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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 10 |
| 1877 | 6 |
| 1878 | 5 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 5 |
| 1884 | 5 |
| 1885 | 5 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1887 | 6 |
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 9 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 9 |
| 1892 | 15 |
| 1893 | 26 |
| 1894 | 13 |
| 1895 | 10 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1903 | 9 |
| 1904 | 3 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 8 |
| 1910 | 7 |
| 1911 | 4 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 5 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 3 |
| 1917 | 6 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 2 |
| 1929 | 1 |
25 stories matching essenti
- Forging a Life in Frontier Snohomish
Before the city was a sprawling hub, local blacksmiths like H. Hanson were the essential engine keeping farms and logging camps running with 'neatness and dispatch.'
- The Pioneer Wagon Shop of Old Seattle
A look at the essential craftsmanship that kept the streets of 1870s Seattle moving.
- The River Lifeline of Early Snohomish
Operating under Captain J. S. Hill, the steamer Fanny Lake provided essential freight and transit services for the growing Snohomish community.
- Tools of the Trade: Equipping the Snohomish Valley
A look at the essential machinery and blacksmithing services that powered the growth of Snohomish's logging and agricultural industries in the late 19th century.
- Forging a Growing City: The Pioneer Wagon Shop
While Seattle’s entrepreneurs advertised exotic goods, T. W. Hunt kept the city moving by building the heavy wagons essential to the region's logging industry.
- The Snohomish Exchange: Where Hospitality Met the River
Before high-rise hotels and digital booking, the Snohomish Exchange offered travelers a essential refuge, billiards, and the best spirits north of San Francisco.
- The Pioneer Variety Store: A Snapshot of Commerce in Early Seattle
Before the age of big-box retailers, local general stores like T. P. Freeman’s served as the essential hubs for hardware, furniture, and household needs on the frontier.
- The Iron Arteries of Early Seattle
A look inside the 1874 industrial engine of the city, where blacksmiths, carriage builders, and machinery experts kept the gears of a growing frontier town turning.
- The Frontier General Store: An Engine of Commerce in Stanwood
A look at the thriving retail trade in Snohomish County during the late 19th century, where general stores served as essential hubs for agriculture and logging life.
- The Steamer Yakima’s Narrow Escape on the Snohomish River
A dangerous excursion up the river tests the limits of steamboat navigation through uncharted waters and shifting logjams.
- The Industrial Heartbeat of 1876 Seattle
A glimpse into the daily churn of a rapidly growing frontier town, where hardware, coal, and steam power built the foundation of the Emerald City.
- The 1877 Argument to Run Seattle Like a Corporation
A fiery editorial from the Daily Intelligence argues that municipal voting should be tied to property ownership, mirroring the management of railroads and banks.
- The Search for Fruitful Soil in the Seattle Basin
A pioneer orchardist shares a nineteen-year struggle to master the stubborn, clay-heavy soils of the Duwamish Valley and the Puget Sound region.
- The Rules of the Game: How Seattle's First Lawyers Codified the Fight for Land
When the Washington Territorial legislature overhauled the rules of civil procedure, they essentially wrote the blueprint for how Seattle’s developers and land speculators would battle over the city’s footprint for decades to come.
- The Unlikely Hero of the Fire Escape
When a local doctor patented a new fire escape in 1878, he had to prove it could survive the ultimate test: a 'timid' gentleman from the New England Hotel climbing down from a third-story window.
- The Wild West of Washington Journalism
When the courts declared they had no power to punish libel, Seattle editors went to war with their pens—and their reputations.
- The Seattle Doctrine: 'Live and Let Live' in 1876
An editorial from the pioneer era argues that local business growth shouldn't be a zero-sum game, warning against the 'vampire' spirit of monopoly.
- The Great Snohomish Church Fight: Who Owns the Soul of the County?
A Presbyterian minister arrives in Snohomish to find a fractured community. With two rival congregations already formed and the Probate Judge playing both sides, can outside help unite the town—or just deepen the divide?
- The Jam That Stalled a Territory: How Local Men Tried to Clear the Skagit River
In 1876, Snohomish residents rallied to fund the removal of massive log jams blocking the Skagit River, arguing that clearing the waterway was essential for settling the vast timber-rich lands of Washington Territory.
- Life on the Inland Sea: The Steamboats That Built Seattle
A detailed look at the vessels, crews, and wages of Puget Sound's maritime industry in the 1870s.
- The Road Less Traveled: Seattle’s Shameful Contrast with Victoria’s Fine Highways
In 1876, the local press lambasted King County’s broken road system, praising British Columbia’s turnpikes as a model for Seattle’s own stagnant development.
- The Wharf That Ate Its Workers: Seattle’s First Major Infrastructure Failure
In September 1876, a newly built lumber wharf in Seattle collapsed under the weight of its own laborers, sending Chinese workers and timber plunging into the Duwamish River. The disaster exposed the rotting reality of territorial construction and the precarious lives of immigrant labor.
- The Paper War: Port Townsend vs. Seattle
In 1876, a small rival town accused Seattle of economic sabotage over who printed their business cards.
- The Country Estate as Medicine: Why Seattle’s Elite Are Buying Farms to Save Their Nerves
A satirical essay in the Daily Intelligencer argues that small country plots are not financial investments, but essential health remedies for city professionals suffering from 'trade winds' and nervous exhaustion.
- The Delegate Who Sold Seattle’s Future for Five Thousand Dollars
A scathing editorial in the Puget Sound Dispatch accuses Territorial Delegate George Freeman Willard of betraying Seattle’s interests—specifically the mud flats of Duwamish Bay—to secure his own political and financial gain, while simultaneously accepting bribes from rival railroad companies.