Research the archive
Narrow 27,002 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine1 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1861 | 2 |
| 1876 | 15 |
| 1877 | 23 |
| 1878 | 18 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 7 |
| 1884 | 4 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 4 |
| 1889 | 5 |
| 1890 | 8 |
| 1891 | 10 |
| 1892 | 15 |
| 1893 | 8 |
| 1894 | 4 |
| 1895 | 9 |
| 1897 | 3 |
| 1898 | 6 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 6 |
| 1908 | 6 |
| 1909 | 2 |
| 1910 | 2 |
| 1914 | 4 |
| 1915 | 3 |
| 1916 | 3 |
| 1917 | 2 |
| 1923 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
| 1925 | 1 |
56 stories matching fertil
- The Dream of the La Grande Marsh Colony
Developers in the 1880s marketed a fertile Snohomish County marshland as an ideal site for a family colony, selling the promise of self-sufficiency just four miles from town.
- The Fragile Earth Beneath Our Feet
An 1877 editorial from the Seattle Daily Intelligencer warns that the city's obsession with waste and its failure to return fertility to the land mirror the downfall of Rome.
- The Unwelcome Arrival at Marysville
As the Snohomish River valley faced economic stagnation, a new townsite at Marysville was pitched as a promise of fertile independence for fifty families.
- The Soil-Killer’s Ledger
An 1878 editorial warns that Pacific Northwest farmers are repeating the mistakes of fallen empires by exhausting their land for short-term profit.
- The Great Diking Effort of Swinomish
Farmers on the Skagit and Swinomish are transforming thousands of acres of marshland into fertile fields through a massive, coordinated engineering effort.
- Life and Lore on the Snoqualmie Prairie
A look back at the isolated, burgeoning agricultural life of the Snoqualmie Valley in 1878, from the pioneer blockhouses to the dream of a thriving dairy industry.
- The Forgotten Colony of 'La Grande Marsh'
Promoters promised a thriving agricultural paradise on the outskirts of Snohomish, marketing deep-water access and fertile soil to lure a new generation of settlers.
- The Gold Rush at the Swinomish Flats
While miners chased gold in the mountains, early settlers on the Swinomish tide lands found that dyking and ditching the soil offered a far more reliable fortune.
- Taming the Snohomish Valley Marshlands
A look at the settlers turning the muddy, fertile banks of the Snohomish River into a bustling agricultural hub through sweat and engineering.
- The Hidden Bounty of the White River Valley
An 1878 dispatch from the Snohomish Eye surveys the thriving, overlooked agricultural juggernaut of the White River Valley, long ignored by travelers bound for the city.
- The Fertile Hidden Valley of Squak
A glimpse into the agricultural potential and growing pains of the Issaquah Valley, a remote settlement struggling for steamship connectivity in 1878.
- The Promised Land on Puget Sound
An 1878 booster letter to the Midwest paints a portrait of Washington Territory as a temperate, fertile frontier where anyone willing to work a log house could find independence.
- The Wild Fertility of the Sammamish Valley
A local settler reports on the rapid agricultural development and the urgent need for river navigation to bring produce to market.
- Puget Sound Herring Fisheries Need Capital and Experience
A local editor argues that Seattle’s budding herring industry is destined to become a global titan—if only local businessmen would stop throwing away the fertilizer.
- A Frontier Land Opportunity in Snohomish
An 1877 classified advertisement offers prime riverside acreage, signaling the rapid transformation of the Snohomish riverfront for settlement.
- Taming the Skagit Tide Lands
Early farmers in the Skagit Valley share sworn affidavits proving the extreme fertility of reclaimed tide lands, boasting of massive grain harvests.
- The Boom Town Hustle
In 1876, a frantic race to build and occupy new structures captures the rapid, speculative growth of Snohomish.
- The Promised Land on the La Grande Marsh
Developers in the late 19th century marketed Snohomish's tide lands and marshy acreage as prime agricultural real estate, promising fertile soil and easy access to market.
- The Last Acreage Near the Creek
An 1877 real estate notice offers fertile bottom land near Snohomish, marking the transition from homesteading to organized development.
- The Marsh That Could Feed a City: Snohomish’s Hidden Goldmine
A detailed survey of the vast wetlands between Snohomish and the Skykomish River reveals thousands of acres of fertile land, drained by new ditches and accessible by scow, waiting for developers to turn swamp into wealth.
- The Great Jam: Seattle’s Gamble on Clearing the Skagit River
As a massive log jam threatens to stall trade in the fertile Skagit Valley, enterprising locals are betting their fortunes on a dangerous engineering feat to open the river for commerce.
- The Seattle Nurseries of 1877
A glimpse into the blossoming commercial landscape of early Seattle, when local agriculture and ‘city-hardy’ fruit trees were the foundation of a growing frontier town.
- The Mukilteo Colony Dream
Promoters pitched a 32-tract 'colony' in Mukilteo as a perfect, self-sustaining opportunity for families to own land and work the Sound, promising everything from shipbuilding to fertile marshland farming.
- The Marsh That Swallowed the Land: A Call to Drain Snohomish
Local farmers face ruin as winter rains turn fertile bottomlands into impassable swamps; experts propose a collective drainage project to save the region's agricultural future.
- The Last Breath of Susie Shouts: A Mother’s Grief in the Garden Lands
In March 1877, just as the Northern Star was extolling the fertile promise of Snohomish’s tide marshes, a local family lost their four-year-old daughter to acute bronchitis at the Riverside Hotel.