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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1860 | 2 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1876 | 7 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1885 | 4 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 9 |
| 1892 | 16 |
| 1893 | 13 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 7 |
| 1903 | 14 |
| 1908 | 2 |
| 1909 | 6 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1928 | 2 |
98 stories matching dec
- The Postmaster Who Refused to Hire Women
An eighteen-year-old applicant details how she was misled and eventually dismissed by the Olympia postmaster due to her gender.
- The City That Outgrew Its Rivals
An 1885 dispatch from the front lines of the Seattle boom describes a town shedding its humble roots and leaving former neighbors like Steilacoom in the dust.
- The Political Pilgrimage to Steilacoom
In 1887, Washington Territorial legislators took a collective trip to inspect the state's asylum, but the solemn mission quickly devolved into a social affair that kept the real results hidden from the public.
- 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.
- The Sermon that Shook a Seattle Congregation
A Seattle minister caused a sensation by preaching that biblical figures were of the Black race, citing historical and lineage arguments to his congregation.
- The Pilot’s Plea for Protection
A Puget Sound pilot is found cutting wood for a living because the lack of regulation has made the profession impossible to sustain.
- The Water Department War: Seattle’s Ex-Superintendent Says the City Burned $15,000
W. E. Wilson takes his successor to task over pumping-station costs, missing pipe miles, and a board of public works appointment he calls the reward for fiscal failure.
- The General Who Laid Out Tacoma
Maj. Gen. John W. Sprague—Northern Pacific superintendent, Tacoma's first mayor and a founder of its bank and chamber—died at 74, leaving a city he helped place on the map.
- The Jailbreak of Port Angeles’ Fake Banker
After fleecing investors and local organizations, Benjamin F. Schwartz slips past his jailer to disappear into the night.
- A Barber’s Last Walk: No Work, No Way Home, and a Family Left Behind
D. D. Vail left his Clallam County home looking for work. When he found none, he told his wife he would walk back—then took laudanum, hoping a $2,000 insurance policy would do more for his family than he could.
- The Anacortes School Board Scandal
Citizens launch an investigation into the district’s finances following a explosive public expose of school board mismanagement.
- The Railroad Comes Collecting: Olympia's Subsidy Fight Heads to Court
Northern Pacific's own attorney admits the line into Olympia cost the company $40,000 more than it took in — and announces he will sue every citizen who signed the bond anyway.
- The Rat Out of the Hole
A bitter public feud erupts between two of Seattle's major industrial firms over the construction of a city fireboat.
- Tragedy in the Timber: A Pioneer's Fatal Accident
A newlywed husband is widowed in a freak accident when a tree, toppled by the great storm of 1891, crushes his wife in their own backyard.
- The Railway 'Boss' Who Demanded Silence
A Great Northern superintendent issued a blunt warning to employees: keep your mouths shut about the company's administration, or get out.
- Student Riot at Pullman Agricultural College
A group of Pullman citizens and regents condemn students who pelted visiting officials with eggs and mud while defending their outgoing president.
- A Violent Escalation at the Train Station
A drunken horse trade between two men in Steilacoom turns into a public shooting, leaving a man wounded and the assailant on the run.
- The Battle for the Sabbath
Tacoma sees its first-ever Sunday theatrical performance, inciting an immediate protest from the city's Ministerial Alliance.
- A Territorial Legislature Grants a Divorce
In 1859, Alice Davis asked Washington's lawmakers—not a court—to end her marriage, and the House obliged by an 18-to-3 vote.
- Mount Baker Wakes: Smoke, a New Rent, and an Earthquake at Dawn
Smoke rises a thousand feet from the Twin Sisters and Mount Baker, a fresh quarter-mile crack opens in the mountain, and a predawn shock rattles Whatcom County residents.
- Tragic Death of a Laborer on the Moxee
A young man employed by the Yakima Land Company dies suddenly after strenuous work clearing land.
- Labor Takes a Scalpel to Tacoma's Budget — and Calls Out the Boodlers
As Tacoma's finance committee hunts for cuts, the Trades Council arrives with its own salary schedule, demands depositories for the city's money, and accuses the Chamber of Commerce of encouraging 'unlawful appropriation.'
- The Port Townsend Lottery Fugitive
A pillar of local society is unmasked as the mastermind behind a massive multi-city lottery swindle.
- The Land Office Money That Never Reached the Books
Register Isaac W. Smith accuses Receiver Selucius Garfielde of holding land-claim payments on private deposit and refusing to account for them—an 1861 public audit fight in Washington Territory.
- The Governor's $50,000 Bond
A defaulting King County treasurer's case reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, leaving Governor Ferry and other bondsmen on the hook for $34,000.