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.
Refine1 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1860 | 2 |
| 1861 | 3 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 4 |
| 1876 | 8 |
| 1877 | 15 |
| 1878 | 7 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 9 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 19 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 7 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 10 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 16 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 14 |
| 1892 | 29 |
| 1893 | 22 |
| 1894 | 34 |
| 1895 | 56 |
| 1898 | 3 |
| 1899 | 4 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 15 |
| 1904 | 4 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 2 |
| 1909 | 13 |
| 1910 | 6 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1914 | 4 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1917 | 2 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
19 stories matching proof
- Seattle Fires Back at 'Rough Town' Slander After a Sandbag Robbery
A Vancouver paper reported a traveler was sandbagged in Seattle and sneered at the city's vigilance committee. Seattle's editor says the whole thing is false.
- The Marriage and Landing of Chinese Merchants
A customs decision allows the wives of three Chinese merchants to enter Seattle, citing the legal status of marriage.
- The Lawyer's Bloody Glove
A brutal murder in a Seattle office leads to a dramatic investigation, a stolen inheritance, and a tragic end for a young wife.
- The Push for Statehood
Governor Newell of Washington Territory lobbies in Washington D.C., touting the region’s timber, coal, and agricultural potential as proof of readiness for statehood.
- The Press War Over Official Corruption
A biting editorial battle between the Post-Intelligencer and the Seattle Chronicle over allegations of graft and the conduct of local officials.
- The Great Land Office Fire at Olympia
A catastrophic fire destroys essential territorial land records and plats, forcing homesteaders and pre-emption claimants to restart their filings from scratch.
- Bank Bets Big on Spokane Falls Corner
A livery stable lot at Main and Howard sells for a tidy sum as the National Bank plans a three-story brick block, proof of the city's soaring property market.
- A Sixty-Mile Ditch and a Railroad Over the Mountains: Seattle Money Goes East
Judge Lewis reports from Yakima: new banks, booming towns, and a plan by Seattle investors to reclaim 350,000 acres of desert with a canal — while 1,000 men push the Northern Pacific's Cascade Branch toward Snoqualmie Pass.
- The Tide Land Land-Grab Case
A judge rules against 'land jumping' schemes, protecting property rights against claims on submerged tide lands.
- A Miner's Pockets Full of Gold Nuggets — and a Placer Strike 40 Miles From Town
A Spokane Falls businessman bound for the Cœur d'Alene mines never got there, but came back with nuggets and gold-crusted quartz from a richer claim far nearer home.
- Seattle's School Census Explodes: One Year Beats Five
Clerk W. H. Taylor counts 2,675 children under 21 in District No. 1—a one-year jump of 798 that the paper calls proof of the Queen City's rapid rise.
- Henry Villard’s Hotel Test: Seattle Wins the Coast’s Comfort Race
A railroad magnate’s refusal to overnight in Portland’s bad hotels becomes a Seattle booster’s proof that first-class accommodations were a competitive weapon.
- Seattle’s Post Office Was a Public Nuisance
Letters sat for a day, stamps ran short, and clerks were worked to exhaustion while the postmaster earned about $85 a month. In 1883, Seattle’s mail service was barely functioning.
- A Petition Vanishes and the Fight to Carve Up Spokane County Turns Nasty
As Olympia weighs a bill to split off the new 'Sprague County,' Spokane Falls editors cry foul over a petition with 300 names that disappeared from an office — and defend a rival editor accused of inventing the theft.
- Trail Wars: Spokane Fights for the Road to the Coeur d'Alene Gold
As prospectors rush the new Coeur d'Alene diggings, Spokane boosters battle a Portland paper over which trail is passable — and who gets to outfit the stampede.
- The Homestead Scam That Turned Public Land Into a Speculator’s Prize
An 1883 exposé from Walla Walla describes how doctors, lawyers and merchants faked frontier residency to grab government land—and why the law made perjury easy.
- Spokane Falls Fires Back at the Boom-Sayers
A Walla Walla society paper printed a traveler's claim that Spokane Falls was a real-estate humbug at its zenith. The Falls' editor answered with population figures, water power, and an invitation to tour the new bridge.
- The Store That Measured a Town's Ambition
A visit inside Chas. Sweeny & Co.'s new Union Block emporium — 6,000 square feet, a dozen chandeliers, a basement packed to the rafters — as proof that Spokane Falls had arrived.
- Gold Fever at the Doorstep: The Coeur d'Alene Rush
Word of fabulously rich quartz strikes fifty miles east of Spokane Falls has set off a stampede — veterans of '49 are said to be packing up again, and 50,000 men are expected in the mountains next spring, with Spokane Falls positioning itself as the supply depot.