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 |
1,115 stories
- Young Railroad Worker Killed Near Relief
A teenager dies attempting to board a moving freight train while on the job.
- Tragic Shooting on the Reservation
A man named Alexander is fatally shot on the reservation near Simcoe, prompting a manhunt.
- Nine Hundred Sheep Lost in Canyon Tragedy
A massive herding disaster in the Yakima territory leaves nearly a thousand sheep dead in a canyon.
- The Shadowy World of 'Railroad Spotters'
A scathing editorial exposes the brutal tactics of private detectives hired by corporations to intimidate workers.
- Roslyn Coal Production Surges
A new Union Pacific contract promises to revitalize the Roslyn coal camps after a sluggish summer.
- The Attorney General and the Taxpayer
The state supreme court rules that citizens cannot challenge state spending, handing a victory to the Attorney General.
- Her Wages Bought the House at Fourth and Plum. The Sheriff’s Deed Was Canceled.
Elizabeth Burkett turned a $700 gift into a hotel and a home. When a Pierce County judgment against her husband threatened it, a Thurston County judge traced the property back to her own labor.
- The $4-an-Acre Shoreline Fight
Olympia’s Tribune rebuts a Spokane paper’s claim that Washington tide lands were being handed away for a pittance—and asks whether Governor Ferry must share the blame.
- A Missing Lawyer, a $350 Deed, and the North Olympia Land Scheme
With Attorney D. P. Ballard absent, Olympia lawyers are tracing suspicious transfers in a platted addition—land already sold to dozens of owners, now used as security for a $4,000 mortgage.
- The Blind Doctor’s Lethal Prescription
Dr. William Campbell, a blind pioneer and one of Olympia’s oldest residents, was charged with manslaughter after a 14-year-old epileptic girl died under his lobelia-and-capsicum treatment. A justice set bail at $2,000 and sent the case to the January superior court term.
- The Fifteen-Year Flood That Cut Puget Sound Apart
A massive storm inundates Puget Sound lowlands, blocks the Northern Pacific, washes out county bridges, and sends Tacoma developers scrambling to control the Puyallup River.
- A Logging Train, a Fallen Tree, and Two Deaths in the Dark
On the Washington Southern's first run near Shelton, a tree bridging a sand cut killed a brakeman and a tender man before the engine could stop. The town mourned two young workers.
- The Governor, the Corporations, and the Session He Wouldn't Call
A leaked cabinet meeting shows Governor Ferry weighing an extra legislative session against the wrath of corporations—and his own officials split over whether the state can wait.
- A Wife's Testimony Was Enough: Supreme Court Reverses Divorce Denial
The Washington Supreme Court ruled that a wife's own account of cruelty and habitual drunkenness could justify a divorce, reversing a lower court that had dismissed Nellie Lee's case.
- Olympia's Volunteer Firefighters Warn the City: We Are One Blaze Away From Disaster
In 1891, the city's three fire companies pushed to reorganize as a single department, citing a 25-year-old hand engine, unfurnished sleeping quarters, and waterfront shacks that could turn a small fire into a catastrophe.
- The $70,000 Rebellion: Olympia Refuses to Pay Its Railroad Bill
Northern Pacific missed its promised deadlines, so the citizens who pledged land and cash to bring the line to town decided the contract was void—and headed to court.
- The Railroad Comes Collecting: Olympia's Subsidy Fight Heads to Court
Northern Pacific's own attorney admits the line into Olympia cost the company $40,000 more than it took in — and announces he will sue every citizen who signed the bond anyway.
- The Tunnel Under Seventh Street: Two Property Owners Take On the Railroad
Captain Hatch seeks $10,000 and J. A. Silsby $5,000, blaming the Northern Pacific's new tunnel for damage to their buildings — while the railroad insists the city, not the company, should pay.
- The Night the Wind Shook Olympia
A gale worse than any since 1882 tore through Olympia, sinking the steamer Colby at Horr's dock, blocking the Northern Pacific, and bringing trees down across the city.
- Sheriff’s Hammer Sets the Price: Hotel Olympia Sold for $48,322.30
With no other bidders, A. H. Chambers and J. F. Gowey bought in the hotel for the Hotel Olympia Company—then the trustees named T. I. McKenny president.
- The Deal That Broke a Senator: Allen's Surrender to King County
Ex-Governor Moore recounts the pressure campaign that turned Senator John B. Allen from his allies and toward the King County faction—an insider's tale of patronage, loyalty and betrayal in Washington's early state politics.
- Indigenous Leaders Demand Removal of a Boarding-School Superintendent
Agent Lynch suspended Rev. Maxwell Phillips from the Wilbur boarding school; the paper called him mentally and morally deficient, and Indigenous leaders called a council to demand an account of his conduct and his removal.
- The Engineer Who Says Olympia Stiffed Him for Sewer Plans
A civil engineer hired to draft Olympia’s sewers says the city accepted his $700 bid, starved him of data, then canceled his contract and paid another man $1,500 for plans he calls a public nuisance.
- Suffragists Meet in Olympia as the Ballot Fight Goes to the Supreme Court
The Washington Equal Suffrage Association gathers at Tacoma Hall to choose national delegates—and to find new lawyers for a case that could decide whether women vote.
- The Wild Rise of Fairhaven
How a 'Dirty Dan' ranch transformed into a bustling, debt-free boomtown in just eighteen months.