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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 31 |
| 1877 | 10 |
41 stories
- Two Hundred Lives, One Closed Door: The Pacific Inquiry
Witnesses swore in Port Townsend that the steamer Pacific was rotten when she sailed. Now the very inspectors who certified her seaworthy are investigating her loss — in secret.
- Fatal Wharfside Shooting Leaves Town in Uproar
A long-standing feud ends in murder on Union Wharf, with the suspect fleeing by boat as the community demands accountability from local law enforcement.
- The Hatch Left Open: How a Passenger's Injury Put a Steamship Under Arrest
Mary Phelps was permanently maimed when a crew removed a hatch aboard the City of Panama. When the vessel reached Port Townsend, U.S. Marshal Hopkins seized it—prompting citizens to raise a $100,000 bond.
- A Wood Wagon Sank in the Mud Outside Good Templars' Hall
A Port Townsend editor told the new town trustees to fix existing roads before launching grand new ones—after neighbors had to unload Peter Smith's wagon to free it.
- The Smallpox Ship at the Wharf
In September 1876, Port Townsend citizens met at the Old Court House to demand accountability after the steamer Dakota brought smallpox into their port.
- The Coin Toss That Named Portland — and the Man Who Founded Port Townsend
A.M. Pettygrove comes back to the town he laid out in 1851, and the Argus retells how a flipped coin gave Portland its name, how a claim was sold for $5,000 in cash and leather, and how a Puget Sound bluff became a city.
- Robert Ingersoll’s Warning to the Washington Clerk
The famous orator and freethinker warns young men against the soul-crushing nature of government bureaucracy in Washington D.C.
- A Convent Escape and a Steamer Waiting: The Elopement That Ended in Port Townsend
When her parents opposed the match on religious grounds, Mary Emma Kealy was cloistered in a convent. She escaped in a carriage, reached a waiting steamer, and married Ward Debeck in Port Townsend.
- Three Days Adrift: A Ferryman's Rescue Off Point Wilson
A German sailor in an open skiff, barely able to speak or move, is pulled from the water by Mr. Benson and brought to Port Townsend.
- The Night Port Townsend Refused a Boatload of Strikebreakers
Twenty-eight destitute men from a Nanaimo miners' strike were shipped to Port Townsend aboard the North Pacific. Sheriff Miller met them at the wharf and said they could not land.
- A Crew Called the Iona Unseaworthy. The Cutter Called It Mutiny.
Before the Italian bark Iona could leave Port Townsend, its sailors refused to sail. A survey said the ship was sound; a revenue cutter's officer put the men in irons and warned them of a mutiny trial.
- The Body in the Bay: Peter Samuelson's Mysterious Death
After nearly two weeks missing, a Port Townsend man was found dead on the shore, his boat capsized and his pockets still heavy with gold. A coroner's jury ruled accidental drowning.
- The Pioneer Who Built Port Townsend's First Wharf
Captain Enoch S. Fowler, a Maine-born mariner turned merchant and officeholder, dies at 63, leaving a town shaped by his ships, wharves, and stone buildings.
- Governor Ferry Calls for a Special Election
Following a tie vote in the November 1876 election, the Governor orders a new vote for the Territorial Assembly representative for Clallam and San Juan counties.
- A Seven-Foot Sea Serpent Washes Up Near Cape Flattery
Capt. Stratton of Neah Bay brings a finned, many-toothed monster to Port Townsend, and the local editor reaches for the Laocoön to describe it.
- The Monster Canoe That Defeated a Donkey Engine
Judge James Swan's colossal Northwest canoe sat nine months on the wharf — until one determined shipping agent and a hundred willing hands hauled it aboard the Dakota for Philadelphia.
- The Preacher Who Turned 170 Acres of Wilderness Into a Home
When Port Townsend could not pay its Methodist minister enough to live on, Rev. Laubach moved to Discovery Bay and built a farm — house, fences, orchard and skiff — with his own hands.
- A Ferry Before the Ferry: The Fight to Replace Open Boats on Admiralty Inlet
Whidbey Islanders were crossing to Port Townsend in open rowboats through tide rips and chopping seas. Local merchants and an island resident with $4,000 wanted piers, a steamer and a regular route.
- A Campaign Comes Ashore in Port Townsend
In 1876, Democratic candidates arrived by steamer to cannon fire and a cornet band, then packed Good Templars Hall for a night of speeches.
- The Sickening Sight: A Pardoned Murderer Left to Die in Port Townsend
John N. Young's cancer-eaten face shocked an editor into asking why Washington Territory released sick convicts to become county burdens.
- Smallpox Aboard the David Hoadley—and a Health Officer’s Warning
A vessel bound for Port Gamble brought a smallpox case into Port Townsend harbor. Dr. Minor had the bark fumigated and the crew quarantined, then told the owners the captain’s recklessness would not be tolerated again.
- Twelve Days in Jail for a Drunken Woman—and the Men Who Walked Free
A Port Townsend letter protests a double standard after a woman is locked up for disorderly drinking while the town's inebriated men go unpunished.
- The Ship That Could Be Scraped With Fingernails
A Port Townsend jury acquitted a sailor who refused duty on the bark Caroline Reed after the vessel was shown to be dangerously rotten.
- A Grand New Hotel Rises on Port Townsend's Waterfront
A three-story block with a saloon, reading room, and thirty sleeping rooms opens at Water and Washington streets—a brick-and-mortar bet on the town's future.
- The First Scythes: Makah Men Arrive in Port Townsend Looking for Work
Five men from Neah Bay came to town in 1876 to hire themselves out as mowers. A local editor praised their tools—and exposed the era's patronizing ideas about 'civilizing' Native people.