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1. The School Law That Existed Only in the Enrolled Bill

   A $3,700 school-fund dispute in Spokane exposed a legislative clerk's error—and left Washington's superintendent asking whether the enrolled bill or the journals were law.

   Oct 20, 1891The Olympia TribuneOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall

2. A State Medical Examiner Accused of Faking a Fracture to Bilk the County

   M. D. Minkler of Centralia faces charges of obtaining money under false pretenses after county commissioners say his claimed treatment for a pauper patient was a fabrication.

   Oct 23, 1891The Olympia TribuneCentralia, Lewis CountyCity Hall · Snake Oil

3. The Trolley That Had to Buy a Gulch

   A streetcar line blocked by a ravine gets its way to Harrison Avenue — for the price of a $1,630 strip of C. M. Moore's block 48.

   Oct 23, 1891The Olympia TribuneOlympia, Thurston CountyFollow the Money · Boom & Bust

4. Twenty-Four Officers Wanted the Adjutant General Gone

   A petition against Adjutant General O’Brien reached the governor, who refused to demand a resignation—prompting a theatrical outburst from Tacoma’s “Little Corporal.”

   Oct 26, 1891The Olympia TribuneOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall · Scandal

5. She Owned Her Own Bedding: A Hoquiam Wife's Public Reckoning

   When W. E. Ulmer filed notice that he would no longer pay his wife's bills, Ida V. Ulmer went straight to the paper — to point out that he had never paid them in the first place.

   Nov 6, 1891The Olympia TribuneHoquiam, Grays Harbor CountyScandal

6. A Taxpayer Tries to Stop the City From Writing Checks It Can’t Cover

   Francis Hoffman and the Olympia Hardware Company ask a judge to block further city warrants, arguing Olympia has blown past its debt limit.

   Nov 7, 1891The Olympia TribuneOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall

7. The Sunday Search of Olympia's Chinese Gardens

   A newly sworn customs inspector found opium hidden among vegetables and buried in boxes, arrested one man, and left the city's Chinese market gardens under guard.

   Nov 23, 1891The Olympia TribuneOlympia, Thurston CountyExclusion & Resistance · Nightlife

8. The Respectable Olympia Doctor Who May Have Been a Missing Iowa Treasurer

   After Dr. S. C. Smith died in Olympia, an old army comrade wrote to ask whether the beloved physician was really Dr. S. C. Thompson, who vanished from Leon, Iowa, in 1872.

   Nov 25, 1891The Olympia TribuneOlympia, Thurston CountyTrue Crime · Scandal

9. Olympia's 1891 City Election: Ward Caucuses, Backroom Maneuvers, and a Fight Over Fair Play

   As the Third Ward nominates a councilman and candidates jockey for mayor and treasurer, a taxpayer protests a plan for a mass convention that would sideline ward delegates.

   Nov 30, 1891The Olympia TribuneOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall

10. Olympia Puts Its Bond Mess on Ice—and the Mayor Objects

    A council committee recommends leaving the 1891 bond tangle to the next administration; the mayor warns the city is “in a mud hole” and wants the courts to force a decision.

    Dec 2, 1891The Olympia TribuneOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall

11. The Seattle Lawyer Who Argued Both Sides of the Tide-Land Question

    Colonel J. C. Haines told one court that Washington could grant title to the Dr. Maynard tract and another that the United States cannot grant title to tide lands — leaving 360 acres of Seattle's waterfront frozen until the supreme court settles it.

    Dec 10, 1891The Olympia TribuneSeattle, King CountyFollow the Money

12. The Cross-Threaded Nozzle That Cost Ellensburg the Race

    In an 1889 hose-cart contest, North Yakima’s fire team beat Ellensburg—but the day’s real drama was a stuck coupling and a heartbroken nozzleman.

    Jul 16, 1891The Yakima HeraldYakima, Yakima CountyStrange But True

13. At 77, a Yakima Pioneer Slips Away to Wed

    Joseph Bartholet Sr., one of Yakima’s wealthiest and most respected old settlers, stuns his family by marrying Mrs. Mary Healey in Seattle without a word of warning.

    Oct 1, 1891The Yakima HeraldSeattle, King CountyScandal

14. A Sunday-Night Letter Asks Why Olympia Lets Main Street Saloons Run Loud

    A reader complains of drinking, dancing and noise in the saloons below Third and demands that police keep young boys out of the crowds.

    Dec 15, 1891The Olympia TribuneOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall · Nightlife

15. A Road Along the Water — and a Pitch to Merge Olympia and Tumwater

    A Tumwater booster argues a beach road is the only sensible link between the two towns, and floats consolidating them into one city to build it.

    Dec 22, 1891The Olympia TribuneOlympia, Thurston CountyBoom & Bust

16. The Parson, the Woodpile, and the Five-Dollar Hat

    A skeptical rancher bets the new minister he can't buck two giant butts of firewood before dark. He shouldn't have doubted a frontier preacher.

    Mar 6, 1891The IslanderFriday Harbor, San Juan CountyStrange But True

17. A Friday Harbor Citizen Tells a Rival Editor to Pack His Bags and Go

    When the San Juan Graphic blamed saloons for driving settlers to Orcas Island, a letter-writer fired back: if the moral air is so pure over there, why not start your paper there—we'll see you off with a band.

    Mar 6, 1891The IslanderFriday Harbor, San Juan CountyCity Hall · Nightlife

18. Utsalady Bay's Dream of a Great City

    An 1890 advertisement pitches the deep-water harbor of Utsalady as the inevitable next metropolis of the Pacific Northwest.

    Jan 1, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerUtsalady, Camano, Island CountyBoom & Bust

19. The Real Estate Scramble for Lake Washington

    A newly opened electric rail line promises to turn the shores of Lake Washington into the next suburban real estate gold rush.

    Jan 3, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerRainier Avenue, Seattle, King CountyBoom & Bust

20. An 1891 Investor's Case for Utsalady

    In 1891, real estate promoters pitched Utsalady as the inevitable future metropolis of the Puget Sound, promising that its deep-water harbor and timber wealth would eclipse every other city in the region.

    Jan 4, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerUtsalady, Camano Island, Island CountyBoom & Bust

21. The Boomtown That Never Was: The Dreams of Utsalady

    In 1891, real estate speculators pitched the small harbor town of Utsalady as a future metropolis destined to surpass Seattle.

    Jan 6, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerCamano, Island CountyBoom & Bust

22. The Streetcar Boom of 1891

    A new electric line to Lake Washington promises to turn suburban wilderness into a goldmine, triggering a scramble for land.

    Jan 7, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerRainier Avenue, Seattle, King CountyBoom & Bust

23. The New Year’s Day Land Rush: Rainier Avenue Electric Line Opens

    On January 1, 1891, the opening of the new Rainier Avenue Electric line triggered a speculative scramble for suburban land around Lake Washington.

    Jan 8, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerRainier Avenue, Seattle, King CountyBoom & Bust

24. The Electric Trolley Race to Lake Washington

    As a new electric streetcar line connects Seattle to the lakefront, land speculators are scrambling to capitalize on the city's suburban expansion.

    Jan 9, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerRainier Avenue, Seattle, King CountyBoom & Bust

25. The Trolley Race: Seattle's 1891 Suburban Boom

    A new electric rail line ignites a speculative frenzy for lakeside land as Seattleites dream of suburban expansion.

    Jan 10, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerRainier Avenue, Seattle, King CountyBoom & Bust

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