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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 2 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 6 |
| 1876 | 52 |
| 1877 | 34 |
| 1878 | 30 |
| 1879 | 4 |
| 1880 | 10 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 41 |
| 1884 | 34 |
| 1885 | 41 |
| 1886 | 7 |
| 1887 | 35 |
| 1888 | 62 |
| 1889 | 101 |
| 1890 | 16 |
| 1891 | 67 |
| 1892 | 119 |
| 1893 | 95 |
| 1894 | 72 |
| 1895 | 130 |
| 1897 | 7 |
| 1898 | 15 |
| 1899 | 31 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1902 | 2 |
| 1903 | 67 |
| 1904 | 21 |
| 1905 | 5 |
| 1907 | 3 |
| 1908 | 30 |
| 1909 | 65 |
| 1910 | 23 |
| 1911 | 2 |
| 1912 | 2 |
| 1914 | 18 |
| 1915 | 20 |
| 1916 | 43 |
| 1917 | 6 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 21 |
| 1924 | 10 |
| 1925 | 11 |
| 1928 | 1 |
| 1929 | 1 |
130 stories matching develop
- The Mining Promoter Who Told Would-Be Miners to Stay Home
Col. W. Thomas Hart has bonded claims and cut a trail in the new Slate Creek district, but he begs the press not to inflate the strike: there is no work, no mill, and too much snow for prospecting.
- 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.
- Seattle Raises Half a Million for Its Canal—and the State Cheers
Citizens subscribed $511,000 toward the Lake Washington canal enterprise, a private subsidy that boosters promised would unlock millions in commercial development.
- A Promised Fortune in Kittitas Mines Turns to Legal War
John R. Wolcott promised to develop eight mining claims on Negro Creek, but when the ore proved worthless, the owners tried to cancel his contract—and he sued to keep his third interest.
- The Push for a Seattle-Tacoma Inter-Urban Boulevard
Business leaders rally behind a proposed wagon road to connect the two cities, hoping to capture rural trade and boost regional development.
- A $2 Million Power Plant Would Harness White River for Tacoma and Seattle
Promoters behind a New Jersey-chartered company plan a Lake Tapps reservoir and a Stuck Valley generator, aiming to power an interurban railroad and industry in Tacoma and Seattle.
- The Wife-Slasher Who Tried to Play Insane—and the Seattle Jury That Didn’t Buy It
McGee feigned madness so badly that the jury convicted him on the first ballot. A Steilacoom asylum doctor explained why three months of observation found no insanity—only a terrified wife.
- The Millionaire, the Colonel, and the $100,000 Snowbank
Montana copper king Marcus Daly poured a fortune into a Cascade mountain mining camp — then sent an auditor up to see what the colonel had been doing with it.
- The Library Was Not a Luxury
An 1895 editorial made the case that a free public library was civic infrastructure, not charity—and that starving it of funds betrayed the city's future.
- The Diamond Ring Dispute
A local woman and her acquaintance face off in court over a $1,000 diamond ring, debating whether it was a gift or a loan.
- A County Assessor, a Restaurant Keeper’s Wife, and a $10,000 Scandal
Mount Vernon’s county assessor is accused of stealing the affections of a restaurant keeper’s wife—who has reportedly fled to Seattle.
- The Nickel Strike That Wasn’t a Boom—Yet
A Kittitas County nickel discovery promised one of the largest deposits in the country, but capital and roads had to be convinced before the wealth could move.
- A Sloop Built on Sundays, Lost at Deception Pass
Captain Robert Jack and William Foley are presumed drowned after the Lily and Maud capsizes in Deception Pass, not long after the captain's Sunday-built sloop sank on launch day.
- The Reform School With No Prison Walls
At the Washington State Reform School near Chehalis, boys and girls were trusted, taught trades, and paroled into new lives—a radical model for juvenile justice.
- The Woman in Black and the Newborn Left for Dead
A Seattle coroner concludes that an infant found at a street corner was killed at birth by a blow to the skull. Detectives have no suspect, only a frustrated clue about a woman in black.
- The Union Treasurer Who Caught a Ship
Thomas Pentory left a letter admitting he was short in the books, then sailed for Britain. Tacoma wired Port Townsend to take him off the vessel.
- The Rancher Vanished. Then His House Burned.
Island County investigators suspect foul play after John G. Phinney disappeared and his home went up in flames, focusing on a newly hired ranch hand who was the last to claim he saw him leave.
- The French Spy Storms the Seattle Stage
A grand military drama brings the fall of Algiers to the Seattle Theater, complete with smoke, grenades, and a Turkish bell dance.
- One Man Now Holds Both Railroads That Built Seattle and Tacoma
James J. Hill's takeover of the Northern Pacific ends rate competition between the Northwest's two transcontinental lines—and leaves the region wondering what an 'emperor among railroad kings' will do next.
- Twenty a Day: The Gold Rush Pouring Into the Methow
A Spokane traveler back from the Slate Creek mines describes a road lined with families, prospectors, and warnings that there are already ten men for every job.
- The Borrowed Buggy and the Secret Flight to Sumner
A woman hires a horse and buggy for a short ride, but instead takes a man and a child on a 30-mile journey to Sumner, where they are arrested as supposed horse thieves.
- Everett's New Commercial Club
Business leaders gather to toast the rapid growth of Snohomish County.
- A Newborn Found in a Basket Under a Tacoma Cemetery Bridge
A coroner's grim morning in 1895: an abandoned infant discovered in Oakland Cemetery, wrapped in a lady's undervest and calico, with no clue to its mother.
- The Veto That Put Outside Capital Ahead of Debt Relief
Governor McGraw kills a deficiency-judgment bill, warning it would drive investors away and leave desperate borrowers to “greedy money-seekers.”
- Fleeing the Blizzard: Farmers Look to Puget Sound
Colonies of farmers from North Dakota, Minnesota and Michigan—some worth up to $50,000—are selling out and heading west to Whatcom, Skagit and Whidbey Island, drawn by railroad inducements and a milder climate.