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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 8 |
| 1872 | 110 |
| 1876 | 122 |
| 1877 | 95 |
| 1878 | 216 |
| 1879 | 10 |
| 1880 | 62 |
623 stories
- The Labor Crisis of 1878: Seattle’s Economic Anxiety
As unemployment rises in the Pacific Northwest, a local reader takes to the press to rail against the displacement of white laborers by Chinese workers, foreshadowing the intense economic tensions that would define the era.
- The Yellow Flag Mandate of 1872
Before the age of modern public health infrastructure, Seattle's early municipal government passed strict, penalty-heavy laws to contain contagious diseases through quarantine and public shaming.
- The Great Timber Heist: Federal Law Cracks Down on Puget Sound Loggers
In 1872, the U.S. government enforced a strict new law protecting live-oak and red-cedar from unauthorized removal, threatening massive fines and ship seizures for anyone caught logging federal lands without Navy permission.
- The Industrial Peril of Early Seattle
A newly established hospital opens its doors on Commercial Street to treat the rising toll of injuries from the region's expanding sawmills, coal mines, and logging camps.
- The Battle for Yesler’s Hall: Court vs. Convention
As Seattle prepares for the Republican Territorial Convention in August 1876, a scheduling conflict with the District Court raises questions about civic priority and power.
- The Divorce Decree: A Seattle Woman’s Fight for Freedom from Willful Abandonment
In July 1876, Eliza Carakaden was served with a summons in King County District Court, marking one of the earliest recorded legal battles for divorce in the young settlement of Seattle.
- Seattle Boarding House Ad Barred Chinese Cooks
In summer 1876, a Seattle boarding house advertised that no Chinese cooks would be employed and that women would do all cooking and waiting, reflecting racial exclusion in the city’s labor market.
- The Struggle for Sidewalk Accessibility in 1877 Seattle
An early editorial plea highlights the difficulty of navigating the city’s unpaved streets where cows, not just people, claimed the right-of-way.
- The Political Gossip That Almost Toppled a Judge
In an era of vicious party-line journalism, a Seattle editor defends his local officials against accusations of being 'copper-heads' and 'carpet-baggers,' echoing today’s heated partisan discourse.
- Homesteading on the Edge of the Forest
An 1878 dispatch from a settler near Lake Washington offers advice to 'respectable' newcomers looking to carve a life out of the untamed timberland.
- The 'Vagrant' Scourge of 1878
A Victorian-era editorial attempts to pathologize poverty and social instability in frontier Seattle by blaming 'tramps' and theft for the city’s growing pains.
- The Mud of Commercial Street
Seattle’s main commercial artery was once a treacherous gauntlet of 'semi-fluid mud' and rats, nearly impassable for the city's horse-drawn wagons.
- The Promised Land on Puget Sound
An 1878 booster letter to the Midwest paints a portrait of Washington Territory as a temperate, fertile frontier where anyone willing to work a log house could find independence.
- The Forgotten Campaign for Washington Statehood
Before Washington was a state, Col. C. H. Larrabee traversed the territory on a frantic tour to whip up support for a constitutional convention.
- The Price of Early Seattle Expansion: A Sheriff’s Sale of the Talbot Coal Company
In 1878, as Seattle struggled to build its industrial backbone, the courts were already dismantling the assets of struggling developers, illustrating the precariousness of the city’s early capital-intensive boom.
- The State's Duty to Your Dinner Plate
An 1878 editorial debate in the Seattle press over a 'Colusa Sun' piece satirizes the radical notion that government should provide housing and ensure personal satisfaction for citizens.
- The Pioneer Struggle to Pave Commercial Street
Before it was the bustling core of Pioneer Square, Seattle’s Commercial Street was a rough-hewn stretch of dirt and mud in dire need of basic infrastructure.
- The Battle for Block Eight: Two Men, One Lot, and the Law
In a dispute that highlights the chaotic land rush of early Seattle, two settlers find themselves locked in a legal battle over the same pre-emption claim, forcing a federal judge to intervene.
- The Price of Debt in 1877 Seattle
Foreclosure notices reveal the rapid shift in property ownership as King County land was liquidated at the courthouse steps.
- The Sheriff’s Auction Block in Territorial Seattle
A look at the brutal cycle of debt and displacement in 1878 Seattle, where land holdings were sold off on the courthouse steps to satisfy unpaid loans.
- The Rising Brick Skyline of Early Seattle
As Schwabacher Brothers prepares a massive new brick warehouse on Commercial Street, the city celebrates its shift from wooden frame town to a permanent commercial hub.
- The Great Spelling Bee of 1873
Before high-speed internet and digital debates, Seattle’s social life centered on the grand Spelling Match, a community competition held at Yesler’s Hall.
- The Original Tech School of Seattle
A look back at the Puget Sound Business College, an institution that promised students practical training in the age of rapid telegraphy and trade expansion.
- The Rivalry for the Rail: Seattle and Tacoma’s 1880 Tug-of-War
While newspaper editors in 1880 debated the merits of a trans-Cascades rail terminus, their calm professional detachment barely masked the city's existential anxiety over losing out to Tacoma.
- The Last Stand of Bebe Low: A Saloon Keeper’s Final Plea
In August 1876, Seattle saloon owner Bebe Low publicly demanded his debts be settled before disappearing from the city, leaving behind a cryptic notice and a legacy of vanished frontier commerce.