Research the archive
Narrow 27,002 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine2 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 11 |
| 1872 | 140 |
| 1876 | 153 |
| 1877 | 124 |
| 1878 | 248 |
| 1879 | 15 |
| 1880 | 83 |
83 stories
- The Shadowy Business of Land 'Jumpers'
A look at the corruption and speculation surrounding homestead land claims in Washington Territory, where the rules of pre-emption favored the well-connected over the actual settler.
- A Child's Fatal Duty
A land dispute in Snohomish turned deadly when a mother armed her eight-year-old son to defend their homestead.
- The Neah Bay Land Grab
A historic Seattle-area editorial exposes how federal officials and a powerful monopoly manipulated reservation boundaries to seize a lucrative trading post from a local merchant.
- The Knife in the Carriage
A young woman’s train ride turns into a life-or-death encounter with an escaped asylum patient.
- The Shadow Army of 1880
A secret, oath-bound military organization of 'Boys in Blue' stirs fears of a rigged election and armed insurrection in Washington Territory.
- A Tragic End in the Seatco Penitentiary
After her young son stood trial for a killing he committed, his mother took her own life in confinement.
- The Forgotten Bid for a Puget Sound Navy Yard
Decades before the bustling military presence on the Sound, visionaries argued that a ship canal connecting Puget Sound to Lake Washington would provide the most natural navy yard in the world.
- The Bold Dream to Remake Seattle's Waterways
In 1880, a group of prominent citizens proposed a canal between Lake Union and Puget Sound to drain Lake Washington, reclaim farmland, and create an industrial powerhouse.
- The Judge's Cruel Calculus
A Seattle widow’s quest for justice in court meets a cold, misogynistic dismissal from the bench.
- 7,000 Miners Head for the Skagit, But High Water Halts the Diggings
Spring freshets wash out the wingdams on Ruby Creek while hundreds of men wait at the Portage for a trail and pack animals — and California newspapers predict a stampede of thousands.
- A Frontier Vendetta Spills onto the Beach
An Indigenous man is shot in a dispute over a death attributed to 'bad Tamanas' or spiritual curses.
- The Captain in the Counting House
A legal firestorm over whether a retired U.S. Army officer can serve as King County Treasurer.
- Tragedy on the Skagit: Six Miners Lost in River Crossing
A supply-laden canoe capsized near the Portage, ending the lives of six men seeking their fortune in the gold-rich mountains.
- A Family Tragedy in the Whatcom Courtroom
A mother and her twelve-year-old son were convicted of manslaughter after a deadly land dispute, highlighting the violent risks of territorial-era frontier claims.
- The Abandoned Crew of the Bark Northwest
Thirteen mariners petition the federal court in Seattle for their unpaid wages after a grueling voyage from San Francisco to Port Madison.
- The Retired Colonel and the County Treasurer
A judge instructs a Grand Jury on whether a retired U.S. Army officer is legally permitted to hold the civilian office of King County Treasurer.
- The County Treasurer’s Double-Dipping Scandal
A local editor challenges a powerful official for illegally holding two offices, exposing a web of political favoritism in the Grand Jury room.
- A Passenger Revolt Against Seattle’s 'Dirty' Steamers
A visiting general and his party refused to board a local vessel, sparking a public outcry over the state of regional maritime transit.
- The Disastrous Nomination of Thomas H. Brents
Local political observers condemn the Republican Party's renomination of Thomas H. Brents, calling him an embarrassment to the Territory and a 'small specimen of humanity.'
- The Unlikely Tale of the 'Pull-Back' Train Stopper
A small-town mechanic's wild invention—a massive rubber cable designed to hook trains that left without their passengers—actually worked.
- Seattle Paper Warns Chinese Money Could 'Cede the Pacific Coast to China'
An 1880 editorial attacks Chinese campaign contributions to Garfield, casting the Pacific coast as a racial prize.
- Seattle's Barrel Factory Doubles Its Shifts — 'No Chance for Chinamen There'
The factory near Belltown boosts production to 4,000 barrels a day and hires about a hundred men and boys, all white, in a blunt public statement of racial hiring policy.
- A Tragic Warning in the Slate Creek Woods
A logger is killed by a falling tree, fulfilling a premonition voiced by his son just moments before.
- Tragedy at the Sawmill: A Father’s Grief
A young sawmill worker loses his life in a horrifying industrial accident near Vancouver, Washington.
- The Shipmate’s Miracle: A Story of Grit at Sea
A young sailor survives a hundred-foot fall and a double compound fracture, saved by the improvised surgery and steady care of his shipmates far from any port.