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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 |
678 stories
- The Violent Night at Port Blakely
A drunken dispute at a remote saloon leaves a man dead and a community reeling from the sudden eruption of gunfire.
- A Telegraph Prank Turned a Boat Trip into an Armed Standoff
When someone wired Port Ludlow that a steamer carried smallpox, the town's 'commercial travelers' met a wall of shotguns — and a joke got out of hand.
- The Engine House Was Locked—and the Janitor Was at Church
When two fires broke out in Seattle's Chinese quarter, the engine house was locked and the janitor held the key. Bystanders put out the flames—and the paper demanded a fire department overhaul.
- Sheriff Blocks 28 Miners From Landing — a Newspaper Calls Out the 'Chronic Pauper Hunter'
In 1877, a steamboat captain brought 28 out-of-work miners from Victoria to Port Townsend. The sheriff said they were paupers and refused to let them off the boat. This Seattle editor wasn't having it.
- He Tore Up the Railroad Track, Then Flagged Down the Train
In 1877, a King County farmer named John Ross ripped up Seattle Coal & Transportation Co. rails to force a right-of-way dispute into court — then warned the locomotive before it reached the break.
- A Dispute Over Money Ends With a Shot Through the Kidneys Near the White River
John Morse of Seattle shoots a man near Steele's Landing over money matters and escapes; the wounded man is not expected to live.
- The 'Seattle Way' of Building a Railroad
By shunning outside capital and high-salaried officers, local boosters claim they are carving a path through the Cascades using nothing but 'Seattle money and pluck.'
- The Tragedy of a Forgotten Soul
After a man drowned at a Tacoma wharf, his body was left exposed among 'ravenous fishes' for a full day before a private citizen finally intervened to provide a burial.
- A Near-Fatal Trestle Accident Sparks Anti-Chinese Sentiment
A worker fell from the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad trestle into the bay, drawing attention to the precarious labor conditions and rising xenophobia of 1877 Seattle.
- The Skunk of the Press
A bitter 1877 public feud erupts in the Seattle Weekly Dispatch between an editor and a physician accused of editing a scandalous rival paper.
- The Jailhouse Blunder in Seattle
A man was locked away for a week without due process, exposing deep incompetence in the administration of territorial justice.
- The Death-Trap at Front and Seneca
A dangerous, makeshift bridge over a Seattle construction site is leaving pedestrians scrambling for their lives as the city struggles with incomplete grading.
- The Front Street Bottleneck
A classic tale of early Seattle infrastructure, where a proposed bridge at Seneca Street was deemed 'a fifth wheel to a wagon' by a fed-up local editor.
- The Boom Town on the Sound: Labor and Industry in 1877 Tacoma
A traveler’s dispatch from New Tacoma reports on the frenetic pace of local timber mills, the arrival of new industrial machinery, and the rapid expansion of the labor force as the city builds its future.
- The Street Brawl Over a Chinese Opium Den
A morning disturbance on Washington Street reveals the city's hidden world of opium dens and the swift, often brutal, efforts to police them.
- The Hidden Destroyer of Seattle’s Waterfront
In 1877, Seattle property owners faced a silent maritime menace: a wood-boring mollusk called the 'Teredo' that could collapse a wharf from the inside out.
- The Forgotten Potential of Seattle's Poor Farm
A visit to the county-owned farm on the Duwamish reveals a rich historical site where city officials debated the ethics of poverty and public support in 1877.
- The Struggle for the Snoqualmie Pass Trail
As Seattle grew, settlers in the Kittitas Valley argued that their future prosperity—and the survival of their farms—depended entirely on carving a road through the Cascade Mountains.
- The Panther and the Mountain Cave
A pioneer’s harrowing brush with death during a massive Washington landslide leads to an unlikely alliance with a wild beast.
- 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.
- Seattle's Muddy Streets Stall Railroad Equipment in 1877
A local editor chronicles the impossible state of the city's thoroughfares, where wagon axles disappear into the muck.
- The Cattle Drive Through Seven Feet of Snow
Defying winter, a determined group of drovers successfully pushed fifty head of cattle through the Snoqualmie Pass, a feat never before recorded this early in the year.
- The Smallpox Scare on the Seattle Waterfront
When a stranger fell ill at his Seattle lodgings, he didn't wait for quarantine—he boarded a steamer for Portland, leaving the city in a state of nervous apprehension.
- The Price of Our Forests
An 1877 reflection on the rapid industrial logging of Puget Sound and its potential impact on the climate and water supply.
- The Road to Nowhere: How Seattle’s Leaders Left Lake Washington Residents Stranded in Mud
In March 1877, residents living between the city and Lake Washington found their commute impossible. The city council ignored petitions for a proper road, offering only fir boughs and gravel dust as solutions.