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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 2 |
| 1858 | 5 |
| 1859 | 7 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 3 |
| 1862 | 8 |
| 1863 | 2 |
| 1864 | 3 |
| 1872 | 11 |
| 1876 | 88 |
| 1877 | 64 |
| 1878 | 54 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 20 |
| 1882 | 9 |
| 1883 | 78 |
| 1884 | 31 |
| 1885 | 59 |
| 1886 | 29 |
| 1887 | 40 |
| 1888 | 46 |
| 1889 | 104 |
| 1890 | 16 |
| 1891 | 90 |
| 1892 | 186 |
| 1893 | 162 |
| 1894 | 199 |
| 1895 | 244 |
| 1897 | 5 |
| 1898 | 17 |
| 1899 | 46 |
| 1900 | 8 |
| 1902 | 5 |
| 1903 | 76 |
| 1904 | 52 |
| 1905 | 5 |
| 1907 | 4 |
| 1908 | 36 |
| 1909 | 82 |
| 1910 | 18 |
| 1911 | 7 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 19 |
| 1915 | 24 |
| 1916 | 41 |
| 1917 | 20 |
| 1918 | 5 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 11 |
| 1924 | 9 |
| 1925 | 2 |
| 1929 | 3 |
54 stories matching small
- The Disappearing Patient of King County
A small-statured man, well-dressed in slate colors, walks out of the Territorial Insane Asylum and vanishes without a trace.
- The Logger’s Sunday Best
A small-town transformation: How one local logger swapped his camp clothes for city attire to blend in with the townspeople.
- The Tinderbox Downtown
A small chimney fire at a local tin shop narrowly avoids tragedy, sparking a community call to clear flammable debris from Seattle's rooftops.
- The Boys of Seattle’s Waterfront: A Victorian-Era Public Nuisance
In June 1878, Seattle’s civic leaders were up in arms over a group of boys bathing in the nude near the coal bunkers, marking an early clash between rustic freedom and a modernizing, ‘respectable’ city.
- The Port Townsend Sewer of Defamation
A small-town attorney attempts to build a media empire on vitriol and libel, only to be dismantled by the Governor he targeted.
- The Closing of a Pressroom Era
As the Seattle economy shifts, a local printer liquidates his entire inventory, marking the end of a small-scale business in a growing territory.
- The Courthouse That Never Was
A desperate plea to build a modest county seat on a 'high ridge' between Seattle and Belltown before the city outgrows its footprint.
- The Great Seattle Printing Conspiracy
When the Dispatch editor exposed a 'plunder' scheme by rival newspapers to inflate public printing costs, he revealed the messy, graft-filled reality of 1878 municipal administration.
- The Price of a Local Dispute: A One-Dollar Verdict
In the small, litigious world of early Seattle, a courtroom battle over an unspecified grievance concludes with a verdict that barely covers the cost of the ink to record it.
- The Rowing Invention That Changed the River
A Snohomish local debuts a mechanical rowing gear that allowed boaters to steer and power their craft with ease, signaling a shift in daily river navigation.
- 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.
- The Price of a Glass of Beer
A Seattle man faces legal consequences for a small, unthinking gesture that violated the territory's strict and discriminatory liquor laws.
- In Defense of the Old Hat
A Snohomish resident offers a defiant, humorous ode to a battered, three-year-old hat that refuses to quit.
- The Unsung Heroes of the Fire Line
When the flames rose, a small team of steamboat captains rushed into the fray to save Seattle's firefighting equipment, a vital act of civic solidarity in the 1870s.
- Two Hours Adrift on a Capsized Skiff
After a sudden squall capsized their small boat on the way to Seattle, two young sailors survived hours clinging to the keel in the frigid waters of Puget Sound.
- The 1878 Dream of Building Societies
A look at the early mutual loan movement, promising that the average working man could escape the cycle of high rent and finally own his home.
- The Price of Printing: A 19th Century Fight Against 'Cheap John' Contracting
An editorial from the 1873 Seattle Dispatch excoriates the municipal habit of awarding city printing contracts to the lowest bidder, arguing it degrades the press and serves only the interests of 'ward demagogues.'
- The Auction Block of 1878: A City’s Property Under the Hammer
While Seattle’s Common Council met to approve small municipal expenses, the sheriff was busy auctioning off downtown blocks to satisfy debt in the growing territory.
- A Steep Price for Three Dollars' Worth of Wood
A father and his fifteen-year-old son were sentenced to pay a staggering fine—$46 total—after being caught pilfering scrap lumber from the city wharf.
- The Price of Print: A Pioneer Newspaper’s Inventory Liquidation
A rare glimpse into the mechanics of 1878 journalism as a Seattle printer liquidates his entire shop, signaling the volatile life of local presses.
- The Jailhouse Drinker of Tenino
A clever prisoner manages to steal a gallon of whiskey while locked in a closet by using a funnel and his own fingers.
- The Unsinkable 'Old Settler' of the Olympia Tide-Flats
An enterprising Olympia pioneer launches a custom-built, shallow-draft vessel to dominate the local oyster trade.
- The Capsized Boat and the 'Male Kind' Rescue
A trio of young men testing their luck on Lake Union learn a harsh lesson in buoyancy, social embarrassment, and the precariousness of Victorian masculinity.
- The Midnight Attack on a Chinatown Cigar Stand
A deliberate arson attempt threatens to ignite the heart of downtown Seattle after rags soaked in coal oil are discovered burning against a Chinese-owned business.
- The Ghostly Exhumation on the Hill
A grieving widow and a procession of mourners perform a mysterious, haunting ritual to rebury a man murdered in the streets of Seattle.