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 |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 3 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 5 |
19 stories matching made
- 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 Steam Tug That Sailed Like Clockwork
After a major refit to repair hurricane damage, the sturdy steam tug 'Sehome' proves its mettle on a high-speed run between Seattle and Port Blakely.
- 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 Great Clam Bake of 1885
A Seattle party crosses the Sound to Port Blakely, where local Indigenous hosts treat the visitors to a massive, traditional clam bake that captures the awe and appetite of the pioneer era.
- An 1885 Delegation's 'Grand Tour' of Seattle
When a Portland delegation arrived in Seattle by steamer in July 1885, they were treated to an opulent tour of the town, a clambake at Port Blakely, and a glowing review in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
- The Mystery of the Mast
Two Seattle brothers discover a man adrift off Blakely Rocks with a bullet in his forehead, sparking a murder investigation in a quiet maritime town.
- The Charity Case Who Came Back a Brutal Husband
Port Blakely mill hands passed the hat for a crippled co-worker and sent him home to Kentucky. He came back married — and the town's justice of the peace had to take his wife away from him by night.
- A Body in the Ashes at Rolling Bay
An eyewitness to the coroner's inquest corrects the Post-Intelligencer's lurid account of a bullet-scarred, half-burned corpse found in a shack on Bainbridge Island — and lays out his own theory of an unsolved Kitsap County killing.
- The Shipyard Walkout at the Port Blakely Mill
When an employer mandated a ten-hour workday, laborers staged a strike that pitted the mill's authority against the collective will of the workers.
- The Creosote Fortress: How a New Plant Aimed to Save Seattle’s Piers from the 'Teredo'
A massive industrial complex rises six miles north of downtown, promising to protect the city's wooden infrastructure from the destructive shipworm.
- John C. Hornbeck, Pioneer Steamboat Man
A gold-miner and engineer who built early Puget Sound steamboats dies in Kitsap County.
- Puget Sound Herring Fisheries Need Capital and Experience
A local editor argues that Seattle’s budding herring industry is destined to become a global titan—if only local businessmen would stop throwing away the fertilizer.
- The Body in the Hen House: An Unidentified Murder Near Eagle Harbor
A well-dressed stranger was found half-burned in an abandoned Kitsap County farmhouse, with only spectacles, a corkscrew, and a torn newspaper to say who he was.
- Puget Sound Lumber Sails for South Africa
A new steamship and clipper line carries Northwest timber to Delagoa Bay and the gold fields of Johannesburg.
- 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.
- Hops of Port Blakely: The Cast-Off Clothes Protégé Who Saved a Captain
A Post-Intelligencer reporter hears from John Corbett how an Indigenous man named Williams earned a lifetime of beer, boarding-house meals, and the run of the Port Blakely mill.
- A Mill Owner's Warning: Free Trade and the Fight for Seattle's Lumber Future
Port Blakely's C. P. Holmes saw tariff-free lumber helping British Columbia, doubted the China-Japan war would rescue trade, and still believed Seattle's natural harbor would win.
- The Hanging Party That Wasn't: Puget Sound's First Murder Arrest
A retired sailor recalls the day a ship's crew nearly lynched a stevedore at Port Blakely—and the strange reunion that followed years later.
- 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.