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 |
2,116 stories
- The Streetcar Men Asked Seattle to Set Their Wages. The City's Lawyer Said No.
A union petition to write conductor and motorman pay into the street railway franchise ran into the corporation counsel's constitutional wall — so the council sent it back to committee to try again as an ordinance.
- A Clawhammer, a Tin Whistle, and a Judge Fight: Tacoma’s Wild 1894 Convention
Pierce County Republicans met in Tacoma to endorse Judge Pritchard for the Supreme Court. By 2 a.m. they had doused the lights, blown a tin whistle, and adjourned without deciding.
- A Widow Paid Her Dues. The Society Had $30 Left.
A Seattle-based benefit order collapsed after a member died in North Yakima, leaving his widow to chase $1,000 through a vanished organizer and an empty treasury.
- A Receivership Tells Issaquah's Miners There Is No Money for the Old Wages
Seattle Coal and Iron's receiver answers his own employees in superior court: the mine is insolvent, the market is gone, and the pay cut stays.
- The Anti-Ring Republicans Meet—and One Calls Them 'Suckers'
A Fifth Ward reform club gathers at the Masonic Temple to denounce the city machine, but a member warns the 'ring' has a big sack and is well organized.
- The Day Tacoma Painted Itself Blue, White and Yellow
A mile-long parade, camels, a captive elk and a senator's electric button opened the Interstate Fair in a burst of Northwest boosterism.
- The Watch Works in the Tin Box
A Tacoma police court tries to untangle a stolen gold watch, a suspicious express package, and a blackmailing letter.
- The Contract Wife Who Would Not Be Shaken Off
Florence Bucklin Byers followed a wealthy Chilean consul to California, then returned to Port Townsend vowing to enforce their handwritten marriage contract—or sue him for divorce.
- Seattle Calls a Patent Bluff and Wins
A federal judge rules that John Klein's insulation-pin patent was no invention at all—saving Seattle a payout that Portland and San Francisco had already made.
- The Night Seattle’s Mayor Nearly Fired His Police Board
An executive-session showdown over Chief Rogers ended with Mayor Phelps handing a commissioner his own removal papers — then taking them back.
- Snohomish to Everett: ‘We’ll Teach You a Lesson in County Politics’
A cannon-call mass meeting at the Cathcart Opera House rallies Snohomish against the county-seat removal campaign, with cheers loud enough to reach Everett.
- The Dolly Varden Ticket: Seattle's 1894 Scheme to Stitch Together a Political Frankenstein
Disgruntled Republicans and Democrats met in downtown Seattle to plan a hybrid 'taxpayers' ticket aimed at beating the regular Republican slate—if they could keep the seams from splitting.
- The Mayor Fired Him; He Says the Charter Says Otherwise
Ex-Police Commissioner E. C. Cheasty asks a judge to overturn Mayor Phelps’s removal, arguing City Hall ignored the charter and punished him for a political vote.
- The Circular of Rumors That Landed a Minister in Court
A four-hour Seattle libel hearing ends with Rev. M. H. Nichols bound over after he admits his charges against Rev. Dr. T. E. Ford were built on hearsay.
- The 'Gold Brick' King: How a Master Con Man Sold Copper to a Banker
A too-trusting Aberdeen banker, a man disguised as an Indian, and a forged letter from the San Francisco mint—the Seattle trial of the notorious swindler 'Rebel George' Knowlton.
- The Midnight Watch Transfer That Split a Seattle Courtroom
A judge dissolved an injunction against J.K. Basye & Co. but kept a receiver in place after a night-time removal of goods from Simon Rumpf's watch store.
- A Crepe-Draped Cleveland and the Custom-House Deal
Port Townsend Democrats gather amid patronage bargains, a sacrificed ally, and a prank that put the president's portrait in mourning.
- From Vera Cruz to Seattle: The Improbable Life of Levi F. Compton
A Mexican War veteran, gold rusher, bridge builder and Odd Fellows patriarch died at his Spring Street home, leaving a civic record that stretched from Virginia slavery to a Chehalis reform school.
- A Moldy Box at the Wharf: How Customs Agents Caught a Father-Son Smuggling Team
A $1,500 shipment of fine woolens from Canada was tracked from Whatcom to Seattle, leading to the arrest of R. Simons and his son J. Simons.
- The Chehalis County Tax Revolt
Hard-hit by the post-boom recession, property owners organize to challenge local taxes and municipal waste.
- Railroad Tycoon Predicts Pacific Coast Steel Boom
James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railroad, outlines the regional economic outlook and argues that the West's raw materials will soon fuel a local industrial revolution.
- Industrial Horror at the Shingle Mill
A worker suffers a horrific injury after a bolt falls from an elevator, pinning him against the saw.
- The Women’s Suffrage Push in Chehalis County
Meeting in Cosmopolis, the local W.C.T.U. formalizes a campaign to demand the vote for Washington women and calls for kindergarten integration into public schools.
- A Municipal Technicality Leaves Aberdeen Officials Jobless
A legal opinion concerning dual office-holding triggers a sudden, awkward vacancy for city staff.
- The Populist Party's Contentious Bid for Power
A critical look at the new labor-focused political ticket emerging in Grays Harbor, amidst fears of social chaos and questions of candidate competency.