Research the archive
Narrow 27,002 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1876 | 16 |
| 1877 | 6 |
| 1878 | 30 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 10 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1887 | 3 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 11 |
| 1891 | 7 |
| 1892 | 8 |
| 1893 | 4 |
| 1894 | 5 |
| 1895 | 19 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1903 | 5 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1908 | 2 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 3 |
| 1915 | 2 |
| 1916 | 3 |
| 1917 | 2 |
| 1924 | 1 |
157 stories matching auction
- The Sheriff’s Hammer: A King County Farm Sold for Debt in the Heart of Seattle
In August 1875, the King County Sheriff stood on the courthouse steps to auction off a stranger's land to satisfy a judgment, turning the nascent town's civic center into a marketplace for foreclosures.
- The County Liquidation
Walla Walla County prepares to auction off 80 acres of public land to settle state debts, forcing the relocation of the city’s pesthouse.
- The Last-Minute Change of Heart
After securing a ranch management position in California, a local resident abruptly cancels his move and his auction sale, deciding Kennewick looks 'awful good' after all.
- A Railroad, a Tide-Land Tract, and an Elevator Go on the Auction Block
A bond debt forced the sheriff to sell the Terminal Railway Elevator Company's tracks, tide land, West Seattle elevator and warehouse, and franchise at the courthouse steps.
- The Forgotten Waterfront Auction of 1889
A court-ordered liquidation of the City Sawmill property on the Seattle waterfront provides a rare snapshot of the capital structures and industrial machinery that fueled the city's early, rapid expansion.
- A Disputed Legacy: The Lost Land of James O. Libby
After the passing of James O. Libby, his administrator moved to auction off over 120 acres of land in King County to settle his estate.
- The $220 Champion Cow
Governor Louis F. Hart's bargain-bin auction purchase becomes a world-record-holding dairy star, valued now at thousands.
- The Watches, Pipes and Toothbrushes of the Unclaimed Dead Go Up for Auction
Two years of the coroner's unclaimed effects — purses, cuff buttons, knives and one gold timekeeper — will be sold at the courthouse door on July 7. Their owners died violently, died poor, or were pulled from the bay and written down as 'unknown.'
- 1878 Snohomish Debt Suit Seeks Auction of Mortgaged Goods
A legal summons from 1878 reveals the precarious nature of pioneer commerce, where a $100 loan could lead to the loss of goods, chattels, and livelihood.
- The Unclaimed Inheritance of James O. Libbey
A public auction on the Seattle waterfront promises the sale of over 100 acres of land from a local estate, marking a fleeting moment of property transfer in the frontier city.
- The Price of Failure on the Duwamish
As Seattle grew, a wave of court-ordered property auctions flooded the local papers, displacing families and settling debt with the cold finality of the sheriff’s gavel.
- The Sheriff’s Auction Block in Territorial Seattle
A look at the brutal cycle of debt and displacement in 1878 Seattle, where land holdings were sold off on the courthouse steps to satisfy unpaid loans.
- Olympia Declares War on Loose Hogs
A newly passed town ordinance empowers the Marshall to seize and auction off any swine wandering through the streets of Olympia north of Union Street.
- The Puyallup Reservation Goes on the Auction Block
In a Tacoma storefront, commissioners began selling off 1,000 acres of Puyallup Indian land — and a brick company snatched up the valuable clay first.
- The Apple Market Revolution
A local lecturer urges Kennewick fruit growers to bypass traditional middlemen and adopt large-scale auction houses to fix stagnant apple prices.
- The 'Toe Social' of Tacoma
A mischievous fundraising dance where bachelors bid on mystery partners based solely on a glimpse of their feet.
- The Old Log Jail That Outlived Two Colvilles Sells for $25
The county's first jail—built in old Colville, moved to the new townsite, and finally replaced—is auctioned off and will be hauled to a farm.
- The Sheriff's Auction at the Courthouse Steps
A legal notice from the August 1886 Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer reveals the stark reality of property forfeiture and the machinery of debt in pioneer-era Washington.
- The Forgotten Lots of a Frontier Estate
A public auction notice reveals the mid-19th-century land holdings of the late James O. Libby, offering a glimpse into the early real estate speculation of the Puget Sound region.
- The Political Gossip That Almost Toppled a Judge
In an era of vicious party-line journalism, a Seattle editor defends his local officials against accusations of being 'copper-heads' and 'carpet-baggers,' echoing today’s heated partisan discourse.
- Bags of Gold and a Streetcar Auction in Tacoma
A sheriff's auction outside the Pierce County courthouse transfers the Point Defiance end of the street railway to General Electric for $82,000—with $100,000 in gold sitting in a hack.
- Sheriff's Auction: King County Land Sold to Settle a Debt
A 1878 legal notice reveals a grim snapshot of early King County land struggles, as a riverside homestead goes to auction to satisfy a debt.
- A Jinxed Steamer Sold at Auction: The Henry Bailey's Bad Luck on the Skagit
After repeated sinkings in the Skagit River and a crew's libel suit, the steamer Henry Bailey went on the auction block at Seattle's Yesler dock—fetching a fraction of its original cost.
- The Price of Industrial Expansion
A sheriff’s auction reveals the crushing debt behind the rise of Seattle’s coal industry in the 1870s.
- The Sheriff’s Auction of the Timber Lands
In 1878, a massive Snohomish County land liquidation reveals the brutal economics of early Washington territory development.