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 | 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 |
11,738 stories
- The Northern Pacific Railroad Meltdown
Shareholders accuse directors of self-dealing as the rail giant enters receivership amid the Panic of 1893.
- Spokane's New Municipal Building Lost in Fire
The nearly completed city hall, a $100,000 project, was gutted by a blaze that started from a plumber's tarpot.
- The Bakeman Block Consumed in Snohomish
A pre-dawn inferno destroys the downtown commercial core, barely sparing city records from the collapse.
- The High Stakes Battle for Seattle’s Waterfront
A landmark legal fight reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, threatening to upend state ownership of tide lands.
- Indigenous Opposition to the Squire Bill
Jonas Stannup warns against the theft of tribal land by government commissioners, citing the suspicious nature of the 'Squire bill'.
- The Great Northern Paralyzed: A Railway Strike Grips the Northwest
American Railway Union members walk off the job, leaving trains idle and the city's rail infrastructure in limbo as local brotherhoods face a takeover by a newer, militant labor force.
- U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Private Tide Land Claims
A landmark decision solidifies the state's control over waterfront property, ending years of speculation via 'Valentine scrip'.
- The Town That Washed Away
A sudden deluge destroyed nearly the entire county seat of Okanogan County, leaving survivors homeless and struggling.
- The Pullman Strike Paralysis
As the American Railway Union strike sweeps the nation, railroads are frozen, federal troops are mobilizing, and the movement faces a mounting crisis.
- Seattle's Central Market Burns in the City's Largest Fire
A night blaze destroys the Central Market building, kills a lineman, and leaves hundreds of commission merchants and market gardeners ruined.
- Too Late to Surrender: Roslyn's Miners Are Locked Out and Blacklisted
After three months idle, the white miners agreed to the company's brutal 30-percent pay cut — only to learn the Northern Pacific Coal Company had already imported Black strikebreakers from the East and would rehire only the men it chose.
- Thirty-Seven Miners Died Because They Stayed to Fight the Fire
A blaze in the Franklin coal mine sent smoke through the gangways on Aug. 24, 1894, killing 37 men and boys who thought they had time to escape.
- A Town of Widows: Seattle Rallies for the Franklin Mine Dead
The Post-Intelligencer opens a relief fund for the widows and orphans left by the Franklin mine disaster, one of Washington's worst.
- Thirty-Seven Dead at Franklin: Seattle Rallies for the Widows of a Mine Disaster
A day after an explosion killed thirty-seven coal miners in the Franklin pit, the Post-Intelligencer opens a relief fund for the widows and orphans left behind — pleading with readers that the miners' own generosity cannot stretch far enough.
- Nineteen Buildings Gone Before Breakfast
With no fire department and only buckets, the Kitsap County seat of Sidney watched its entire business district burn to the ground in three hours — then promised to rebuild as Seattle had.
- Washington Legislature Rejects Women's Suffrage
A bill to submit the question of equal suffrage to the voters of the state fails to secure the necessary two-thirds majority in the House.
- The Path to the Ship Canal
A new law empowers King County to condemn land for the long-awaited government canal connecting Puget Sound to Lake Washington.
- Crackdown on Human Trafficking in the Pacific Northwest
Federal officials in Portland and Seattle move to deport Japanese women brought into the country for forced labor and prostitution.
- Washington Writes Equal Access to Inns, Barbershops and Streetcars Into Law
In March 1895 the state legislature amended its civil-rights code so that every person in Washington — 'of whatever race, color or nationality' — could claim the full enjoyment of public accommodations, with fines and jail for those who refused.
- The Judge Who Cleared the Way to Sell Puyallup Reservation Land
In April 1895, a federal court refused to block the sale of Puyallup Indian Reservation lands, ending an injunction and setting the stage for dispossession.
- Vigilante Mob Targets Interracial Couple in Walla Walla
A masked group forcibly removed a man and his wife from their home, subjecting them to a brutal public assault.
- The Night a Streetcar Powerhouse Fire Left Half of Seattle Dark
A pre-dawn blaze at Fifth and Pine gutted the Consolidated Street Railway plant, destroyed nearly all its cars and dynamos, crippled three lines, and blacked out everything north of Pike Street.
- The Tragic End of the Ferndale
A British bark shattered by Grays Harbor breakers leaves sixteen dead, but a local woman's bravery saves three survivors from the surf.
- Legal Landmark on Colville Reservation
A federal judge rules that the north half of the Colville Indian Reservation has been restored to the public domain, shifting jurisdiction to Stevens County.
- Disaster Strikes Spokane Falls Again
Mayor R.K. Nichols of North Yakima reaches out as news of a second major fire catastrophe hits Spokane.