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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 3 |
| 1858 | 13 |
| 1859 | 27 |
| 1860 | 6 |
| 1861 | 6 |
| 1863 | 5 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 11 |
| 1877 | 11 |
| 1878 | 12 |
| 1879 | 5 |
| 1880 | 3 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 56 |
| 1884 | 25 |
| 1885 | 43 |
| 1886 | 26 |
| 1887 | 70 |
| 1888 | 34 |
| 1889 | 76 |
| 1890 | 6 |
| 1891 | 48 |
| 1892 | 267 |
| 1893 | 263 |
| 1894 | 243 |
| 1895 | 182 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 7 |
| 1899 | 30 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 64 |
| 1904 | 848 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1907 | 7 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 758 |
| 1910 | 5 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 3 |
| 1916 | 9 |
| 1917 | 5 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1923 | 2 |
| 1924 | 4 |
| 1925 | 1 |
3,195 stories
- Gold Fever Empties the Army Posts—and Leaves Steilacoom’s Mail in a Canoe
A steamer from the north brings word of rich surface diggings on the Fraser and Thompson rivers, soldiers deserting lower Puget Sound posts, and Steilacoom cut off from its mail.
- A Gold Rush Tide Swells Through Steilacoom
Miners from Oregon and the Columbia are streaming through town bound for the Fraser River, buying supplies and predicting thousands more.
- Who Drew Tacoma's Harbor Lines? A New Affidavit Deepens the Tide-Land Fight
As Tacoma and the Northern Pacific fought over the waterfront, a witness swore he saw a Tacoma Land Company representative preparing the very maps the state used to fix the harbor line.
- A Gold Rush Romance in the Shadow of the Mines
In the rugged camps of the 1859 gold rush, a pair of lovers find their devotion tested by the harsh realities of frontier life and the relentless pursuit of fortune.
- The Recluse of the Woods
A haunting account of a man driven into isolation by the cruelty of his own kin.
- The Politicization of the Bench
A critique of the growing trend to select judges based on their partisan alignment rather than their legal expertise.
- Three Orphans and a Grave for Two: The Bratton Tragedy in Tacoma
Isaac H. Bratton killed his wife and then himself; within days a court appointed an administrator and a family friend sought guardianship of the couple's three children.
- A Contractor's Bloody Trail Ends Beneath a Fir Tree
Tacoma detectives follow bloodstains from J. A. Frace's home to his bullet-riddled body, and suspect revenge.
- The Burglar Who Walked Into Tacoma From Everett
A single suspect arrested in Everett for robbing a hired girl at gunpoint is now being investigated by Tacoma police as the prime suspect behind a string of local burglaries that have plagued the city for months.
- The Man Who Wasn't: Tacoma’s Mysterious 'John Doe' and the Burglary That Never Was
Police Chief Fackler returns from Everett with a prisoner who fits the description of a local thief, but lacks the evidence to prove it. A tale of mistaken identity and urban anxiety in early 20th-century Tacoma.
- The Fire That Almost Stopped the Canal: $40,000 Loss at Big Eddy
A mysterious blaze destroys the machine and steam plants of the Washington Canal project, yet work on the massive irrigation artery continues without pause.
- The Pit and the Claw: A Tacoma Man’s Terrifying Tale of Surviving a Bear Attack
Larsen describes the agony of being pinned in a bear trap, his arm crushed by the beast's jaws, and his desperate fight for survival in the woods near Schomaker.
- The Man Who Asked to Be Arrested: A Tacoma Town’s Battle for Its Soul
In a bizarre legal maneuver to force a court ruling on city limits, a resident of the newly excluded district deliberately broke water pipes and allowed himself to be taken into custody.
- The Great Tacoma Brake-Man Mystery: Was It a Brutal Assault or a Tragic Accident?
Railroad officials and witnesses in Tacoma are debunking the claim that brakeman Cook was beaten by a robber, pointing to a bridge strike as the likely cause of his skull fracture.
- The Mystery of the Ice-Forming Caves
A scientific inquiry into why midsummer ice forms in the lava tunnels of the Washington wilderness.
- The Last Stand of the David Haley: Wreckers Burn a Tacoma Landmark for Scrap
Seattle wreckers traveled to Puget Sound to strip the iron and copper from the historic shipwreck of the David Haley, destroying a local landmark in the process.
- The Quarantine of Tacoma: When a Hotel Became a Prison for Railroad Workers
In April 1898, a single case of smallpox in a Tacoma hotel triggered a massive quarantine that stranded dozens of railroad employees and paralyzed the city's transit network.
- The Man Who Vanished: A Railroad Agent’s Embezzlement and Flight
Charles Dickson, former freight agent for the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company in Tacoma, absconded with company funds after gambling them away in local saloons, leaving a massive debt and a warrant for his arrest.
- Tragedy in the Timber: A Fatal Day Near Orting
A young laborer loses his life in a logging accident, underscoring the lethal risks inherent in Washington's turn-of-the-century lumber industry.
- The Phantom Bicycle Robbers of Tacoma
A young girl claims two masked men bound her in broad daylight, yet police remain deeply skeptical of the theatrical account.
- The City-Line Land Grab
A real estate developer attempts to use municipal law to exclude his own property from city taxes while reaping the benefits of inclusion.
- The 'Folly' of Tacoma: A Steamboat Traveler’s Skeptical Report
An 1876 visitor finds the new city of Tacoma lacking and highlights the tragic loss of local boys at sea.
- The Strange Disappearance of George Clark
A local merchant vanishes from Steilacoom, leaving behind $5,000 in debts and unpaid laborers.
- The Day the River Ran Red: A Tacoma Tragedy
In a brutal dispute over territory and pride, 'Negro Bob' was shot dead by Kennek Joe in Tacoma, highlighting the violent intersections of race, labor, and frontier justice in 1877.
- The High Cost of Being 'Across the River'
In 1878, Sumner settlers faced a familiar struggle: a transportation monopoly that forced them to pay as much to haul freight across the river as to ship it 150 miles by rail.