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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 5 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1883 | 4 |
| 1884 | 4 |
| 1885 | 11 |
| 1886 | 4 |
| 1887 | 5 |
| 1889 | 11 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 9 |
| 1892 | 24 |
| 1893 | 10 |
| 1894 | 16 |
| 1895 | 27 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1903 | 9 |
| 1904 | 5 |
| 1908 | 2 |
| 1909 | 8 |
| 1910 | 3 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
41 stories matching worthless
- The City’s 'Worthless' Vagabond Problem
A 1885 editorial call for the city to forcibly expel the unemployed, framed as a nuisance to the thriving Pacific Northwest economy.
- The Unchecked Movement of 'Worthless' Buildings
A local editor slams lax city ordinances after a businessman relocates a derelict building into the heart of Yakima.
- Police Urged to 'Clean Out' Seattle's Vagabonds
An editorial from the Post-Intelligencer calls for the removal of 'worthless vagabonds' from the city, warning of potential murder and riots.
- The Failed Promise of Seattle’s Police
A critical editorial reflects on the incompetence of the local force during times of unrest and the corrupting influence of political patronage.
- The Great Tax Assessment Debacle of 1887
King County taxpayers find themselves in an uproar as a bungled property assessment, based on a worthless abstract, threatens the city’s financial stability.
- The Great Seattle Property Map Scandal
A scathing editorial reveals that King County’s property assessments are so riddled with errors that the tax rolls are essentially worthless, leaving the local government in a state of administrative paralysis.
- The Miracle of the Swinomish Flats
A century and a half ago, the Skagit Valley’s richest farmland was dismissed as worthless marshland. Today, it’s an agricultural powerhouse.
- The Tacoma Check-Kite Who Vanished Into Thin Air
A mysterious stranger from San Francisco duped local merchants out of hundreds of dollars with worthless drafts before disappearing, leaving a trail of broken trust in the heart of downtown Tacoma.
- Fire Sweeps Through Seattle's Second Street Waffle House
A kitchen explosion sends breakfast patrons fleeing as a tent-based eatery is reduced to rubble.
- The City Attorney's 'Wretched' Tenure
Voters of Seattle weigh in on a candidate accused of incompetence, corruption, and botching the city's legal affairs.
- The Fugitive of Coos Bay
A man who lived under an alias in Oregon is arrested for a two-year-old murder in Cowlitz County after being tracked across the region.
- The Doctor Who Wanted Everything
A Prince Edward Island physician wrote to a Seattle paper requesting a mountain of free market research, leading the editors to publicly shame him for his stinginess.
- The Riot-Scarred Streets of 1886
A critical look at the Seattle City Council’s tepid handling of the anti-Chinese riots, as the city struggles with the legacy of mob violence.
- The Temperance Movement Makes Its Mark in Seattle
Western Washington women organize to battle 'worthless' sensational literature and the influence of the liquor trade.
- The Unwelcome Swarm
As Seattle prepares for a railroad boom in 1880, the Chief of Police struggles to contain a surge in vagrancy and arson.
- The Day Seattle's Railroad Men Faced Down the Company
After refusing worthless paper scrip, workers at a Seattle railway firm stood their ground and demanded their wages in hard cash.
- The Battle for the Rails: Monopoly vs. The Public Good
A scathing editorial from 1885 outlines the clash between the Union Pacific’s 'business-first' model and the Northern Pacific's alleged strategy of political bribery and town-site speculation.
- The Shadow of the Railroad Lobby
A scathing editorial from 1885 warns of the corrupt influence of railroad corporations over the Washington Territorial Legislature.
- The Myth of the 'Lawless' Frontier
While regional papers fueled rumors of anarchy in Seattle during the anti-Chinese riots of 1885, the local press insisted the city was safer than ever.
- The Swindled Worker of the South Prairie Line
A laborer finds that the Northern Pacific Railroad's subcontracting system is a trap of unpaid wages and unreachable bosses.
- Federal Troops Arrive to Quell Anti-Chinese Agitation in Seattle
United States soldiers are deployed to maintain order amidst rising tensions, as the newspaper argues the law must be upheld against the ongoing intimidation of Chinese residents.
- A Victory Over Land Speculation
A corrupt order favoring railroad interests over public land rights has been rescinded by the General Land Office.
- The Street Contractor’s Gamble
When the city of Tacoma failed to pay up on street improvements, a contractor was left holding the bag—and a pocket full of worthless paper.
- The Battle for the Timber Claim
A settler challenges a Portland newspaper's account of a contested land filing near Mukilteo.
- The Fraser River Gold Rush and the Fear of 'Foreign' Highways
How the 1858 gold fever in British Columbia forced the United States to confront its own regional expansionism and the presence of a 'foreign highway' at its northern border.