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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 |
1,115 stories
- Surveyors Find a Rich Country Behind a Brutal Trail
A government surveying party returns from Chehalis County with tales of an impassable road, a hotel meal that required a salmon spear, and soil and timber worth the misery.
- The 'Daisy' Who Insured Tacoma
A Tacoma insurance man mortgaged Southeast Tacoma lots at $90,000, then told assessors the same ground was worth a fraction of that.
- The Midnight Murder Cry That Was Only a Baby
Union Street neighbors grabbed clubs and prepared to storm a house after screams of murder—only to learn the household had just grown by one.
- A Court-Martial Ends in Smoke and a Handshake
A state militia tribunal in Olympia was suddenly closed by the governor, its findings kept secret. Then the colonel apologized, the officers shook hands, and the state got a $1,000 bill.
- A Storm Cuts the Northern Pacific and Strands the Capital
A weekend storm washes out the Northern Pacific, cuts telegraph lines, and leaves travelers—and would-be supreme court attorneys—stuck between Tacoma, Olympia and Montesano.
- City Attorney Blocks Olympia’s Columbia Street Assessment
A legal opinion found that street grading and planking done without contracts could not be charged to abutting owners beyond $500—putting more than $2,000 in assessments in doubt.
- The Valley Nobody Surveyed: Pioneers Wait for a Government Pen
A settlers' advocate returns from the surveyor-general with promises and a rapturous account of a hidden valley where poor young farmers are hewing homes out of the forest without so much as a title to their land.
- The Brick Blocks That Told Olympia It Had Arrived
In 1891, three pressed-brick buildings rose along Olympia’s business streets—and boosters read them as proof the wooden capital was becoming a real city.
- The Night Fourth Street Lit Up: Ellis's Furniture Warehouse Burns
A fire breaks out above a frame warehouse after ten o'clock, the east side of the city glows, and firemen haul chairs and mattresses into the street until the heat drives them back.
- A $25,000 View, a Deed, and a Debt: The Land Fight South of Olympia
Ben Turner says George A. Barnes took an 80-acre donation-claim tract as mortgage security—then refused to deed it back after Turner tendered the money.
- The Railroad Beats the Steamboat on Puget Sound
Olympia’s favorite steamer Bailey Gatzert makes its last run as Northern Pacific trains drain the passenger trade.
- The Quarter-a-Day Skim: County Surveyor Accused of Shorting Road Crews
In 1891 Olympia, affidavits alleged the surveyor billed taxpayers $2.50 a day for chainmen but paid the crews $2.25—so Thurston County commissioners sent the matter to the county attorney.
- Olympia’s Streetcar Franchise Fight Heads for the Courthouse
A requested extension for the Westside railway sparks a council move to forfeit the Savage Main Street franchise, with a two-year court threat hanging over the city.
- Murphy Forever: A Rival Editor Skewers Olympia's Perpetual Councilman
Days before the First Ward election, the Tribune turns its sarcasm on Councilman John Miller Murphy — newspaper editor, theater proprietor, professed temperance man, and, by this account, a fixture in the council chamber and at the bar he once voted to close.
- The Mountain Tacoma Tried to Take
A railroad president's marketing decree put 'Tacoma' on maps of the great peak across the East — while Seattle refused to surrender the name of a British admiral who never saw it.
- Olympia Collegiate Institute Is Busting at the Seams
With more than 175 students enrolled, a new lecture series underway, and a library outgrowing its shelves, the C.C.I. is already talking about a bigger building.
- Olympia Votes Out the Old Council — and Inherits a Financial Mess
A day after the city election, the Tribune calls on the lame-duck mayor and council to resign so the city can untangle a debt larger than the law allows — and demands streetcars, street work and honest handling of the public's money.
- Free Mail Delivery Is Coming to Olympia—If the City Numbers Its Houses
Postmaster V. A. Milroy says carriers, boxes and three new routes will be ready by New Year’s Day, but two-thirds of the city’s houses still lack numbers and property owners must pay to add them.
- A Prune Colony for Mason County
Frank Williamson sells 1,200 acres on Big Skookum Bay for $20,000, promising five-acre orchard tracts on easy payments.
- There's "Dough" in Every Street Contract: A Preacher Takes On City Hall
Rev. Napoleon Hoagland reads the nation's municipal record aloud — reeking streets, a million-dollar franchise given away, councilmen who elsewhere would count themselves lucky to stay out of prison — and asks why democratic America breeds more thieves than the Tsar's Europe.
- Loose Handbills Nearly Cause a Runaway—And a Housewife Demands Action
A carelessly scattered pile of posters sends a horse bolting through Olympia, prompting a letter to the editor calling for a city ordinance to keep the streets clean.
- The Only Door Open to Olympia's Hungry
On Christmas Eve 1891, the Tribune reminded readers that St. Peter's Hospital was the city's only refuge for hungry men—and asked for donations of food and clothing.
- The State Can't Find Its Land — and Timber Companies Got There First
A state land cruiser reports that Washington's 670,000-acre capitol grant is mostly poor land already claimed by squatters working for big lumber outfits.
- Forty Thousand Bricks Rejected at the New Courthouse
Superintendent Rogers refused to let nearly 40,000 soft bricks from a Westside yard go into Olympia's new courthouse, warning contractors that the specifications would be enforced.
- Olympia’s ‘Miserable’ Street Railway Is Holding the City Back
An 1891 editorial demands that the city cancel the Olympia Street Railway’s charter and clear Main and Fourth streets for electric cars, arguing the two rickety horse cars are a disgrace and a drag on growth.