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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 |
1,830 stories
- A $100,000 Hole in the Railroad's Land Books
Northern Pacific's land accounts were being audited in Tacoma amid rumors that the late land agent left a six-figure shortage—and a second company's books were under scrutiny.
- The Populists Shouted 'Plutocrats'—and Lost the School Vote
Seattle voters ratified funding for school district No. 1's warrant debt by a three-to-one margin, overcoming noisy opposition at the Rialto.
- Judge Hanford Shields Northern Pacific Wages From the Garnishment Knife
Receivers win authority to issue certificates and pay employees directly, blocking creditors from attaching railroad paychecks.
- A Seattle Murder Hearing, and a Widow's Jailhouse Visit
Paul Page was set to face a justice of the peace for killing Harry Fraser. Then Fraser's wife returned from Boston and tried to see the accused.
- Tacoma’s $1 Million Water Lawsuit Alleges City Hall Collusion
City Attorney Wickersham refiled Tacoma’s suit against the light and water company, alleging officials and company agents conspired to carry the election.
- Fire Commissioner Accused of Drunkenness and Selling His Vote
Mayor Phelps files formal charges against George T. Masel, alleging he sold his vote for chief, kept the chief in fear, and attended a West Seattle fire drunk.
- Sold to the Highest Captain: Seattle’s Sailor Boarding-House Scandal
An editorial demands an investigation into Seattle’s sailor boarding houses, where men were allegedly lured into debt, beaten, and effectively sold to ship captains—and warns union organizers against using the same coercion.
- The City Health Board Closed Two Schools. The School Board Asked Who Gave It the Power.
When scarlet fever fears shut Rainier and South schools, Seattle's school board dug in—not against quarantine, but against what its lawyers called an 'arbitrary' order that skipped the City Council.
- Scarlet Fever, Schools, and a Turf War Between Two Boards
Seattle's health and school boards take their quarrel over scarlet fever quarantine and school closures to the civil courts, while five new cases are reported.
- How Seattle Raised $50,000 for Its Canal — Bootblacks Included
A San Francisco paper marveled that Seattle's Lake Washington canal fund came in small donations from rich and poor alike, a civic-spirit story with a Puget Sound lesson.
- A Sealing Dispute Ends in a Killing at Ozette
John Anderson surrendered after shooting his partner Phillips, a Native man, during what he calls a struggle with two Native women. The case exposes how a settler press recorded Native lives—and deaths.
- The Slaughterhouse Stench South Seattle Blamed for Scarlet Fever
As an epidemic closed the schools, residents near Grant Street petitioned the board of health to remove stockyards and slaughterhouses they said were breeding disease on the tide flats.
- A Seattle-Born Son Could Own Property. His Chinese Father Could Not.
At the port in Tacoma, immigration officials examined 32 Chinese passengers—and the case of one Seattle family laid bare the era's racial limits on citizenship and land ownership.
- Everett's New Commercial Club
Business leaders gather to toast the rapid growth of Snohomish County.
- A Heroic Rescue in Kent
A young boy was saved from being crushed by a heavy engine flywheel when a local woman lifted the massive weight off his chest.
- An Old Engineer's Body in the Harbor, and a Hole No One Could Explain
John Hall had run locomotives for thirty years. Too old for the road, out of work for weeks, he was found floating in Tacoma harbor with a wound the coroner called a bruise.
- A Chief's Remains and a Fourth of July at Leschi's Old Camp
Puyallup, Muckleshoot and valley tribes planned a July gathering to disinter a Nisqually chief and rebury him at the site of Leschi's old camp.
- The Anna M. Pence Burns to the Waterline; Her Cook Jumps and Drowns
A hay-laden steamer caught fire near Lowell Point before dawn. The crew escaped onto a scow, but cook Thomas Sullivan — just days on the job, with a daughter married the week before — went overboard and was lost.
- First Prosecution Under Anti-Chinese Law for Forged Certificate
Wong Ah Linen, arrested for illegal entry, now faces charges of uttering a forged certificate—a test case that could send him to prison and deter others from buying fake papers.
- After the Franklin Mine Explosions, the Company Says the Worst Is Over
Two explosions tore through the Franklin coal mine on a Thursday afternoon, killing pit foreman Park Robinson and injuring nine. The company's manager insisted no more would die — and angrily denied rumors the blast was caused by boxing up a burning seam.
- Philadelphia Money Dredges Tacoma's Tide Flats for Ships and Grain
The Tacoma Land Company floats bonds back East to buy and fill the tide flats, cut a 25-foot channel, and build a grain warehouse and a 500-barrel flour mill on the water.
- A Million Dollars in Doubt: Tacoma's Council Moves to Legalize Its Own Debt
Behind closed doors, council members scheme to validate nearly $1,000,000 in city bonds — and to slip a new charter and a purge of salaried offices onto the same ballot, over the objections of the mayor and department heads.
- When General Booth Packed the Seattle Armory
William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, receives a civic welcome from Seattle’s mayor, clergy, and a capacity Armory crowd—then talks social reform, London’s slums, and a cure for drunkenness.
- The Little Yellow Bank That Outlasted the Great Seattle Fire
Dexter Horton’s one-story stone office at Commercial and Washington survived the 1889 conflagration—and became the foundation of a downtown banking landmark.
- The Captain Who Slipped the Marshal
A crew-hiring dispute lands a ship's master in irons in Port Townsend—until a death and a distracted guard give him a clear path to the sea.