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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1914 | 261 |
| 1915 | 294 |
| 1916 | 303 |
| 1917 | 264 |
| 1918 | 37 |
1,159 stories
- Rabies Outbreak Claims Life of Horse Heaven Rancher
A tragic, overlooked bite from a family dog results in a fatal case of hydrophobia for a local rancher.
- Local Men Answer the Call to War
As the U.S. mobilizes for World War I, young men from Kennewick begin leaving their jobs to enlist in the armed forces.
- The Search for the 'Slackers'
Local draft board publishes a list of 35 men who failed to claim their questionnaires and are now subject to arrest.
- The Petitions Were Honeycombed With Fraud—So Voters Got Referendum No. 3
After the Washington Supreme Court described initiative petitions as a 'house of cards' riddled with fraud, the 1915 Legislature passed a safeguard now before voters as Referendum No. 3.
- Engineers Warned the Kennewick–Richland Bridge Was Dangerous
With the old Yakima River crossing judged too flimsy to repair, county commissioners prepared to let a contract for a new steel highway bridge by the end of December 1916.
- The Sunday Ballot: How Kennewick’s Baseball League Was Born (and Who Got Left Out)
In April 1914, local businessmen gathered at the Commercial Hotel to launch a new Valley baseball league. But as they celebrated the formation of the team, a quiet but significant exclusion was taking place: players bound by religious vows were barred from the field.
- The Fire That Almost Stopped the Canal: $40,000 Loss at Big Eddy
A mysterious blaze destroys the machine and steam plants of the Washington Canal project, yet work on the massive irrigation artery continues without pause.
- The $100-Acre Price of Water: Palouse Project Engineers Reveal the True Cost of Irrigation
Local engineers surveying the Washougal Coulee warn that diverting water to arid Benton County lands will cost close to $100 per acre, a staggering sum for early 20th-century farmers.
- The River That Wasn't: A Captain’s Quest to Put Kennewick on the Map
Captain Martin L. Volwiler isn’t just shipping strawberries; he’s filming them from a boat deck to prove that the Columbia River is worth knowing about.
- The River That Wasn't: Kennewick’s Lonely Fight to Open the Snake
While Portland looked the other way, Kennewick businessmen pooled their own money to dredge rapids and build docks, betting the town's future on a water route that never came.
- The Moth That Ate the Valley: Kennewick’s First Scientific Defense Against Crop Destruction
In 1914, a Yakima entomologist launched an exhaustive three-year study of the codling moth, tracking its life cycle from Ellensburg to Kennewick. It was the Northwest’s first enterprise of its kind, aiming to save the region's fruit industry from ruin.
- The Woman Who Swung on the Belt
A draft at the Aberdeen planing mill caught Mrs. F.M. Campbell’s dress, lifting her off her feet and spinning her around a shaft—her screams were the only thing that saved her life.
- The Carload Mandate: How Shipping Costs Stifled Kennewick’s Early Farmers
Local grower C.R. Delepine reveals that superior quality isn't enough to compete with Walla Walla; without the volume to ship in carloads, local farmers are priced out of the market by cheaper freight rates.
- The Battle for the Benton County Roads
Kennewick business leaders protest a county road project, arguing that their tax dollars are being diverted to build infrastructure in empty, undeveloped territory.
- The Price of a Mile of Road
When a $12,000 road project near Prosser had to be torn up and rebuilt after only four years, Kennewick residents questioned the real cost of 'education' for county road planners.
- The Desert Grave of a Fugitive
After shooting his divorced wife in a fit of violence, a man vanished into the thick sagebrush of the Yakima Valley, only to be found dead weeks later by searchers who had walked right past him.
- The War Over 'Tubermoth' Potatoes
A Seattle judge rules on a heated legal clash between California berry growers and Washington state horticultural inspectors over tainted crops.
- The Section House Shootout
Fed up with a string of thefts, a railway foreman takes the law into his own hands and shoots a intruder on the tracks.
- The Crisis of the Orchardist
A visiting professor delivers a sobering sermon on why so many Kennewick orchard farmers are destined for failure.
- The Senatorial Candidate and the Canal
Ole Hanson brings his fiery brand of politics to the Kennewick Commercial Club, debating the Panama Canal's toll exemption.
- Kennewick Demands Fair Share of Road Funds
The city challenges county commissioners to return a percentage of taxes for local street infrastructure.
- City Bonds Narrowly Pass by a Single Vote
A $23,000 bond issue to retire city warrants narrowly clears the 60% requirement after a sleepy election season.
- The Peacemaker from Prosser
The Prosser Commercial Club president visits Kennewick to mend fences in the long-standing Benton County seat rivalry.
- The Circus Leaves Town—And So Does Our Money
A high license fee meant to discourage local 'menace' backfires, driving residents to spend their entertainment budget across the river.
- Kennewick's Close Encounter with the Great War
An editorial reflecting on the sudden, violent onset of World War I and the fear of its reach into a small Washington town.