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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 |
484 stories
- The High Cost of Shipping Produce to the Sound
Yakima farmers complain that exorbitant transport rates are leaving them with nothing to show for their labor.
- The Deadly Feud of Talbot Road
A long-standing dispute between two neighbors in a small Washington community escalates into a fatal ambush at daybreak.
- 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 Price of a Petty Grudge
A Seattle legal dispute drags on for four years over ten dollars, costing hundreds in court fees while a jury of citizens yawns through the spectacle.
- The Unpaid Streets of Tacoma
A bitter legal battle reveals the messy, unpaved reality of infrastructure development in late 19th-century Tacoma, pitting laborers against local developers.
- The Oregon Railway & Navigation Company’s Seattle Bottleneck
Caught between a local captain’s limited authority and a slow-moving corporate bureaucracy in New York, the steamboat company faces a potential collapse of its Puget Sound trade.
- The Unseen Labor of a Household
A spicy letter from a 'Little Worker' challenges a farm editor’s complaints about the difficulty of finding domestic help.
- The Great Seattle Land Rush of 1887
When cheap rail tickets from the Canadian Pacific triggered a real estate stampede into Seattle.
- Tragedy at the Farm: A Young Life Lost to Gunfire
A tragic accident near Tacoma claims the life of a young man, sparking a solemn reminder of firearm safety in the rural landscape of the 1880s.
- The Mother’s Search and the Tacoma Variety Stage
A mother’s desperate attempt to rescue her daughter from a life in the variety theaters leads to a public confrontation in 1887 Seattle.
- The Steamship Anderson Limps Home
A Puget Sound workhorse suffers a catastrophic machinery failure at the mouth of the Sound, sparking a scramble for repairs and questions about the vessel's future.
- The Jailhouse Recognition: A Killer Unmasked in Seattle
While awaiting his own release, a prisoner in the Seattle city jail spots a familiar face in the next cell and realizes he is sharing space with a notorious fugitive wanted for murder.
- The Hunter and the Runaway
A determined civilian investigator tracks a suspect across the West, certain he’s bagged a notorious fugitive, while the target sits in a Seattle jail cell for the minor crime of selling liquor to Indians.
- The Proposal to Import 'Young Scotch Girls' to Seattle
A territorial official proposes a controversial plan to remedy the labor shortage by bringing hundreds of young women from Scotland to work in local households.
- The Unruly Guest at Harry Thompson's
A violent tavern dispute in 1887 Seattle turns into a police matter when the assailant returns to town, knife in hand.
- The Ghostly Discovery at Lake Union
A routine walk in the woods turns into a macabre mystery when a Seattle resident stumbles upon a shallow, suspicious grave.
- The Struggle for Space: Seattle’s Overcrowded Schools in 1887
An 1887 inspection of Seattle's public schools reveals a city straining against its rapid growth, featuring dilapidated buildings, overcrowding, and a desperate search for adequate space for its pupils.
- The Forgotten Dry Dock: Seattle's Missed Opportunity
In 1887, a committee’s failure to finalize a dry dock project drove local jobs away, forcing the city to reckon with the consequences of industrial stagnation.
- The Doctor's Carriage Scare
A Seattle school teacher's rigid adherence to hygiene protocols leads to a misunderstanding in the Nineteenth Ward.
- The Fight for the Ballot at the Tacoma Courthouse
In 1887, two suffragists took to the streets to demand the restoration of voting rights for women in Washington Territory.
- The Perilous Trip of the Rowboat Runaways
Two young women, undeterred by the dark waters of Tacoma's bay, defied the night to row across the sound, sparking a local search and a breathless newspaper account.
- The Seattle Laundry Feud of 1887
A violent, years-long business rivalry between two rival laundry operators erupts in court, revealing the precarity of immigrant life and business in early Seattle.
- The Jailbreak at Chehalis
Three prisoners on the run from the Chehalis jail are recaptured by a diligent Sheriff in Seattle, ending their brief taste of liberty.
- The Unseen Cost of a Glass of Milk
A 1887 inspection of Seattle's dairy conditions reveals the grim reality of animal welfare and public health, proving that the struggle for food quality is as old as the city itself.
- The Price of Admission: A 1887 Seattle Real Estate Crisis
When the city's housing shortage became so acute that a book dealer had to buy an entire printing business just to secure a roof over his head.