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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 59 |
| 1858 | 23 |
| 1859 | 27 |
| 1860 | 12 |
| 1861 | 86 |
| 1862 | 77 |
| 1863 | 63 |
| 1864 | 31 |
| 1865 | 10 |
| 1871 | 11 |
| 1872 | 140 |
| 1876 | 799 |
| 1877 | 667 |
| 1878 | 526 |
| 1879 | 64 |
| 1880 | 179 |
| 1882 | 130 |
| 1883 | 731 |
| 1884 | 393 |
| 1885 | 837 |
| 1886 | 483 |
| 1887 | 484 |
| 1888 | 440 |
| 1889 | 1,301 |
| 1890 | 266 |
| 1891 | 1,023 |
| 1892 | 2,551 |
| 1893 | 2,661 |
| 1894 | 1,989 |
| 1895 | 376 |
| 1896 | 2 |
| 1897 | 20 |
| 1898 | 76 |
| 1899 | 445 |
| 1900 | 106 |
| 1901 | 1 |
| 1902 | 34 |
| 1903 | 1,202 |
| 1904 | 993 |
| 1905 | 112 |
| 1907 | 17 |
| 1908 | 42 |
| 1909 | 939 |
| 1910 | 163 |
| 1911 | 141 |
| 1912 | 62 |
| 1914 | 239 |
| 1915 | 271 |
| 1916 | 479 |
| 1917 | 289 |
| 1918 | 39 |
| 1919 | 5 |
| 1920 | 1 |
| 1922 | 14 |
| 1923 | 142 |
| 1924 | 126 |
| 1925 | 58 |
130 stories
- A Night of Ruin: Olympia’s Business District Ravaged by Fire
A catastrophic blaze tears through a full city block in Olympia, leaving shopkeepers and residents devastated in its wake.
- The Soldier Who Missed: Why Seattle Is Rooting for a Court-Martialed Hero
Sergeant Mason’s attempt to assassinate the man who killed Garfield has turned him from a mutineer into a martyr, sparking petitions and subscriptions across the Pacific Northwest.
- The Great Dayton Fire: A Block of Ashes and a City’s Near Miss
On the night of April 2, 1882, flames consumed three blocks in downtown Dayton, Washington. While the town paid with its buildings, Seattle’s own fire department narrowly escaped disaster thanks to a single force pump.
- The Mob That Stole Justice in Seattle
A federal judge delivers a blistering rebuke to the Seattle vigilantes who lynched three men in January 1882, declaring that the lawless 'Committee of Safety' is a threat greater than the criminals they executed.
- The Vigilantes' Ghost: Seattle's Dark Secret in Two Maple Trees
A poem published in the *Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer* reveals the city’s foundational myth: that its current 'peaceable' order was bought with the blood of six men hanged by a secret committee when the law failed to act.
- The Real Estate Gold Rush: How Seattle’s Early Boomers Made Millions on Dirt
A Sunday editorial in the Post-Intelligencer lays bare the staggering profits of land speculation in 1883, revealing how a few savvy investors turned hundreds of dollars into fortunes through sheer timing and location.
- The Shadow Over Seattle's Early Growth
A vitriolic 1881 congressional speech from Thomas H. Brents reveals the dark, exclusionary labor politics that defined the foundations of the Pacific Northwest.
- The Sheriff vs. The Railroad
When the Northern Pacific Railroad refused to pay taxes in 1882, the local sheriff didn't just file a complaint—he seized their locomotives.
- The Tacoma Tragedy: A Father's Descent into Madness
Seattle mourns the Walters family, whose recent murder-suicide in Tacoma has shaken the community. The paper reflects on the fragility of sanity when grief and financial ruin collide.
- The Great Labor War: Seattle Council Erupts Over Chinese Workers
In a fiery session in April 1882, Seattle’s City Council nearly came to blows over whether public grading contracts should be reserved exclusively for white laborers.
- The End of Wooden Seattle
A historic property deal marks a turning point as Seattle trades its 'dilapidated, squatty, and dangerous' wooden storefronts for modern, multi-story brick architecture.
- The Tragedy of a Cow and a Fence on Lopez Island
A minor property dispute over wandering livestock escalated into a fatal shooting on Lopez Island this week.
- The City Hall That Wasn't: Seattle's 1882 Fire Engine Obsession
When faced with a choice between a new municipal center and a state-of-the-art steam fire engine, Seattle citizens chose the engine—prioritizing immediate safety over civic expansion.
- The Man Who Wanted Only the Rich to Vote
At the University of Washington’s first commencement, a visiting judge delivered a fiery address arguing that municipal government is like a railroad company: those without property should have no say in its management.
- The Ashes of Affluence: How Seattle’s Burnt District Became a Goldmine
While the city mourns the destruction of its commercial heart, savvy investors are turning charred lots into fortunes, with property values tripling in just years.
- The Orphan’s Plea: A Poem That Moved Seattle to Tears on Decoration Day
As the city honored Civil War dead with solemn processions and speeches, a young girl’s grief over her father’s unmarked grave brought the Grand Marshal to tears.
- The Great Railway Land Scandal
A sweeping federal report reveals that major railroad corporations failed to complete thousands of miles of track despite receiving massive federal land grants.
- The Birth of Seattle's Business Power
Twenty-five of the city's most influential men gathered in 1882 to formalize the Chamber of Commerce, signaling a new era of civic muscle and territorial lobbying.
- Turning Stumps into a City: Seattle's Great Transformation
For a quarter-century, the residents of Seattle have been waging a slow, expensive war against the forest, clearing timber, leveling hills, and filling ravines to make way for a modern city.
- The Railway Heartbeat of Walla Walla
When a railroad bypasses a growing town for a smaller rival, the economic stakes—and the town's survival—hang in the balance.
- The Trial of Ferdinand Falkenbarg
A shooting incident involving the 'Duke of York' and his family sparks outrage in Port Townsend, revealing the complex, fading status of local Indigenous leaders in the frontier era.
- Tragedy on the Tracks at Spirit Wood
A broken axle on a work train leaves a trail of injured men and death on the Northern Pacific line.
- The Fire That Starved a City: How a Burning Lime Ship Stalled Seattle’s Building Boom
When the steamer *Yquina* exploded in flames at Pacific Dock, it didn't just destroy $35,000 worth of cargo—it left 600 mechanics without work and halted the construction of a growing metropolis.
- The 'Curse' of the Chinese: How Seattle's Elite Tried to Buy Their Way Out of Racism
In May 1882, a local editorial argued that property owners should refuse to rent or sell land to Chinese immigrants, claiming they were bad tenants and a financial drain on the city.
- The Lynching of Aldy Neal: A Mob’s Midnight Justice in Rockford
After escaping custody for horse theft and returning to his hometown under the guise of visiting his sister, a young man named Aldy Neal was intercepted by an armed mob north of Rockford and hanged from a tree limb.