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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 2 |
| 1860 | 2 |
| 1862 | 7 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1872 | 4 |
| 1876 | 42 |
| 1877 | 19 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 14 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 19 |
| 1886 | 6 |
| 1887 | 5 |
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| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 8 |
| 1892 | 42 |
| 1893 | 59 |
| 1894 | 35 |
| 1895 | 36 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1904 | 8 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1910 | 1 |
42 stories
- Two Hundred Lives, One Closed Door: The Pacific Inquiry
Witnesses swore in Port Townsend that the steamer Pacific was rotten when she sailed. Now the very inspectors who certified her seaworthy are investigating her loss — in secret.
- Smallpox Outbreak in Port Townsend
The port faces a health crisis after an Indian crew member is landed ashore with smallpox, sparking panic and strict quarantine measures.
- The Hatch Left Open: How a Passenger's Injury Put a Steamship Under Arrest
Mary Phelps was permanently maimed when a crew removed a hatch aboard the City of Panama. When the vessel reached Port Townsend, U.S. Marshal Hopkins seized it—prompting citizens to raise a $100,000 bond.
- The Bread and Butter Vote: How the Custom House Ring Rigged Port Townsend Politics
In a stunning display of patronage politics in September 1876, federal employees in Port Townsend marched in lockstep to defeat local opposition, proving that government jobs were still the ultimate political currency.
- A Wood Wagon Sank in the Mud Outside Good Templars' Hall
A Port Townsend editor told the new town trustees to fix existing roads before launching grand new ones—after neighbors had to unload Peter Smith's wagon to free it.
- The Smallpox Ship at the Wharf
In September 1876, Port Townsend citizens met at the Old Court House to demand accountability after the steamer Dakota brought smallpox into their port.
- The Coin Toss That Named Portland — and the Man Who Founded Port Townsend
A.M. Pettygrove comes back to the town he laid out in 1851, and the Argus retells how a flipped coin gave Portland its name, how a claim was sold for $5,000 in cash and leather, and how a Puget Sound bluff became a city.
- The Miracle of the Scalped Man
A brush with death on the frontier: a survivor recounts the chilling moment he was scalped by Indians and miraculously saved by his traveling party.
- Smallpox Scare at Port Townsend
Rumors of a smallpox outbreak on Puget Sound trigger public panic, but health officials scramble to reassure the community.
- Three Days Adrift: A Ferryman's Rescue Off Point Wilson
A German sailor in an open skiff, barely able to speak or move, is pulled from the water by Mr. Benson and brought to Port Townsend.
- A Crew Called the Iona Unseaworthy. The Cutter Called It Mutiny.
Before the Italian bark Iona could leave Port Townsend, its sailors refused to sail. A survey said the ship was sound; a revenue cutter's officer put the men in irons and warned them of a mutiny trial.
- The Body in the Bay: Peter Samuelson's Mysterious Death
After nearly two weeks missing, a Port Townsend man was found dead on the shore, his boat capsized and his pockets still heavy with gold. A coroner's jury ruled accidental drowning.
- The Pioneer Who Built Port Townsend's First Wharf
Captain Enoch S. Fowler, a Maine-born mariner turned merchant and officeholder, dies at 63, leaving a town shaped by his ships, wharves, and stone buildings.
- The Paper War: Port Townsend vs. Seattle
In 1876, a small rival town accused Seattle of economic sabotage over who printed their business cards.
- Schooner Captain Charged After Attacking His Mate
Captain Ingerson of the Clara Light was arrested in Port Townsend and held on $1,000 bond after his crew testified that he kicked his mate, William Cook, in the head and face.
- The Makah Nation’s First Harvest of Grass
In an era defined by displacement, a small group of Makah Indians surprised Port Townsend residents by arriving with scythes to offer their labor in the local hay fields.
- A Seven-Foot Sea Serpent Washes Up Near Cape Flattery
Capt. Stratton of Neah Bay brings a finned, many-toothed monster to Port Townsend, and the local editor reaches for the Laocoön to describe it.
- The Monster Canoe That Defeated a Donkey Engine
Judge James Swan's colossal Northwest canoe sat nine months on the wharf — until one determined shipping agent and a hundred willing hands hauled it aboard the Dakota for Philadelphia.
- The Preacher Who Turned 170 Acres of Wilderness Into a Home
When Port Townsend could not pay its Methodist minister enough to live on, Rev. Laubach moved to Discovery Bay and built a farm — house, fences, orchard and skiff — with his own hands.
- A Ferry Before the Ferry: The Fight to Replace Open Boats on Admiralty Inlet
Whidbey Islanders were crossing to Port Townsend in open rowboats through tide rips and chopping seas. Local merchants and an island resident with $4,000 wanted piers, a steamer and a regular route.
- A Campaign Comes Ashore in Port Townsend
In 1876, Democratic candidates arrived by steamer to cannon fire and a cornet band, then packed Good Templars Hall for a night of speeches.
- The Sickening Sight: A Pardoned Murderer Left to Die in Port Townsend
John N. Young's cancer-eaten face shocked an editor into asking why Washington Territory released sick convicts to become county burdens.
- Twelve Days in Jail for a Drunken Woman—and the Men Who Walked Free
A Port Townsend letter protests a double standard after a woman is locked up for disorderly drinking while the town's inebriated men go unpunished.
- The Ship That Could Be Scraped With Fingernails
A Port Townsend jury acquitted a sailor who refused duty on the bark Caroline Reed after the vessel was shown to be dangerously rotten.
- A Grand New Hotel Rises on Port Townsend's Waterfront
A three-story block with a saloon, reading room, and thirty sleeping rooms opens at Water and Washington streets—a brick-and-mortar bet on the town's future.