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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 242 |
| 1892 | 226 |
468 stories
- Seattle Voters Break the Boss's Grip
An Olympia editor tells Republican boss John H. McGraw that Seattle's election was a rebuke to machine politics, not a Democratic triumph.
- Jim Hill Looks at Olympia and Decides There Isn't Enough Money In It
The Great Northern will bypass the capital on its Seattle–Tacoma–Portland line, leaving the field to the Northern Pacific — a blunt verdict on the city's prospects from the era's great railroad builder.
- Olympia's Republican Bargain: Bring the State Convention Home—and Send a Delegate to Minneapolis
A local editorial pushes Thurston County Republicans to raise $1,500, host the state convention in the capital, and still claim a seat at the national convention—instead of trading one prize for the other.
- When Olympia Was a Navy Port
A veteran recalls the 1871 visit of the USS Saranac, a time when Tacoma did not yet exist.
- Olympia’s Lincoln Club Rallies for State Convention
Local boosters organize a mass delegation to Seattle to lobby for hosting the fall state convention in Olympia.
- A Pioneer's Final Day in Hanaford Valley
Theophilus Hanaford, the first settler of the valley that bears his name, died suddenly while working on his farm.
- A Schoolhouse Fight Over Who Builds Olympia
Local architects and mechanics cry foul after the school board quietly accepts a Tacoma-drawn plan for the new high school.
- Tacoma’s Democrats Wake Up to a Republican City
A bitter municipal election leaves Tacoma’s O’Brien Democrats stunned, as Republicans take the mayor’s office and most of the council.
- The Lease a Husband Had No Right to Sign
A Tacoma mercantile firm stopped paying $500-a-month rent, arguing the leased property was community property and the wives had never signed. Washington’s Supreme Court said the lease was not absolutely void—but the tenants had rights too.
- Log Rafts Choke the Stillaguamish, and the Steamboats Can’t Get Through
Residents along the river complain that booms of logs are sealing off navigation at the mouth; a federal engineer threatens prosecution if the loggers do not clear the way.
- Bankers May Take Over Washington’s Republican Convention
On the eve of the state convention in Seattle, a Tribune correspondent warns that a “ring” of bankers could choose the delegates—and leave farmers and Grand Army veterans out in the cold.
- The Lie That Shook Olympia Collegiate Institute
A whispered rumor, a boarding-house accusation, and a faculty insult ended with two students expelled and Professor Jones gone. Rev. Dr. T. B. Ford told the school why.
- A Seattle Election Was Decided by Charter Procedure—and the Supreme Court Let It Stand
The state Supreme Court upheld amendments that cut Seattle’s house of delegates to one member per ward, dooming V. P. Wiesemnal’s bid to take a seat under the old rules.
- Rainier’s Shingle Boom and the Road Olympia Forgot
A Rainier correspondent reports new shingle mills and warns that Olympia merchants are losing rural trade to Tacoma by ignoring the roads that feed the city.
- Fair Play for the Bandstand Builders
When businessmen whispered that the contractors erecting Olympia’s bandstand were outsiders, a letter to the editor insisted that a family man who had spent $600 waiting for work deserved a fighting chance.
- Olympia Insists on a Harbor Line Big Enough for Its Future
After a correspondent misreports local opinion, Olympians say they back Capt. Symons' harbor plan—but want the state to extend a broad waterway all the way to Fourth Street.
- A Constitutional Oversight Stalls the Penitentiary’s Jute Plant
Lawmakers intended to renew an old appropriation for prison-made jute, but a procedural misstep holds up $10,000 and suspends work until the attorney general rules.
- Deserters on the Cow Paths: Three British Sailors Slip Into Blaine
Three sailors flee the British warships at Esquimalt, stealing down the east coast of Vancouver Island by night to cross into American soil at Blaine.
- A Toddler, an Axe, and a Sister's Terror at South Union
Left at play, a three-year-old swings an axe and maims her infant sister in a Thurston County farm accident that sends the child to the doctors and the older girl into hiding.
- An Editor Caught Lying About the Deal That Made a U.S. Senator
J. W. Lysons says the collector's removal had nothing to do with Boss McGraw's bargain — but the Tribune has his own dispatch from Olympia, sent during the fight, to prove otherwise.
- A Street Fight Over Page Street’s Gulch
Contractor I. Liberman prepared to bill Olympia about $100 a day after the city suspended work on an Eastside street improvement.
- The Legislature’s Unfinished Business—and the Case for a Special Session
An anonymous Olympia lawmaker told The Tribune that defective appropriation laws, unpaid citizens and stalled state business demanded a special session by December.
- He Was Not Going to the Asylum: How an Olympia Guardianship Case Was Settled
Peterfield Turpin’s family asked the court for a guardian. Rumors flew that he would be committed and his estate seized. In open court, the parties explained—and settled.
- The Sheriff Was Coming for Olympia’s Hotel. A New Company Rode In.
On the eve of a foreclosure auction, local investors incorporated a $130,000 company to buy the Hotel Olympia property and keep it out of the sheriff’s hands.
- The Polls Closed an Hour Early, and the Court Threw the Election Out
A Jefferson County school-clerk contest reaches the state Supreme Court, where a statute's silence and a 7 p.m. closing time decide who holds office.