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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 31 |
| 1877 | 15 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 5 |
52 stories matching either
- The Nerve-Wracking Election of 1876
As Seattle waited on the results of a razor-thin presidential race, telegraph wires buzzed with conflicting claims that would eventually decide the future of the nation.
- The Unreliable Peer: A Seattle Critique of Jury Bias
An 1878 editorial laments that the 'glory of English law' is being tarnished by jurors who prioritize class bias over evidence.
- The Price of Neglect: Seattle’s Summer Stench
In 1876, the Duly Intelligencer called out the city for ignoring stagnant, disease-breeding gutters in the business district, warning that the 'healthiest city on the coast' was becoming a hotbed for fever.
- The Narrow Escape on Whidbey Island
A quiet Sunday trip to church turns to tragedy for the Kellogg family after a pair of startled horses wreck their wagon in a field of stumps.
- The Struggle for an Infrastructure of Our Own
An 1876 editorial reflects on the frustration of relying on federal aid to build the Pacific Northwest, urging locals to fund their own railroads and commercial infrastructure instead.
- 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 Man Who Vanished Into the Brush: A Seattle Mystery
In September 1876, a resident named Wm. Harris left his home for a brief trip to Seattle and never returned. His wife’s desperate search led investigators to suspect either a fatal heart attack or foul play in the dense woods near Snyder's slaughterhouse.
- The Settlers’ Plea for the Skagit River
Without government support, early pioneers are manually clearing massive river logjams to open the Skagit Valley to trade and development.
- The Dairy Dilemma of 1876
Before high-tech factory farming, Seattle's early settlers navigated the delicate, labor-intensive art of managing livestock health by hand.
- The Terrors of Belltown: Youth Gangs and Civic Chaos in 1870
Before it was a bustling neighborhood, Belltown was a site of 'villainous' youth pranks and neighborhood disturbances that left residents clamoring for order.
- The Seattle Land Grab of 1880
A former Delegate to Congress accuses a prominent Seattle attorney of sabotaging a deal to save King County land, sparking a bitter political feud.
- The Struggle for the Rails: Seattle’s Economic Isolation in 1880
As the Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad is sold to Henry Villard's powerful combine, local editors fear the city's economic future will be shackled to Portland's river monopoly.
- The Rambling Village That Wanted to Be a City
An 1876 editorial reflects on Seattle’s humble, sprawling aesthetic, arguing that the lack of architectural grandeur was not a failure of taste, but a deliberate, democratic strategy to avoid the 'unhealthy' wealth concentration of Eastern cities.
- Seattle’s Cultural Desert: A Plea for a Theater
An 1877 editorial laments that while Seattle citizens invest heavily in private homes, the city remains 'negligent and tardy' in providing a decent venue for public performance.
- The Unlikely Paradise of the Sagebrush
While cattle ranchers once guarded their grazing ranges, a 1878 report from the Yakima Valley reveals the early, optimistic push to transform 'useless' desert land into a thriving agricultural hub.
- The Wife Who Built a Saloon to Save Her Marriage
When her husband blamed his drinking on a 'dull' home life, a Seattle woman staged a radical intervention that turned their parlor into a cabaret.
- Seattle’s First Great Street: How Denny Hill Became Front Street
In March 1877, the city is racing to finish the brutal grading of Front Street, transforming a muddy slope into Seattle’s first grand thoroughfare.
- The Road to Nowhere: Seattle’s Neglected Gateway to the Interior
As travelers from Yakima and Walla Walla flock to the Snoqualmie Pass route, they find it worse than ever. The *Intelligencer* demands immediate action to save Seattle’s economic future.
- The Schoolhouse That Wasn't: Seattle’s Bureaucratic Battle Over Public Education
In 1877, a local dispute over the construction of a new school in Helltown reveals the early struggles of civic infrastructure and the tension between taxpayer demands and administrative delay.
- The Bread and Butter Vote: How the Custom House Ring Rigged Port Townsend Politics
In a stunning display of patronage politics in September 1876, federal employees in Port Townsend marched in lockstep to defeat local opposition, proving that government jobs were still the ultimate political currency.
- The Canal That Could Freeze England: A Climate Warning from the Isthmus of Panama
In 1877, Seattle’s press warned that digging a canal through Central America might divert the Gulf Stream, plunging Europe into an ice age—a bizarre but prescient look at early environmental anxiety.
- The Mid-Straits Fare Dodge of 'Kaintuck'
A would-be passenger who slipped aboard at Seattle without a ticket tries to bargain his way across Puget Sound—until the captain marches him to the gangway.
- The Race for the Rails: Seattle’s Fight to Keep the Northern Pacific Branch
As Oregon competitors maneuver to steal federal land grants, a local correspondent warns that losing the railroad connection could leave Washington Territory behind for decades.
- The Scandal of Kate Claxton: A Star’s Divorce and the Rumors That Rocked Seattle
In April 1873, celebrated actress Kate Claxton filed for divorce from her husband, a downtown broker, amidst rumors of an affair with a fellow actor. The case highlights the intense public scrutiny faced by women in the theater world during Seattle's early territorial days.
- The Man Who Couldn't Sleep: A Murderer's Five-Year Nightmare Ends in Seattle
William Devitt, a fugitive from a Pennsylvania railroad murder, surrenders to Seattle police after five years of wandering the South, claiming his conscience has finally caught up with him.