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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 143 |
| 1877 | 220 |
| 1878 | 187 |
| 1879 | 49 |
49 stories
- The Ghost of Tacoma's Original Downtown
Before the railroad turned Tacoma into a boomtown, the city's future was fought over by competing pioneers and land speculators.
- The Tulalip Residents' Stand
A group of residents of the Tulalip Reservation sign a collective protest against an Indian Agent's interference in their logging operations and relationship with their white neighbors.
- The Contract Prison of the Skookum Chuck
A look inside the privatized territorial penitentiary of 1879, where convict labor was auctioned off to pay for a sheriff's enterprise.
- The Snohomish 'Lady' and the River Trick
A local performance in the Snohomish social scene reveals a talent that bridged the gap between labor and artistry, even if the era's framing was narrow.
- The Promised City on the Sound
Promoters in 1879 painted a utopian vision of New Tacoma, promising a perfectly planned metropolis designed for wealth and grandeur at the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
- The Tragedy of a Careless Hunter
In an era of casual firearm handling, a tragic accident in the Snohomish area leaves a man dead and prompts a warning to residents.
- The Boomtown Hype of 1870s Tacoma
A booster-style editorial from the Snohomish Eye argues for a direct shipping route to New Tacoma to bypass Seattle's influence.
- The Silent End of an Unknown Man
A condemned prisoner faces the gallows in Snohomish with a chilling, final mystery: he refused to reveal his real name, dying as an enigma.
- The Tragedy on the Skagit River
A routine river crossing turned fatal for a laborer and his companion, highlighting the constant peril of frontier travel.
- The Ghost of the Puyallup Valley
A traveling account reveals a local man's elaborate deception, as his supposedly dead family is found alive and well at the Puyallup station.
- The Dream of the Flameless Mill
A bold industrial scheme in Olympia to run a lumber mill via the power of the tides—and the quiet, resourceful spirit behind the invention.
- The Territory's Failed Constitutional Bid
In a formal proclamation, Governor Elisha P. Ferry officially declared the rejection of a proposed state constitution and its supplemental articles by the voters of the Washington Territory.
- The Great Ice Blockade of the Snohomish River
A historic winter freeze has choked the river with ice, threatening the timber industry and commerce in the early days of Snohomish.
- The Final Edition of the Snohomish Sun
After three years of chronicling the growth of Puget Sound, the publisher of the Snohomish Sun shutters his paper, citing bankruptcy, personal heartbreak, and the 'paralyzed' logging industry of 1879.
- Falling Log Crushes Andrew Gullen's Leg on the River
A tragic accident on the Snohomish River leaves a young logger struggling for survival, highlighting the brutal toll of frontier labor.
- The Riverboat Gamble
A local man's attempt to navigate the Snohomish River with a custom-built craft ends in a soggy, expensive, and lesson-filled disaster.
- The Price of Incompetence in 1879
When an American warship finally steamed into Puget Sound, it didn't just bring firepower—it exposed the community's deep-seated anxiety about whether the U.S. government had abandoned the Pacific Northwest entirely.
- The Logging Revolution on Skookum Chuck
Innovation in Snohomish: How timber barons traded oxen for steam-era ingenuity to keep the mills running.
- The Hardscrabble Frontier of the Stillaguamish
A detailed 1879 survey of the Stillaguamish River valley reveals a diverse community of pioneers, Prussian soldiers, and dreamers attempting to tame the wilderness of the upper valley.
- A Rough Road for Blackman Brothers
A massive timber haul turns into a dangerous mishap, highlighting the perils of Snohomish's logging industry.
- The Birth of the Snohomish Brass Band
A group of enterprising young men organize to bring music to the Snohomish community, pledging to be performance-ready in just a few months.
- A Sudden Loss in the Snohomish Valley
A quiet, tragic passing of a local woman highlights the intimacy and harsh realities of 19th-century pioneer life.
- The Hustle for White-Collar Success in Old Snohomish
Before the region became a tech hub, nineteenth-century Snohomish was selling the dream of 'commercial education' to a generation of young men and women eager to trade manual labor for the ledger.
- The 'No Chinese Employed' Sign at the River Side Hotel
A hotel proprietor in the Skagit Valley advertises his business with a exclusionary labor policy reflecting the era's intense nativist sentiment.
- The Temperance Experiment: A Dry Billiard Parlor in La Conner
An 1878 advertisement for a local business offers a look at the unconventional rise of 'temperance billiard halls' that combined community recreation with strict abstinence.