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 | 1 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 4 |
| 1860 | 2 |
| 1861 | 6 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1864 | 2 |
| 1872 | 16 |
| 1876 | 80 |
| 1877 | 97 |
| 1878 | 64 |
| 1879 | 9 |
| 1880 | 9 |
| 1882 | 9 |
| 1883 | 73 |
| 1884 | 40 |
| 1885 | 67 |
| 1886 | 26 |
| 1887 | 22 |
| 1888 | 77 |
| 1889 | 104 |
| 1890 | 15 |
| 1891 | 109 |
| 1892 | 144 |
| 1893 | 99 |
| 1894 | 147 |
| 1895 | 211 |
| 1896 | 1 |
| 1897 | 12 |
| 1898 | 32 |
| 1899 | 37 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1902 | 9 |
| 1903 | 74 |
| 1904 | 48 |
| 1905 | 7 |
| 1907 | 2 |
| 1908 | 42 |
| 1909 | 79 |
| 1910 | 24 |
| 1911 | 10 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 12 |
| 1915 | 22 |
| 1916 | 33 |
| 1917 | 12 |
| 1918 | 3 |
| 1922 | 3 |
| 1923 | 13 |
| 1924 | 5 |
| 1925 | 2 |
| 1928 | 2 |
| 1929 | 5 |
211 stories matching best
- Ballard's New School Board Fires Its Best Teacher to Settle a Score
A freshly elected school board in Ballard drops two veteran teachers — including the superintendent — and a director admits it's because Miss Funk belonged to the wrong faction.
- An Everett Miner Sees a Bonanza in the Okanogan
New silver strikes, outside capital and a planned wagon road and railroad have an Everett miner predicting the best season the district has ever seen.
- The Pride of Mount Vernon Went Up in Smoke
A $20,000 shingle mill — the finest on Puget Sound — burned to the ground in a single afternoon, throwing sixty men out of work and leaving a receiver and a Seattle mortgage house to sort through the ashes.
- A Model Young Man, Wanted for Robbery
A California arrest reveals the bandit who robbed a station agent of $7,250 to be Charles Clayton Bump — a Spokane high-school graduate, former deputy city clerk, and 'one of the best known young men of this city.'
- A Packing Company Tries to Buy Point Roberts' Tidelands at $1.25 an Acre
As the Alaska Packing Association angles to lock up a fishing monopoly on cheap public shore, Governor McGraw scrambles for witnesses to prove the tide flats are worth far more than the appraisement.
- A Father Arrives After a Policeman Is Shot
The father of a young clerk accused of shooting a Seattle policeman comes to town, hires counsel, and blames liquor for his son's fall.
- Steamboat Showdown: Mabel vs. Clan McDonald on the Snohomish
A Friday afternoon steamer race from the mouth of the Snohomish River to Priest Point drew a crowd to the Everett wharf, with both captains claiming victory.
- Creditors Circle a Seattle Hotel as an Heir Fights a Forced Sale
The executor of the Harmon estate asks for time to collect a judgment and mortgage the New England Hotel, while an heir accuses creditors of trying to seize valuable property at a sacrifice.
- The War on 'Fly-by-Night' Newspapers
A new legislative bill aims to stop cheap, unread newspapers from monopolizing municipal advertising contracts.
- The Butter Wars: Kittitas Dairymen Fight to Keep Their Good Name
Farmers near Ellensburg built a first-class creamery industry from scratch — and now they're objecting to their prize butter being sold in Seattle markets under the name 'Yakima' or 'Eastern Washington.'
- A Disturbance in Chinatown
A man brandishing a revolver on Washington Street is subdued by police after causing a panic among his neighbors.
- The Gold Camp That Can't Afford to Dig
Speculators and a Montana syndicate circle the Methow country's richest gold ground, while claim owners sit on high prices and no capital.
- Eastern Washington Bets on Beet Sugar
Prominent regional figures file articles of incorporation for a new sugar factory in Waverly, signaling a push for industrial agriculture.
- 1,950 Farmers Tested Whether Washington Could Grow Its Own Sugar
A statewide experiment from Pullman found Washington soil and climate unusually suited to sugar beets—raising hopes that the state could someday manufacture all the sugar it consumed.
- The Deputy Auditor Who Wept for His Young Wife
A Spokane County official admits embezzlement, gets two years—and promises he'll be out in eighteen months.
- 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.
- A Neighborhood Feud Turns Violent
A couple in the Walla Walla addition reports that their windows were smashed by rocks, allegedly by unruly neighborhood boys.
- Wild Goose Bill Meets His End in a Cattle Dispute
The famed Big Bend pioneer and his assailant both die in a shootout at Condon's Ferry, twelve miles north of Wilbur.
- Spokane Rises Against a Senate Machine
Thousands of Spokane voters and organized labor protest John L. Wilson's election to the U.S. Senate, warning Olympia that the people will not pay for a machine's contracts.
- Two Million Bricks and a Hundred Jobs for the Cascade Gateway
The Union Brick Works of Tacoma wins the Northern Pacific's contract to line the Stampede Tunnel in fire-baked brick — a regional infrastructure job that will keep a hundred men working through the summer.
- A City Grain Buyer Says the Farmers Are Being Robbed — and That San Francisco Is Stealing Washington's Wheat
After a sweep through the Inland Empire, Seattle wheat man C. G. Austin reports a 24-million-bushel crop tributary to the Sound selling at a ruinous 25 to 30 cents a bushel, with bankers and merchants holding the grain and growers taking whatever they are offered. Worse, he says, San Francisco merchants blend Washington wheat into 'California wheat' and pocket an extra 8 cents a hundredweight for the reputation.
- Redmond's School Board Told Two Girls to Pay Up—or Stay Out
A residency dispute over free public schooling put a frontier town's school board on the defensive in 1895.
- The Redcoats Have Landed in Seattle
A detachment of Northwest Mounted Police arrives in Seattle, turning heads and fraternizing with U.S. sailors before heading to the Yukon.
- The Railroads' Man in the Senate Race
A Spokane editor charged that John L. Wilson's campaign for U.S. Senate was being bankrolled and worked by the Northern Pacific and Great Northern railroads.
- The National Guard Prepares for Reorganization
Washington's National Guard faces a major shake-up as new state laws mandate a reduction in companies and a focus on target practice and efficiency.