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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 29 |
| 1859 | 52 |
| 1860 | 15 |
| 1861 | 9 |
24 stories
- The Lost Schooner's Dark Secret
A confession in Victoria reveals the brutal fate of two missing vessels and their crews.
- A Brutal Murder on the Trail to Fort Steilacoom
A soldier is found dead after a violent altercation involving multiple men, leaving the community in shock.
- Seeking Justice for the Murdered Schooner Crews
Authorities in Victoria and Washington Territory coordinate to track down those responsible for the brutal killing of crews on the Blue Wing and Ellen Marie.
- A Blockhouse, a Murder, and a Rumor of War
After a killing on the Snohomish, settlers in the Puyallup Valley put their families in a blockhouse. One farmer rode out to look for signs of an uprising—and found none.
- Olympia Loses the Capitol: A Letter Writer Predicts the Seat of Government Will Move to Vancouver
A Steilacoom correspondent gloats that Olympia's 'mandarins' overplayed their hand in the territorial legislature — and that the $30,000 Congress set aside for a capitol building will sit unspent while the prize drifts south.
- The Battle for the Capitol Grounds
A public dispute erupts between the Acting Governor and a Capitol Commissioner over the bidding process for clearing the grounds in Olympia.
- A Territorial Power Struggle
A scathing critique of the Acting Governor's unilateral removal of a Capitol Commissioner.
- A Debt, an Axe, and Three Deaths on San Juan Island
A wage dispute turns into a triple killing in a remote island neighborhood, and the accused are committed for trial.
- The Boiler Bursts at Five Twenty
A mill boiler at Port Madison exploded before the morning shift was fully at work, killing five men and scalding a sixth. A witness wrote that ten minutes later would have killed more.
- A Violent Encounter at the Ferry
A routine trip to the ferry turned into a violent confrontation when a man lying in wait attacked a local resident.
- The Land Company That Claimed Puget Sound — and the Settlers Who Fought Back
A federal surveyor's report from Olympia questioned the sprawling British land claims around Steilacoom and Fort Steilacoom, siding with American settlers who had built farms inside the company's alleged grant.
- The Land Office Money That Never Reached the Books
Register Isaac W. Smith accuses Receiver Selucius Garfielde of holding land-claim payments on private deposit and refusing to account for them—an 1861 public audit fight in Washington Territory.
- A Polite Political Rivalry
Despite the heated competition between the Democratic and People's tickets in Steilacoom, voters maintained a surprising level of civility.
- Gold Fever on the Wenatchee: Steilacoom Miners Strike It Rich
A party of miners returns with rich specimens from Rock Creek, touching off a run on provisions, passengers—and town lots.
- Four British Sailors Jump Ship—and Find American Liberty at Port Townsend
A steamer captain tried to return stowaways to Esquimalt, but a U.S. commissioner freed them, exposing a diplomatic gap over extradition.
- Gold on the Wenatchee
Miners returning from the Wenatchee country report paying prospects—and a rush is already forming from Puget Sound.
- The Case of the Missing Boarder
A Steilacoom landlady finds herself in a tangle of confusion when a new arrival is mistaken for a long-lost acquaintance.
- The Mail That Stopped Coming to Puget Sound
For more than ten days no mail arrived from California or the Atlantic states. Steilacoom’s editor blamed a federal order in San Francisco and wondered how long the town could keep publishing.
- The Governor’s Printing Office Grab
A territorial appointment turns into a public feud over who gets to choose Washington’s public printer—and whether the governor overstepped the legislature’s authority.
- The Day the Steamers Left Puget Sound
An 1861 Steilacoom editor warns that losing ocean steamship service will isolate Washington Territory and strangle its growth.
- A Runaway from the Olympia Jail
A man named Simmons, recently confined in the Olympia jail, has been spotted in Steilacoom.
- Six Hours, Sixteen Thousand Feet: Puget Sound's Lumber Boom
A correspondent touring the Sound in 1860 marvels at new sawmills at Utsalady and Port Gamble, where wild country is being turned into lumber camps and the Territory is already boasting of a manufacturing future to rival the older states.
- Judge Chambers’s New Mill Turns New Dungeness Wheat Into ‘Superb’ Flour
A newspaper tour of the just-finished grist mill found machinery ‘complete in every particular’ and a cleaning apparatus that astonished the visitors.
- The Wagon Road That Would Bind Puget Sound to the Columbia
Vancouver residents petition Congress for $50,000 to build a military road to Steilacoom, arguing it would open trade and settle the country between the Columbia River and Puget Sound.