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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 2 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 5 |
| 1861 | 2 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1885 | 7 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1891 | 7 |
| 1892 | 14 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 1 |
| 1898 | 5 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
31 stories
- The Pig War: How a Single Shot Almost Started a War
A minor dispute over a pig on San Juan Island spiraled into an international standoff between the United States and Great Britain in 1859.
- The Pig That Almost Started a War
Before Seattle became a metropolis, Puget Sound was a wild frontier of rugged homesteaders, vigilante justice, and international border disputes sparked by a single, ill-fated swine.
- A County With No Hospital Turns a Private Home Into One
When the injured and dying were thrown on San Juan County's mercy, the new Overseer of the Poor had nowhere to put them but his own house.
- The Ghost Town That Only Existed on Paper
How two swindlers and a 'Nebraska Cyclone' preacher conned a community with a townsite located entirely in a duck-filled salt marsh.
- The Empire of Lime: How Roche Harbor Built a Company Town
By 1891, the San Juan archipelago had been transformed from a series of failed ventures into a million-dollar industrial powerhouse, complete with its own church, school, and company store.
- The Rancher and the Land-Grabbers
A San Juan Island homesteader faces trial for fighting off a crew of surveyors intent on jumping his claim.
- The Tragedy of Sherer’s Point
Three young men lost their lives in a sudden, icy maritime disaster off the coast of Lopez Island after a routine trip for groceries turned fatal.
- Surveyors Armed at Sucia Islands
Tensions rise over property disputes as land surveyors face armed interference in the San Juan Islands.
- The Fatal Nail: A Tragedy in San Juan Valley
A routine repair job on the family farm turns into a fatal struggle with blood poisoning, highlighting the constant vulnerability of life in 1898.
- Drowned in the San Juan Islands
A sailing excursion from Victoria to Anacortes ends in tragedy when an experienced sailor vanishes during a sudden storm.
- A Deadly Error on Lopez Island
A 70-year-old man, a repeat offender in accidental shootings, is critically wounded after being mistaken for a deer in a fern patch.
- The Tragedy of the Volunteer
A sudden squall on Roche Harbor claimed the lives of three boys while their parents remained unaware of the danger.
- The San Juan Huntresses of English Camp
Two young women in the San Juan Islands hunted a deer without a gun, pursuing it by rowboat until they could dispatch it with a knife.
- The Pig War's Lingering Ghost
Decades after the 'Pig War' nearly ignited a conflict between the U.S. and Britain, Colonel Granville O. Haller presents a historical accounting of the San Juan Island boundary dispute to the Washington State Historical Society.
- The Parasitic Weed Threatening San Juan Clover
A local farmer warns neighbors of a strangling weed that threatens to wipe out clover fields across the island.
- A New Editor Rides Into Friday Harbor, Promising Independence and a Paper Second to None
The Islander introduces itself to San Juan County with a defiant platform: no party dictation, no saloon-baiting, and a pledge to be booted around town if it ever breaks its word.
- A Steamer Cruise Through the San Juan Islands, Past Lime Kilns and Seal Rocks
A correspondent rides the Evangel out of Friday Harbor at sunset, taking in Lopez, Orcas, Mount Baker, Roche Harbor's thirteen kilns, and an island said to grow the finest potatoes in the world.
- The Great 'Sour Grapes' Feud of 1892
When a Tacoma newspaper attempted to trash the San Juan Islands as a speculative wasteland, the locals hit back in print—blaming the insult on petty jealousy over their loyalty to Seattle.
- A Close Encounter in the San Juans
A young woman fishing off Friday Harbor defends her boat against a shark, nearly capsizing in the process.
- An Editor Assaulted in Friday Harbor
A local editor was struck down by a county auditor with a heavy lead weight after a tense meeting in the commissioners' court.
- Seven Men Taken in a Roche Harbor Smuggling Raid
A country store, a captured sloop, and a federal night raid on San Juan Island.
- When Every Eastern Market Was Swamped: The 1897 Fruit Glut That Broke Northwest Growers
A Northwest agricultural writer tallies the wreckage of a boom season — glutted markets, freight and icing bills nobody could pay, and a blunt prescription for growers: dry your prunes and hold for a price.
- The Parson, the Woodpile, and the Five-Dollar Hat
A skeptical rancher bets the new minister he can't buck two giant butts of firewood before dark. He shouldn't have doubted a frontier preacher.
- A Friday Harbor Citizen Tells a Rival Editor to Pack His Bags and Go
When the San Juan Graphic blamed saloons for driving settlers to Orcas Island, a letter-writer fired back: if the moral air is so pure over there, why not start your paper there—we'll see you off with a band.
- The Wreck of the Brittain
A maritime expert surveys the remains of a vessel lost on the rocks, detailing the disastrous navigation error that caused the sinking.