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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 53 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 6 |
| 1860 | 12 |
| 1861 | 58 |
| 1862 | 65 |
| 1863 | 44 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 14 |
| 1876 | 9 |
| 1877 | 11 |
| 1878 | 7 |
| 1879 | 3 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 35 |
| 1884 | 11 |
| 1885 | 18 |
| 1886 | 10 |
| 1887 | 9 |
| 1888 | 6 |
| 1889 | 57 |
| 1890 | 8 |
| 1891 | 212 |
| 1892 | 184 |
| 1893 | 105 |
| 1894 | 17 |
| 1895 | 111 |
| 1897 | 2 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 23 |
| 1904 | 5 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 94 |
| 1910 | 7 |
| 1911 | 11 |
| 1912 | 4 |
| 1914 | 11 |
| 1915 | 8 |
| 1916 | 11 |
| 1917 | 3 |
| 1919 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 13 |
| 1924 | 2 |
| 1925 | 10 |
1,280 stories
- The Monument to the Fallen: Olympia’s Call to Honor Washington’s War Dead
A committee of eleven civic leaders has launched a campaign to erect a permanent memorial at the state capital for the volunteers who died in the Spanish-American and Philippine wars, arguing that their sacrifice demands an enduring tribute.
- The Apple Orchard Bandit
An Olympia fruit thief develops a bizarre, tactical routine to raid orchards under the cover of night, only to be stopped by a shotgun-wielding guard.
- The Ambush on Black River
A quiet evening walk turns into a violent confrontation as a local man narrowly escapes a pair of disguised highwaymen.
- The Jailbreak Problem: When Every County Was Its Own Penitentiary
In 1877, Washington Territory struggled with a chaotic, decentralized justice system where county jails were crumbling and prisoners were held for profit.
- The Laws That Built the Frontier
A look back at the 1879 Territorial Assembly's agenda, from banning wandering hogs to regulating the earliest salmon canneries.
- The Iron Road to Tenino
After years of fits and starts, Olympia residents push to finish a vital rail connection, mirroring the modern-day struggle for infrastructure and investment.
- The Pony Legislature’s Last Stand
In Olympia, a defiant territorial delegate denies rumors that the 'rump' legislature met to move the state capital away from Seattle.
- The $1 Million Syndicate: How Three Men Bet Big on Tumwater’s Water Power
A wealthy trio from Kansas City arrives in Olympia with a million-dollar plan to build mills and a cable railway, signaling a massive shift in the territory's economic future.
- The Fight for Washington’s Capital City
A Seattle writer argues that moving the seat of government east of the Cascades would cripple maritime commerce.
- The State's First Great 'To-Do' List
Acting Governor Charles E. Laughton’s 1891 address to the legislature provides a rare, wide-angle snapshot of a young Washington State struggling to build its infrastructure, protect its forests, and define its civic identity.
- The State’s Office is a ‘Sailor’s Boarding House’: Olympia’s Desperate Search for a Capitol
With state officers scattered across the city in “miserably-ventilated” rooms and valuable records stored in sheds, Representative Collins introduces a bill to erect a temporary building on business property.
- A Blackmail Scheme at the Statehouse?
Legislators suspect a proposed liquor licensing bill is less about temperance and more about extorting the state's saloon owners.
- Washington Tide Land Bill Would Create Sales Commission
A new bill moves through the state legislature to codify how the state will survey and sell off the submerged lands along the shoreline.
- The 'White River Assembly' Takes on the State Senate
A scathing labor petition read aloud in the Washington State Senate sparks both laughter and warnings of political reckoning for those who ignored the working class.
- The Salmon Wars of 1891: Puget Sound’s Battle for Fishing Sovereignty
While the Columbia River dictated state fishing laws, Washington’s northern waters faced an existential threat, prompting a legislative clash over spawning cycles and local control.
- The Forgotten: Advocating for Washington Territory’s Deaf, Blind, and Feeble-Minded Children
A compelling 1885 editorial highlights the territorial government's failure to educate citizens with disabilities, framing their exclusion as both a moral failing and a future burden.
- The Insurance Company That Refused to Pay
After his steamboat, the Wildwood, burned at the dock in Olympia, Thomas Quail publicly denounced the insurance companies that refused to settle his claim.
- The Captain, the Thief, and the Midnight Chase
When a suspected cattle rustler boarded a steamer to flee across the border, a determined captain navigated a tense confrontation at the Olympia wharf.
- The 1885 Fight to Protect the Workingman’s Tools and Bedding
A proposed territorial law sought to expand property exemptions from debt, shielding everything from a mechanic's tools to a family's bedding from creditors.
- The Right to Seize Silent Tracks
In 1886, territorial legislators debated a radical bill to reclaim abandoned railroad rights-of-way, arguing that the public interest outweighed corporate ownership.
- The Logger's Protective Association
After enduring wage cuts and rising costs, Washington's loggers begin organizing to push back against a legislature that seems determined to strip away their protections.
- The Bid to Bring the Rails to Olympia
When the Puget Sound and Gray's Harbor Railroad Company looked to move its terminal away from the shallow waters of Little Skookum Bay, a committee of Olympia’s finest set out to land the contract.
- The Doomsday Cult of South Union
While the rest of the country debated silver and trade, a group of Thurston County farmers were preparing for the final apocalypse.
- The Political Betrayal of Seattle
At the 1892 State Democratic Convention, a coalition of Pierce County delegates and King County defectors successfully turned the party platform against Seattle's Lake Washington Ship Canal project.
- A Slanderous Campaign Against John H. McGraw
A rival paper spreads a rumor that the Republican gubernatorial candidate was born abroad and thus ineligible for office, prompting a sharp defense from the Post-Intelligencer.