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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 405 |
| 1877 | 280 |
| 1878 | 64 |
| 1880 | 75 |
824 stories
- The Pride of Belltown: Seattle's Shipbuilding Milestone
Launched in 1876, the barkentine Kate Flickinger marked a new era for local industry, built entirely from Washington timber by Seattle craftsmen.
- The Fire That Never Came: Seattle’s Barely-Staffed Engine Company
In 1878, the city finally bought a hand engine for fire protection, but with only ten men to crew it, officials warned that a real blaze would leave the town helpless.
- The Sound's Freight Wars
Seattle merchants sound the alarm as steamboat companies hit the city with discriminatory freight rates that favor Tacoma and Tumwater.
- The First Real Map of Seattle
Before the city could be built, it had to be measured—an 1876 engineering project that defined the street grades of early downtown.
- The Struggle for Better Roads in 1870s King County
Frustrated residents call for a centralized superintendent to replace the inefficient and disjointed road-building system of the Washington Territory.
- City Council Delays Naming a Health Officer
Seattle's City Council stalled on hiring a health officer, wrongly believing the county was responsible for contagion in a city being swept by regional fears.
- A Violent Saloon Brawl on the Waterfront
A simmering business dispute over fifty dollars turns into a brutal ambush with a club in a Seattle saloon.
- The City That Built Itself: Seattle’s 1876 Bet on Railroads and Real Estate
While Portland urges unity to secure a transcontinental line, Seattle’s council quietly reshapes the city’s physical landscape—lowering street grades and paving sidewalks—betting that infrastructure will drive the boom.
- The Road Less Traveled: Seattle’s Shameful Contrast with Victoria’s Fine Highways
In 1876, the local press lambasted King County’s broken road system, praising British Columbia’s turnpikes as a model for Seattle’s own stagnant development.
- The Engineer’s Ash-Box Ghost: A Tale of New Year’s Eve Peril
In a column dated October 1870, the Seattle Daily Intelligencer reprints a harrowing tale from an old engineer about surviving a wreck by hiding under his locomotive's ash pan during a blizzard.
- The Great Smokestack Hoax: Seattle’s Mountain Top Mystery
In 1873, local entrepreneur S. W. Peck convinced the city that a legendary 'living rod' lay buried atop American Flat. His desperate drilling operation reveals more about the era's speculative fever than geological truth.
- The Auditor and the Sheriff: A Public Spat Over Corruption
In the lead-up to the 1876 election, a public war of words between King County's Auditor and former Sheriff exposes the messy, opaque, and highly questionable state of territorial bookkeeping.
- The Town That Almost Reached a Thousand
In 1876, Seattle's growing pains were measured by the ballot box, as the bustling port struggled to tally its transient maritime population.
- Seattle's Grand New Courthouse Plans Unveiled
Architect Isaac Palmer presents a bold, brick-and-mortar vision for the corner of Third and Jefferson, signaling the city's aspirations for civic permanence.
- The Struggle to Save the Harbor
Engineers and locals debate the best way to keep Seattle's waterfront from choking on silt and debris in 1876.
- The Siege of the Waterfront Hoodlums
A wave of unprovoked violence by organized gangs of youths in Seattle reaches a breaking point when a young girl is struck by a thrown stone.
- The Potato Famine That Never Left the Sound
A century and a half ago, Seattle farmers lamented the mysterious collapse of the Puget Sound potato trade, marking the end of a boom that once promised regional prosperity.
- The Nine-Inning Scandal at the Old Exchange
A local baseball game ends in a high-stakes confrontation that reads like a pulp novel, leaving one man bitter and another victorious.
- The Brutal Genie of the River Valley
An 1876 editorial reflects on the cyclical devastation of Washington’s river floods and why farmers never seem quite ready for the waters to rise.
- The Hidden Fortune of the Seattle 'Miser'
A young man arrives in the Territory with a half-million-dollar inheritance, yet lives in total poverty—until a secret letter reveals his true, noble motive.
- The Struggle for Tax Equity in 1876
A Seattle editorial argues that delinquent property taxes and legal loopholes are placing an unfair burden on the public, demanding legislative reform for the growing territory.
- The Next Pittsburg: Seattle’s Coal Rush
A new mine opens across the Cedar River, fueling hopes that the young city of Seattle will soon become a major center for iron and coal production.
- The Tragic End of a Traveling Grifter
A notorious card shark is declared insane by the courts after a life spent deceiving folks from British Columbia to Virginia City.
- The Strange Case of the County's Vanished Property
A legal battle over the former Collins claim reveals a messy history of county mismanagement, secret land deals, and invalid property sales.
- The School Budget Crisis of 1877
Seattle’s public schools faced a complete shutdown due to a $1,500 deficit, forcing local leaders to choose between debt, taxes, or cutting the school year short.