clean clothes faster and cheaper than the traditional Chinese method—while explicitly excluding Chinese workers.
- The Boom on Front and Columbia
As Seattle grew in the summer of 1878, new tenements began rising on the waterfront, promising modern conveniences in the shadow of the bustling docks.
- The Wild Foot Race on Commercial Street
Before the city grew, Seattle’s main thoroughfare hosted a high-stakes sprint that drew crowds to the rooftops and left bettors stunned.
- The Unreliable Peer: A Seattle Critique of Jury Bias
An 1878 editorial laments that the 'glory of English law' is being tarnished by jurors who prioritize class bias over evidence.
- The Tramp Economy of Early Seattle
A reporter encounters a 'bummer' among the weeds of Mission Bay, revealing the harsh, transient reality of laborers who roamed the Pacific Coast in the 1870s.
- The Price of Saving the Country
In 1880 Seattle, a local paper captures a cynical, all-too-familiar conversation between two men on the street regarding the true value of political engagement.
- The Governor’s Vision of a Boomtown Territory
Fresh from the East, incoming Governor William A. Newell paints a picture of Washington as a land of boundless natural wealth and rapid expansion.
- The Alpine Music of South Seattle
South Seattle residents protest the discordant 'Alpine music' of roaming livestock that kept the neighborhood awake.
- The Midnight Hazard on Front Street
A pedestrian falls into an open trench, highlighting the lack of basic safety measures in a growing, construction-heavy Seattle.
- Primary Meeting Erupts in Laughter
A political primary meeting takes a humorous turn when a physician makes a pointed jab at the judiciary.
- Washington Territory Moves Toward a Constitutional Convention
Before Washington became a state, residents debated the necessity of a constitutional convention and the potential riches of federal land grants.