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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 62 |
| 1858 | 29 |
| 1859 | 52 |
| 1860 | 27 |
| 1861 | 101 |
| 1862 | 87 |
| 1863 | 69 |
| 1864 | 32 |
| 1865 | 11 |
| 1871 | 11 |
| 1872 | 140 |
| 1876 | 812 |
| 1877 | 678 |
| 1878 | 526 |
| 1879 | 64 |
| 1880 | 180 |
| 1882 | 130 |
| 1883 | 911 |
| 1884 | 499 |
| 1885 | 838 |
| 1886 | 492 |
| 1887 | 484 |
| 1888 | 440 |
| 1889 | 1,324 |
| 1890 | 287 |
| 1891 | 1,115 |
| 1892 | 2,855 |
| 1893 | 2,829 |
| 1894 | 2,116 |
| 1895 | 1,830 |
| 1896 | 2 |
| 1897 | 62 |
| 1898 | 196 |
| 1899 | 446 |
| 1900 | 114 |
| 1902 | 34 |
| 1903 | 1,332 |
| 1904 | 1,126 |
| 1905 | 124 |
| 1907 | 53 |
| 1908 | 351 |
| 1909 | 1,545 |
| 1910 | 413 |
| 1911 | 160 |
| 1912 | 73 |
| 1914 | 261 |
| 1915 | 300 |
| 1916 | 545 |
| 1917 | 332 |
| 1918 | 45 |
| 1919 | 5 |
| 1920 | 1 |
| 1922 | 18 |
| 1923 | 185 |
| 1924 | 151 |
| 1925 | 64 |
| 1928 | 14 |
| 1929 | 19 |
2,231 stories
- The Fight Against the 'Two-Percent Shylocks'
A fierce 1878 constitutional debate in Washington Territory pits anti-monopoly reformers against banking interests.
- The Great Northern Pacific Railroad Robbery
In 1878, Seattle citizens packed a town hall to condemn the Northern Pacific Railroad, alleging that corporate greed and land fraud were strangling the territory's economic future.
- The Right to Testify
A Seattle magistrate clarifies that Indigenous people in Snoqualmie Precinct have the legal standing to sue in civil court and testify in trials.
- The Great Olympia Mill Fire: A City's Heart Stolen by Flame
In the early hours of October 16, 1876, a devastating fire consumed the steam sawmill and all its property in Olympia, Washington Territory, leaving the community to wonder how they will replace their primary source of timber processing.
- The Dignity of the Oyster Bar
A young woman, destitute after her father's death, finds that the labor market is far more welcoming than her former social circle.
- The Great Walla Walla Freshet of 1876
After unseasonable rains decimated the region's infrastructure, locals wondered if a waterspout had carved a path of destruction through the mountains.
- The Struggle for the Northern Pacific Rails
As Congress debates extending the deadline for the Northern Pacific Railroad, local settlers face the double-edged sword of promised prosperity versus the loss of homestead land.
- The Great Seattle Land Grab: How the Maynard Donation Claim Stalled City Growth
A legal dispute over the Catherine Maynard Donation Land Claim reveals the messy, high-stakes battle for ownership of Seattle’s central waterfront in the late 19th century.
- Blood on the Tracks: The Renton Saloon Brawl of 1877
A card game, a wrestling match, and a concealed knife turned a quiet evening into a deadly tragedy in Renton.
- The City’s First Legal Battle: Seattle vs. the Man Who Owned the Water
In April 1877, just months after Seattle was incorporated, the new Common Council authorized a lawsuit against Henry Yesler—the very man who built the city's first mill and gave it its name—over a dispute that would define municipal power.
- The Tax War That Almost Killed Seattle's Economy
In 1877, a federal order threatened to strip Seattle of its tax base by forcing steamships to register their 'home port' in Port Townsend. The local press warned that without this revenue, the county would collapse.
- The Chief’s Last Stand: A Vision of Justice Beyond the Grave
In a rare and poignant interview, Spotted Tail articulates a theology of retribution where the Great Spirit favors the Native American over the white settler in the afterlife.
- A Father’s Gun, A Mother’s Heart, and a Daughter’s Paralysis: The White River Tragedy
When a father tried to stop his daughter's elopement with a shotgun, the resulting chaos killed her mother and left the bride paralyzed. A local paper reports on the 'terrible tragedy' that ruined an entire family in moments.
- The Ghost of Utsalady
A bustling milling hub on Camano Island faces a judicial reckoning as its sawmill property is set for auction.
- The Seattle Tax Trap: How the City Council Tried to Force You to Pay for Sidewalks
A Snohomish resident learns that Washington's territorial legislature lacks the power to create municipalities like Seattle—and whether your city can legally bill you for street improvements.
- The Railroad's Land Grab: How Northern Pacific Hoarded Snohomish’s Future
A local resident exposes the legal loopholes allowing the railroad to retain millions of acres in Western Washington, arguing that this concentrated ownership is strangling settlement and keeping land prices artificially high.
- The Great Olympia Fire: How a City Rallied Against the Flames
When an August blaze threatened to consume Olympia's business district, the community, including local women, rushed to save the heart of the town.
- A Community Under Siege: The Whidbey Island Diphtheria Outbreak
A harrowing account of how a single family was devastated by diphtheria in Oak Harbor during the summer of 1887.
- The Loggers' Stand Against the Mill Cartel
Facing a coordinated effort to depress timber wages, loggers in the Snohomish valley chose to halt production, sparking a classic confrontation between labor and capital.
- The Struggle for the Pacific Northwest’s Iron Backbone
As the Northern Pacific Railroad languished in 1877, the Governor of Washington Territory demanded the company fulfill its land grant promises to break the cycle of land speculation and stagnation.
- Debating the Northern Railroad's Route to Puget Sound
As the Northern Pacific Railroad eyed a Portland terminus to maximize its land grants, a fierce editorial demands the company fulfill its promise to connect the Columbia River to Puget Sound or forfeit its territory.
- The Siege at Keets Mine
A desperate labor standoff unfolds as miners seize a Washington claim over unpaid wages, fortifying their position against the contractor.
- The Judge Who Lobbied for the Church
A scathing critique of Washington Territorial Judge Roger B. Greene, accused of using his office to force tax exemptions for church property through a back-door deal.
- The Stranger at the American House
A quiet traveler claiming to be a homesteader is revealed to be a double-murderer hiding from an Oregon bounty.
- The Exclusionary Pledge of La Conner
A frontier town in the Swinomish Flats organizes a formal, collective boycott against Chinese residents, highlighting the intense racial tensions of the 1870s Pacific Northwest.