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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 468 |
| 1877 | 317 |
| 1878 | 91 |
| 1880 | 97 |
973 stories
- The Iron Wreck: A Train’s Deadly Plunge Near Tacoma
Conductor Stroud and passengers suffer grave injuries when a tender axle fails at 25 mph, sending cars tumbling down an embankment in one of the region's most serious rail accidents to date.
- The Hanging Sentence of John Thompson
A condemned man stands in a crowded Seattle courtroom, maintaining his innocence while awaiting the gallows for a fatal brawl in Renton.
- The Sheriff’s Eviction: A Bloodless Coup on San Juan Island
In May 1877, a contingent of Victoria militia and the local sheriff executed a peaceful but firm eviction of five families from disputed land, arresting only those who resisted or fraternized with the miners.
- The Last Mission of the Pioneer Mother
A reflection on the life of Myra Eells, one of the first white women to cross the Rocky Mountains to bring the Gospel to the Pacific Northwest.
- The Struggle for the Panama Portage
A power struggle between railroad titans over a critical transit monopoly leaves the Pacific Mail Steamship Company reeling.
- A Deadly Encounter at Holmes' Harbor
A logger's simple attempt to protect his food from local wildlife ends in a tragic, accidental shooting.
- The Unwelcome Guest of Port Gamble
A small mill town's tranquility is disrupted by a mysterious, 'half-crazed' outsider offering unwanted critiques of local intellectual life.
- The Swarm That Stalled the Trains
A plague of army worms in a Washington swamp grew so thick they brought a locomotive to a grinding, slippery halt.
- The Price of Apathy in the 1876 Seattle Election
A pre-election plea from the Daily Intelligencer warns that if 'responsible' business owners don't turn out to vote, the city will pay a heavy cost in taxes and mismanagement.
- The Shipyard of the World
In 1876, a local editorial argued that Puget Sound’s immense timber wealth and strategic harbor position would inevitably make it the global hub for shipbuilding, urging Seattle business owners to subsidize the relocation of Eastern industry.
- A Perilous Ascent on Front Street
A construction worker suffers a violent fall while building a new home, sparking a community health scare in 1870s Seattle.
- 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 Postmaster’s Plight: A Decades-Long Betrayal in Skagit County
In the midst of a national economic depression, a respected elder and long-serving postmaster in Mount Vernon faces federal fraud charges, sparking a community debate over loyalty versus law.
- 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.