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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
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| 1878 | 4 |
| 1880 | 2 |
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34 stories
- The Plague at the Doorstep: Seattle’s Battle Against Smallpox in 1877
As smallpox ravages Port Orchard and Salmon Bay, the city's Health Officer takes drastic quarantine measures against Indigenous communities, highlighting the fragile public health infrastructure of early Seattle.
- The Fortress of Timber: How Mill Barons Bought the Land to Buy the Town
In 1877, a local editorial warned that Port Blakely’s massive timber companies were cornering the market on real estate, creating an economic monopoly that would stifle independent growth and keep workers dependent on their employers.
- The Tyrant of the High Seas: A Sailor’s Knife vs. a Mate’s Revolver
In a dramatic trial before U.S. Commissioner D.S. Smith, witnesses describe how the first mate of the brig *Sampson* beat a sailor into paralysis with an iron bar and revolver, sparking outrage over maritime abuse.
- The Partisan’s Price: How Civil Service Reform Cost a Delegate His Seat
In 1876, King County’s Republican establishment turned on Judge O. Jacobs for refusing to hand out federal jobs to party loyalists, revealing the brutal mechanics of the spoils system in early Washington Territory.
- The Day the Pigs Needed Life Jackets: Seattle’s Great Duwamish Flood of 1876
As the Duwamish River swells and farmers flee to their attics, local merchants rally to clear the Skagit River, betting on a waterway that could transform the territory's economy.
- The Violent Night at Port Blakely
A drunken dispute at a remote saloon leaves a man dead and a community reeling from the sudden eruption of gunfire.
- The Great Escape at Port Madison
A convicted murderer slips past a guard and vanishes into the thick brush, sparking a frantic island-wide manhunt.
- The Jail That Wasn't: A Tour of Port Madison’s Fortress
While Seattle’s own jails were often little more than wooden rooms with locks, the new facility on Port Madison was built like a fortress—iron spikes, windlass doors, and a view of the sound. But its warden faces a grim reality: no work for his prisoners.
- The Smallpox Panic: A Quarantined Ship and a City on Edge
When the steamer *Dakota* arrived in Port Gamble with an infected crew member, the community locked down in fear. But as the dust settled, a more insidious threat emerged from within Seattle's own political ranks.
- The Great Street Swap: White Labor Replaces Chinese Contractors in Seattle
In a striking display of racial labor politics in 1876, sixty white workers were hired to replace Chinese contractors on Seattle streets, halting progress and inconveniencing residents.
- The Price of a Seaman's Hand
A mariner sues for $3,000 in damages, claiming gross negligence led to a permanent injury aboard a ship docked at Port Blakely.
- The Midnight Elopement on the Sound
When parents blocked a teenage romance in Port Gamble, a sympathetic reverend and a fast steamer turned a family feud into a dramatic escape across the border.
- The Bureaucratic Standoff at Point-No-Point
A federal effort to build a lighthouse on Puget Sound hit a wall in 1878 when landowners demanded 'exorbitant' prices, sparking a debate over the government's power to acquire land.
- The Ludlow Saloon Shield: How a Mill Worker’s Beating Was Ignored by the Law
In Port Gamble, Washington Territory, a brutal assault on an edgerman was dismissed by a local justice of the peace, leaving the victim powerless against his attacker in a display of judicial indifference.
- The Iron Giant of Seattle: How a Local Foundry Fueled the City’s Rapid Rise
In 1876, Seattle’s industrial heart was beating with molten metal. As the Puget Sound Iron Works churned out rails for expanding railroads and coal mines, local leaders predicted a future where Seattle would rival San Francisco as a Pacific coast manufacturing hub.
- A Brutal Mill Accident at Port Blakely
A mill worker loses his foot to the saw, marking another dangerous day in the Puget Sound timber industry.
- The Tragedy of a Midnight Gale
A young sailor's life is cut short in a brutal storm, his small boat found shattered and abandoned near Vashon Island.
- The Unwelcome Guest of Port Gamble
A small mill town's tranquility is disrupted by a mysterious, 'half-crazed' outsider offering unwanted critiques of local intellectual life.
- A Sailor's Crushed Hand and the Ship That Had to Answer for It
A seaman's right hand was crushed aboard the bark Cambridge at Port Blakely. He sued in Seattle for unpaid wages and $5,000 in damages, dragging the vessel into federal court.
- The Price of Industrial Progress: A Port Madison Tragedy
A dockside worker is crushed while maneuvering heavy machinery, highlighting the precarious nature of labor in the Puget Sound timber industry.
- The Herring Oil Boom on Puget Sound
A new industry turns Puget Sound's abundant herring and dogfish into a lucrative oil enterprise, promising a 'little fortune' for those early to the trade.
- The Perilous Crossing of the Sound
A young man attempted a midnight sailboat trip from Port Blakely to Seattle during a gale; now, only his empty boat remains.
- Six Men Break Out of Kitsap County Jail—and the Sheriff Wants Them Badly
A recent escape from the Kitsap County jail has lawmen posting rewards from $250 to $350 for Ah Tuck, Thomas McLean, and four other prisoners.
- The Devil-Fish of Port Orchard
A local fisherman's harrowing encounter with a tentacled beast off the coast of Kitsap County.
- The Tragic Death of a Chinese Cook at Port Gamble
An accident in shallow water claims the life of a laborer, highlighting the precarious conditions for workers in the Puget Sound mill towns of 1877.