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 |
1,830 stories
- A Grandmother’s Protest Against Modern Medicine
An 88-year-old Seattle resident challenges the medical establishment's use of grease and drugs to treat scarlet fever, advocating for a return to water-based remedies.
- Seattle Fire Commissioner Suspended Amidst Hose Scandal
Mayor Phelps fires T. Masel, alleging incompetence and a fraudulent fire hose contract, sparking a chaotic power struggle at City Hall.
- Tragedy at the Puyallup Indian School
A young student is killed in a firearm accident during a gathering on the reservation.
- Seattle Merchants Push for Direct Steamship Line to the Orient
Local Chinese and Japanese business leaders argue that a direct shipping route to Asia would transform Seattle into the Pacific's premier port.
- The Rainier Avenue Electric Railway Sold for a Song
After years of litigation and financial struggle, the Rainier Avenue line is auctioned off at the courthouse, leaving the identity of the true buyer in question.
- Harnessing the River's Pulse
A new Seattle-based company plans to revolutionize Eastern Washington agriculture using 'current motors' that turn river waves into irrigation power.
- The Safe Combination Swindle
A merchant is arrested for grand larceny after allegedly tricking a sick man's wife into opening their safe to steal a promissory note.
- The Ghost Husband of Tacoma
A woman remarries after believing her husband died in a British train wreck, only to discover he is alive and working as a railway guard.
- Three Times Overboard
Two fishermen survive a harrowing ordeal in the high seas off Cape Flattery.
- A Chinatown Romance Interrupted
When a young woman sought police protection to marry the man of her choice, the Chief of Police stepped in to mediate a dispute between the couple and her guardian.
- A Judge Stops the Fish Traps—for Now
A federal injunction halts a Chicago company from driving piles for salmon traps at Village Point on Lummi Island, while the company searches for a loophole and Native fishing rights remain unresolved.
- A Cannery, a Reef, and the Indians’ Right to Fish
A federal injunction stops the Point Roberts packing company from taking sockeye while the cannery argues the reef was never reserved to the Lummi—and that 130 jobs hang in the balance.
- Six Men, Forged Papers, and the Next Steamer Out
Federal officers in 1895 Seattle ordered six Chinese immigrants deported; four were jailed after entering on bogus certificates, and one tried to bribe a deputy rather than wait for the ship.
- The Pastor, the Pawnshop, and the Forged Minutes
Seattle's Jones Street A.M.E. church removed Rev. Allen Whaley after trustees found missing collection money, a suspicious bank receipt, and minutes he wrote himself.
- Oregon Officers Cross the Columbia to Arrest Washington Fishermen
Seattle's paper accuses an Astoria judge of sending raiders into Washington waters to kidnap citizens for violating Oregon's salmon laws — an armed invasion of state sovereignty, it charges.
- A Constable, a Cattle Thief, and Five Bullets on the Road to Ritzville
Detective L. A. Conlee arrested Alfred Simes for cattle rustling at Sprague and set out for Ritzville with his prisoner. By morning he was dead in the road, shot five times, and Simes was riding north toward British Columbia.
- Two Gas Explosions in the Franklin Mine Kill the Pit Foreman
A rescue attempt turns fatal as a second blast tears through the Franklin coal mine, killing foreman P. B. Robinson and burning nine men.
- The Nativists Break Ranks: A.P.A. Refuses to March With the Hibernians
Tacoma's Fourth of July celebration splits in two as the American Protective Association, objecting to Irish Catholic marchers, stages its own morning parade — and the city council votes to march in both.
- The Potato Patch That Fed 387 People: Seattle's Pingree Plan
In the hard year of 1895, a committee of Seattle citizens handed out seeds and tools to 141 unemployed families — and the city's charity rolls fell. The organizer wanted City Hall to run it.
- Chief Hamilk Refuses the Government's Money
A Wenatchee chief rejects a pro-rata share of the fishery-reservation sale and demands either a new reservation or the whole $20,000 — land that white settlers now farm.
- The Navy Builds a Monster at Port Orchard
In 1895 the government rushed to finish the third-largest dry dock on earth on Puget Sound — a timber-and-granite pit big enough to swallow any warship afloat, and the reason Seattle's harbor would never be the same.
- The Land Office Conspiracy: Bogus Papers for Sale to Chinese
A federal inspector's raid in Spokane exposes a ring allegedly forging Chinese registration certificates — with a land-office registrar among the accused.
- A Thousand Gather to Move Leschi's Bones Home
On the Nisqually reservation, chiefs and their families rebury the war leaders Leschi and Quiemuth — and Leschi's nephew tells the crowd who really started the war.
- The Ladder Gave Way: A Conductor’s Leg and the Railroad’s Defense
Michael J. Fitzmaurice was hauling gravel when a caboose ladder threw him under the train. He lost his leg at the knee and sued Great Northern for $29,500.
- The One-Ton Ring That Bore Three Tons—and Left a Worker Paralyzed
Thomas O’Leary was repairing the City of Kingston when a bad iron ring gave way. He sued for $2,500, bedridden from the chest down, as doctors called him a cripple for life.