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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 |
5,298 stories
- The Fortune-Teller and the Stolen Life
A woman seeking comfort after the loss of her child was swindled by a traveling group, leading to a mental health crisis.
- The Rotting Schoolhouse
A local mechanic alerts the city to a school building construction so shoddy it was doomed to collapse.
- The Struggle for Chief Moses' Reservation
A detailed federal report traces the long-standing tensions between settlers and the Columbia Band over land rights in Northeastern Washington.
- The Tragedy of the Mill Worker
A Finnish laborer’s mental decline follows a fatal accident at a local mill.
- The Tragic Disappearance on the Sound
A small boat collision on a dark December night likely cost a man his life.
- The Fight Against the 'Iron Grasp' of the Northern Pacific
Yakima County citizens gather to denounce the Northern Pacific Railroad's land hoarding and call for immediate federal forfeiture of unearned land grants.
- The Prosecutor vs. the All-Male Jury
King County Prosecuting Attorney John R. Bradshaw demands the inclusion of women on jury lists, citing Washington Territory’s progressive suffrage laws.
- Three Chinese Women Kidnapped in Victoria
A daring abduction at sea is thwarted by customs officers, highlighting the border struggles near the Washington Territory.
- Ninety Thousand Acres, Not a Cent in Taxes
An Orcas Island correspondent blames railroad-linked land companies for hoarding the island while residents carry the county tax burden.
- Tragedy at the Falls
A young woman is found dead near the Spokane River following a flash flood.
- Spokane’s Vision for a Riverfront Drive
City boosters propose a scenic four-mile carriage road along the Spokane River to showcase the falls and surrounding wilderness.
- The Cheney War Scare
A false alarm regarding an Indigenous uprising sends the town of Cheney into a panicked frenzy.
- The Sting Operation at Squier’s Saloon
A Spokane businessman orchestrates a trap to catch a man selling liquor to local Indigenous people.
- A Violent Land Dispute on the Little Spokane
A settler’s attempt to harvest hay on his newly acquired land leads to an armed confrontation with local Indigenous claimants.
- When General Sherman Told Spokane Falls It Would Be a Great City
The Civil War hero arrived with Generals Miles and Tidball, drew a packed house at Canaan's Hall, and told the young town its water power could make it another Minneapolis.
- Sixty Armed Men Took the Jail at Dayton
A convicted murderer was hauled out of the Columbia County jail and strangled from a rope in the public square — the coroner's jury named no killers, and the local editor scolded lynch law while calling the mob 'cool and systematic.'
- The Grave Robbers of Spokane Falls
A quiet cemetery south of town is disturbed by a bizarre act of desecration, leaving a grieving family and a mystified community.
- A Blanket Theft, a Brutal Assault, and No Arrests in 1883 Spokane
Two Native American men attacked a Chinese camp over a blanket. The injured man was left in the care of his countrymen, and the attackers vanished.
- Spokane Falls Denounces the Legislator Who Would Keep the County Whole
At Cannon's Hall, citizens passed resolutions demanding that the Territorial Legislature ignore Jacob Stitzel and split Spokane County in two.
- The Gold Rush That Wouldn't Wait for Spring
A Spokane Falls merchant is summoned back to the snowbound Coeur d'Alene mines as fortune hunters pour in a month early — and the Falls positions itself as the gateway to the new El Dorado.
- Spokane's Board of Trade Fights to Save the Northern Pacific Land Grant
In February 1884, Spokane Falls merchants rallied against a Congressional bill that would forfeit the railroad's land grant — and with it, they feared, the town's entire future.
- The Boomer Who Lied About the Gold Fields
Spokane Falls' paper takes a Minnesota editor to task for a wildly inaccurate account of the Coeur d'Alene mines — and in doing so lays bare the whole machinery of Western town-site hype.
- A Town Buys Its Own Railroad: Spokane Falls Bets $30,000 on a Line to the Coeur d'Alenes
A packed hall at Cannon's Hall pledges $30,000 in minutes to build a railroad from Spokane Falls to the Coeur d'Alene mines — money not due until the track actually exists.
- The Town That Grew 'In Spite of Reason'
A Walla Walla editor visits Spokane Falls and tries to explain its explosive growth — new brick blocks, crowded lodging houses, idle men in the streets, and a land office so busy it needs two more clerks.
- The Ballad of Mrs. Mattie: A Seattle Streetcar Scandal
When a drunken motorman tried to force his way into a woman's streetcar car, the resulting courtroom drama exposed the raw power dynamics of early Seattle transit—and left the defendant claiming he was libelled by the press.