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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 53 |
| 1858 | 2 |
| 1859 | 6 |
| 1860 | 12 |
| 1861 | 60 |
| 1862 | 65 |
| 1863 | 44 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 14 |
| 1876 | 10 |
| 1877 | 12 |
| 1878 | 8 |
| 1879 | 4 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 4 |
| 1883 | 39 |
| 1884 | 12 |
| 1885 | 19 |
| 1886 | 11 |
| 1887 | 9 |
| 1888 | 6 |
| 1889 | 58 |
| 1890 | 8 |
| 1891 | 218 |
| 1892 | 194 |
| 1893 | 111 |
| 1894 | 19 |
| 1895 | 112 |
| 1897 | 2 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 24 |
| 1904 | 6 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 95 |
| 1910 | 7 |
| 1911 | 11 |
| 1912 | 4 |
| 1914 | 11 |
| 1915 | 8 |
| 1916 | 11 |
| 1917 | 3 |
| 1919 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 13 |
| 1924 | 4 |
| 1925 | 10 |
1,327 stories
- The Great Washington Oyster Land Grab
In a defiant legislative maneuver, the state senate pushed through a bill ceding valuable tide lands, sparking accusations of corruption.
- The Blueprint for a New State
As Washington prepares to enter the Union, this constitutional supplement lays the foundational laws for labor, courts, and civil rights.
- The First Legal Code of Washington Territory
A sweeping 1854 legislative act codified the rules of the frontier, from the punishment of corrupt jailers to the regulation of 'notorious barrators' and illegal gambling.
- Olympia Official Warns Traders Violating Tribal Trade Laws
Superintendent Calvin H. Hale issues a stern warning that the illicit liquor trade on Indian reservations will be met with force and prosecution.
- Olympia Officials Enforce 1862 Ban on Selling Liquor to Tribes
Superintendent Calvin H. Hale warns that selling alcohol to Native people is a 'grave offence' punishable by law and military enforcement.
- Oregon Cavalry Recruits 100 Volunteers for Three-Year Service
The federal government calls for volunteers to suppress frontier conflict in Washington Territory.
- The Battle for the Beer Ballot
With prohibition looming, Washington voters prepare to weigh in on the 'Beer Consumers' Act' while other radical initiatives fall flat.
- The Pony Express Ends: Lincoln Wins, But the South Sees War
As the Pony Express delivers the shocking news of Abraham Lincoln’s election to a nervous Sacramento, Olympia residents mark local weddings and watch their market prices hold steady.
- The Capitol Betrayal: Olympia’s Seat of Power Shipped to Vancouver
In a stunning political maneuver, the Territorial Legislature has voted to move the capital from Olympia to Vancouver and the penitentiary to Port Townsend, sparking outrage among local editors who see it as a betrayal of trust.
- The Olympia Safe Heist and the Culture of Corruption
A government agent discovered a $39,000 deficit in the Olympia sub-treasury, only for the missing funds to vanish entirely after the agent allegedly returned control to the defaulting official.
- The Political Rings of Olympia
An editorial from 1872 exposes a 'carpet-bagger' political machine using public funds to bankroll a partisan newspaper and manipulate Territorial elections.
- A Tragic End in the Seatco Penitentiary
After her young son stood trial for a killing he committed, his mother took her own life in confinement.
- The Mother of Discontent: Abigail Scott Duniway’s Rally for Rights
In an impassioned 1878 address to the Territorial Convention, activist Abigail Scott Duniway demanded Washington women be granted the vote, framing the domestic 'insurrection' of disenfranchised wives as a parallel to the American Revolution.
- Washington’s Constitution Takes Shape Amid Chaos
As Spokane Falls burns, the state’s constitutional delegates pivot from catastrophe to the fiery debate over regulating railroads and monopolies.
- The Great Railway Bribe Scandal of 1891
When the Northern Pacific Railway sent complimentary transit passes to Washington state legislators to influence a deadlocked U.S. Senate race, the blunder sparked a statewide scandal over corruption and corporate power.
- The Tacoma Land Grab: How Rich Men Tried to Steal Washington’s Senate Seat
In January 1891, Seattle’s press rallied behind incumbent Senator Watson Squire against a rival backed by Tacoma’s wealthy elite, exposing a bitter battle over whether the state would be ruled by its people or its land barons.
- The Gall and Wormwood of Olympia: Tacoma’s Defeat in the Senate Race
As Washington's first U.S. Senator is chosen in a bitter legislative battle, defeated candidate Calkins' supporters cry foul, while Jefferson County delegates secure the victory for Watson Squire.
- The Trial of Judge Sachs: A Legislature in Uproar
Tensions boiled over at the Capitol as legislators and lawyers clashed in a dramatic, gavel-pounding removal proceeding against a sitting judge.
- The Sting That Toppled a Representative
When Washington state lawmaker John L. Metcalfe accepted a bribe to expose corruption, the legislature responded by trying to expel him instead of the briber.
- The Whistleblower Who Risked It All on the House Floor
When Washington legislator Metcalfe turned in a bribe, his colleagues turned on him. In a dramatic trial for expulsion, he dared to tell them their political machine was 'as corrupt as hell.'
- The Deserted Wife Who Saved Her Homestead
When a man abandoned his land and his spouse in Olympia, the government tried to invalidate her claim—until a steely legal battle proved her right to stay.
- The Struggle for Order in 1885 Olympia
As anti-Chinese riots swept through Tacoma and Seattle, the citizens of Olympia gathered to pass a desperate set of resolutions, hoping to avoid the 'lawless expulsion' of their neighbors.
- The Riotous Mock Legislature of 1886
A railroad-backed lobby, frustrated by their political losses at the Olympia legislative session, staged a rowdy mock government to harass and demean King County representatives.
- The Broken Promise of the Gross Earnings Tax
A scathing look at corporate influence in Olympia, where politicians promised to repeal a tax break for the Northern Pacific Railroad and failed.
- Sawmill Company's 2,700-Acre Timber Land Fraud Exposed
A government investigation exposes how powerful sawmill companies in Washington Territory used dummy entrymen to systematically steal thousands of acres of federal forest land.