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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 11 |
| 1872 | 140 |
| 1876 | 153 |
| 1877 | 124 |
| 1878 | 248 |
| 1879 | 15 |
| 1880 | 83 |
774 stories
- The Shadow Over San Juan Island
A Supreme Court justice warns that the legal limbo surrounding the San Juan islands threatens to turn the territory into a lawless refuge for criminals.
- A Heartrending Tragedy in Hereford Swamp
A father's desperate attempt to rescue his children from a falling tree results in a devastating loss of three lives.
- Tragedy on the Lake: Three Snohomish Boys Fall Through Ice
A winter afternoon skating excursion turns fatal for two young local boys.
- The Great Escape at Port Madison
A convicted murderer slips past a guard and vanishes into the thick brush, sparking a frantic island-wide manhunt.
- A Seattle Fish Firm Fires Its Chinese Workers — and the Paper Cheers
In 1877, Tull & Co. dismissed all of its Chinese employees and hired white men in their place, a move the Dispatch celebrated as patriotism.
- Three Children Dead in a Week: Diphtheria Stalks a Legislator's Family
Called home from the legislature by a telegram, Hon. Joseph Foster buries three children in a single week as his wife lies gravely ill with the same disease.
- The Fight Against Washington’s Land Barons
An 1877 editorial warns that unchecked land speculation in the Washington Territory is turning away settlers and creating a class of 'land fiends' who gobble up public resources.
- The Fight for the Future of Washington's Soil
An 1877 editorial warns against the 'monster evil' of land monopoly, arguing that preventing a feudal system of landlord-tenant reliance is the only way to ensure the new state's future liberties.
- Broken Promises at the Spokane Council
A failed federal attempt to force Spokane tribal members onto reservations leaves a legacy of distrust and looming conflict.
- The Territory's Legislative Snake
A scathing critique from 1877 exposes the 'headless and tailless' chaos of newly minted Washington tax laws, exposing a system designed to strip residents of their property through administrative incompetence.
- The Fight for Seattle’s Soil
A 19th-century editorial warns that land monopolies and timber speculation threaten to turn Washington into a land of feudal tenants, sparking a civic debate on who truly owns the future of the Northwest.
- The Great Land Sell-Off
The Northern Pacific Railroad begins dumping vast swaths of Washington Territory land onto actual settlers for $2.60 an acre.
- Tragedy at the Sawmill: A Father’s Grief
A young sawmill worker loses his life in a horrifying industrial accident near Vancouver, Washington.
- The Shipmate’s Miracle: A Story of Grit at Sea
A young sailor survives a hundred-foot fall and a double compound fracture, saved by the improvised surgery and steady care of his shipmates far from any port.
- The Great Thaw: Mountain Snows Turn Every River Into a Rampage
An unusually cool spring held a winter's worth of snow until a few hot days sent it all down at once, flooding the Skagit, Cowlitz and Columbia, drowning farmland and putting Portland under water.
- The Captain Refuses to Stand Down
A political storm erupts as a county official defies a court ruling to vacate his office, claiming his popularity trumps the law.
- The Fight for the Pacific Trade
Seattle observes with anxiety as railroad titans and San Francisco money markets clash over the future of Puget Sound trade.
- Snowed In: The California Mail Famine of 1872
For thirteen days, the telegraph was the only connection to the outside world, leaving businesses and citizens reeling from the silence of the snow-blocked passes.
- The Mail Carrier of Port Gardner Bay
A harrowing tale of survival in the winter of 1872 when the mail route between Mukilteo and Snohomish met a sudden, icy squall.
- The First Strike of Chinese Railroad Workers in Seattle
A brief dispatch from 1872 reports that Chinese laborers brought in by the California railroad contractors walked off the job to demand higher wages.
- The Embroidered Vow: A Victorian Romance in Seattle
When an accident leaves a young woman scarred, she retreats from society, only to discover a secret message stitched into a handmade cushion.
- The Death of the American Shipyard
In an 1873 speech, Congressman Alexander Mitchell argued that excessive taxation and protectionist tariffs were systematically destroying the American shipping industry, forcing once-prosperous shipbuilders into obsolescence.
- The Rotten Beef Scandal of 1872
When a local market was accused of selling diseased meat, the ensuing war of words revealed the thin line between journalism and extortion in early Seattle.
- The Ghost Town That Wasn't: A Port Townsend Lament
In 1872, the residents of Port Townsend were waiting on a railroad that never arrived, stuck in a cycle of speculation and stagnation.
- A Life-Threatening Day at the Yesler Wharf
While working at the coal chutes in 1872 Seattle, a young man is crushed by a rail car, highlighting the brutal risks of the city’s early industrial backbone.