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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 29 |
| 1859 | 52 |
| 1860 | 15 |
| 1861 | 9 |
29 stories
- A Yakama Chief Falls as the Territory's Indian War Ends
Col. Wright's campaign is declared over; Owhi is shot near the Snake River, and the Herald celebrates executions and hostages as peace.
- The Winter War Blueprint: An 1858 Campaign to Subdue the Tribes
A field letter from the Indian war in Oregon and Washington urges the Army to occupy the Colville Valley, cut off Indigenous trade, and expel missionaries and Hudson’s Bay Company employees.
- The Steamer Traveler Goes Down Off Foulweather Bluff
A sudden leak in a winter gale drowned Captain Slater and several others on a routine Puget Sound run from Port Townsend to Port Gamble.
- Gold in the Wenatchee—and a War Warning at Fort Simcoe
A hard-riding express reaches Steilacoom with word of 300 miners in the new Wenatchee and Naches diggings—and a settler's letter warning of a wider Indigenous war over the invasion.
- Gold in the Wenatchee, but the Miners Were Told to Leave
Pearson's party returns to Steilacoom after Indians warn them off the new gold fields; a handful of dirt shows a dollar's worth of gold.
- The Killer Who Walked Into the Council and Bared His Breast
On San Juan Island, a man accused of killing a chief's son returned to face tribal justice—and his family watched him offer his own heart to the dead man's brother.
- Death and a Trace of Gold on the Fort Simcoe Trail
A Washington Territory prospecting party lost one man to an accidental gunshot and two others to drowning, and found only a disappointing show of gold.
- Gold Fever Empties Puget Sound
A schooner captain confirms rich strikes on the Fraser and Thompson rivers—and hundreds of workers are already leaving Victoria and the Sound for the mines.
- 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.
- A Dead Calm and a Disabled Engine: The Columbia Goes Ashore
The steamship Columbia struck the mouth of Puget Sound on a quiet night, her machinery useless. Passengers and mail were saved; $200,000 in cargo was not.
- Gold Fever Lands at Bellingham Bay
Mail-steamer dispatches report 1,400 argonauts bound for the new mines, Victoria land prices climbing to a 'dizzy elevation,' and rumors of a fresh townsite at Semiahmoo Bay.
- A Territory Asks Congress for a Road, Rails, and Troops
Meeting at Col. M. T. Simmons's house, October 18, 1858, adopts resolutions for an overland route from St. Paul to Puget Sound, land grants for the Northern Pacific, and military posts to protect the gold rush—and to put down the territory's Indian war.
- Four Sailors, a Filthy Jail, and a Test of the Law at Port Townsend
A British crew refused duty after the ship changed course for Puget Sound. Their answer was a jail cell — and a writ of habeas corpus to see whether the territory could legally hold them.
- Gold Fever Reaches Steilacoom by Schooner
A Saturday arrival brings word of gold at Fort Yale, a turn-by-turn route up the Fraser River, and a miner's warning that provisions are very high.
- Col. Wright's Column Drives Spokane Fighters Across the Plains
An 1858 campaign report describes a running fight on the Spokane Plains—and the violent logic of dispossession behind it.
- Eighty Artillerymen Bound for the Spokane War
A San Francisco dispatch reports Company K of the 3d Artillery heading north to reinforce Col. Steptoe, with a new commander for the company lost when Lt. Gunn was killed by Spokanes.
- The Soldiers’ Barracks at Fort Vancouver Burn
A fire destroys the barracks at Fort Vancouver; soldiers are hurt fighting the flames, but no lives are lost.
- The Night a Soldier Robbed the Editor's House
While the Puget Sound Herald's proprietor and his wife were away, a soldier slipped into their home—then walked back through the kitchen into the sitting room.
- A Runaway Horse, a Broken Skull, and a Mother's New Misfortune
Near Judge Chambers's house, Mrs. Riccomba's young son was thrown and dragged; he lay in a very critical state.
- The Trail That Wasn't: How Bellingham Bay Boosters Sold a Gold-Rush Route
A Steilacoom editor accuses Whatcom land speculators of luring miners and immigrants with false reports that the Bellingham Bay trail to the gold fields was nearly finished.
- Fighting Whisky and a Free Fight in Steilacoom's Streets
A dozen strangers brawl outside Jerry Dennis's house, prompting the editor to demand the disorderly den be closed.
- Steilacoom Builds Before the Crowd Arrives
Warehouses on pilings, a new store and a brick jail: the town's 1853 building boom was a bet on growth.
- The Hudson's Bay Company Puts a Price on Washington Territory
A proposed £500,000 sale of the company's Puget Sound land claims alarmed settlers and left Congress uncertain about who really owned the ground.
- A Miraculous Escape on Puget Sound: Two Steamers Collide Near Steilacoom
The steamer Northerner and a second vessel met suddenly on the water in October 1858, crushing the little steamer’s bow and nearly sending its captain into the Sound.