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 Coal Town Crawls Back From the Fire That Entombed Forty Miners
Six months after the Coal Creek disaster, a reporter follows Newcastle's superintendent a thousand feet underground into the new mine the company is racing to make bigger than the one it lost.
- Lawmakers Pocketed Mileage for Railroad Passes They Rode Free
A Tacoma editor accuses Washington legislators of charging the state for travel they never paid for — and then shouting for reform.
- A Forged Passage: The Counterfeit Papers That Nearly Smuggled Chinese Immigrants Into Seattle
A ring selling near-perfect imitation government certificates was caught trying to land Chinese immigrants at Tacoma, Seattle and Port Townsend — and the customs collector was not impressed by their craftsmanship.
- A Powerhouse Fire Couldn't Keep Seattle's Streetcars Down for Long
Flames destroyed the Consolidated Street Railway's power house and dozens of cars before dawn, but borrowed dynamos and quick repairs had the lines running again by morning.
- The Salmon-Trap Border War
Oregon fish officers arrested Washington fishermen for violating a Sunday closure—then found themselves indicted for kidnapping.
- A Deputy Shot Dead and a County Up in Arms: The Hunt for the Cattle Rustler Simes
When Deputy Sheriff Conlee was killed by a suspected stock thief, Sprague's stockmen raised a $500 reward, formed posses, and vowed to wipe out the rustlers who had made Rocky Ford their rendezvous.
- Agent Presses Wenatchee Indians to Take Their Allotment Money
A government agent asks every Indian on the Wenatchee fishery reservation to claim a share of the sale proceeds — but Chief Balnulk refuses unless a new reservation is set aside, and most of his band follows him.
- Chief Seattle's Grandnephew to Give Fourth of July Oration in the City Named for His Family
Matthew P. Seattle, a 19-year-old Puyallup student, will speak at Seattle's Independence Day celebration—a rare platform for a young Native orator in 1895.
- A Flag Over the Sick: Seattle's First General Hospital Opens Its Doors
A three-story wooden building on Front Street becomes a nonsectarian refuge for the poor and paying alike — raised by a woman's persistence and a city's donations, and dedicated under the Stars and Stripes.
- Clallam County Elected Her. The Court Said a Woman Couldn’t Serve.
Ella Guptill won the race for county school superintendent, but a Port Angeles judge ruled that Washington law barred women from holding office—setting up an appeal.
- Shanghaied Aboard the Babcock: A Captain's Escape and a Crew Taken at Gunpoint
Capt. Graham slipped his guards at Port Townsend while his wheat ship waited—after a Tacoma crew of 23 was rounded up with beatings, revolvers, and two bewildered Japanese men.
- The Niagara of the Northwest: Wiring Snoqualmie Falls to Seattle
A new company with $2 million in capital proposes to harness a 265-foot waterfall 23 miles east and sell 5,000 horse power of electricity to the city — if the capitalists will foot the bill.
- A Pioneer's Last Entry: J. P. Stewart of Puyallup
A banker, postmaster, probate judge and territorial legislator died suddenly at 61, leaving behind a handwritten memoir of a journey from New York to the Puyallup Valley.
- The Telephone Monopoly to Seattle: Don’t Print This
Seattle’s phone company keeps billing the old rates after the city council orders a cut, and its manager asks the press to keep quiet about it.
- The Trusted Deputy and the Missing $900
Island County's longtime deputy treasurer is found short in his accounts; his old chief quietly makes the county whole.
- The Populist Orator's Family Sues Tacoma Over a Bruising Arrest
James H. Ross and his wife seek $15,080, alleging that police locked up a screaming child and treated the family indecently after a theft charge.
- King County's Relief Roll: 1,680 People and $4 Apiece
Behind the county's monthly $1,500 poor fund was a line of widows, abandoned wives and barefoot children—many turned away.
- The Four-Year-Old at the Heart of a Custody War
After a day of dueling accusations, Judge Humes rules that little Chester Stewart stays with his mother — and has a word for anyone who would take a child over bad language.
- The Canal That Would Raise Salmon Bay—and Fill Its Marshes
Government engineers promise Seattle property owners that the Lake Washington ship canal will not strand them: excavated earth will fill submerged land and a public street will run alongside the right-of-way.
- Two Weeks In, Still No Senator: Olympia's Republicans Tire of the Ankeny Fight
The legislature has been in session a fortnight and Washington still has no United States senator. A colleague's insulting letter blows up, the Wilson and Allen camps fold, and a caucus is called to force the thing to an end.
- Starvation Wages and a Broken Light Contract: Seattle's Lower House Erupts
Delegates demand answers on Pike Street paving, city jobs parceled out by foremen, Kilbourne Avenue subcontracting, and the gas-electric company's failure to light the city.
- Ballard's City Attorney Skipped Court—and the City Paid a Debt Twice
A $1,046 judgment forced Ballard to pay the same debt twice, prompting the mayor to demand an investigation into City Attorney Edmund Peters' neglect.
- The Renton Coal Mine Reopens
A new co-operative venture aims to reopen the long-shuttered Renton coal mine, promising jobs and coal at fair prices for the community.
- Harnessing the Snoqualmie Falls
A new company of Seattle capitalists plans to transmit electrical power from Snoqualmie Falls, aiming to rival the scale of Niagara and spark a regional economic boom.
- The Proposed 'Professor of Maternity'
A state legislator introduces a bill to create a 'Chair of Maternity' at the University of Washington, aiming to instruct female students in the 'duties of motherhood.'