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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 59 |
| 1858 | 23 |
| 1859 | 27 |
| 1860 | 12 |
| 1861 | 86 |
| 1862 | 77 |
| 1863 | 63 |
| 1864 | 31 |
| 1865 | 10 |
| 1871 | 11 |
| 1872 | 140 |
| 1876 | 799 |
| 1877 | 667 |
| 1878 | 526 |
| 1879 | 64 |
| 1880 | 179 |
| 1882 | 130 |
| 1883 | 731 |
| 1884 | 393 |
| 1885 | 837 |
| 1886 | 483 |
| 1887 | 484 |
| 1888 | 440 |
| 1889 | 1,301 |
| 1890 | 266 |
| 1891 | 1,023 |
| 1892 | 2,551 |
| 1893 | 2,661 |
| 1894 | 1,989 |
| 1895 | 376 |
| 1896 | 2 |
| 1897 | 20 |
| 1898 | 76 |
| 1899 | 445 |
| 1900 | 106 |
| 1901 | 1 |
| 1902 | 34 |
| 1903 | 1,202 |
| 1904 | 993 |
| 1905 | 112 |
| 1907 | 17 |
| 1908 | 42 |
| 1909 | 939 |
| 1910 | 163 |
| 1911 | 141 |
| 1912 | 62 |
| 1914 | 239 |
| 1915 | 271 |
| 1916 | 479 |
| 1917 | 289 |
| 1918 | 39 |
| 1919 | 5 |
| 1920 | 1 |
| 1922 | 14 |
| 1923 | 142 |
| 1924 | 126 |
| 1925 | 58 |
23 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The Vultures on Steilacoom's Streets
A furious 1858 editorial accuses local authorities of letting California gamblers plunder the town in plain sight.
- A Rumor of War on the Snake River
The Puget Sound Herald casts doubt on its own report of a battle between Col. Steptoe and Indigenous fighters, noting that no reliable account has arrived.
- The Priest Writes Back: A Territorial Feud Over 'Romanism'
A Methodist minister's warning in Olympia draws a sharp reply from the Catholic missionary he accused.