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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 1 |
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| 1877 | 8 |
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306 stories matching desert
- The River Overflows: Lives Lost and Homes Deserted
A catastrophic flood on the Yakima River leaves homes submerged, stock lost, and two local men drowned in a tragic crossing attempt.
- Abandoned in a Ballard Shack
After her husband left her for another woman, Mrs. Belle Eagon and her three young children faced eviction and hunger until neighbors intervened.
- The Promised Metropolis on the Columbia
A booster report envisions a massive industrial city of 50,000 residents rising from the sagebrush desert at Priest Rapids.
- A Desperate Jump at the Spring Street Wharf
Deserted, drinking, and despondent, Kate Johnson tried to drown herself in Seattle harbor—then fought the men who pulled her out.
- The Desert Blooms: Yakima’s Great Irrigation Feat
A twenty-five mile canal promises to transform sagebrush wastes into an agricultural garden, rivaling the fertile valleys of Europe.
- Horse Heaven Landowners Organize for Irrigation District
Landowners in Klickitat County push for inclusion in a massive irrigation project, envisioning the transformation of high-desert plateau into fertile farms.
- The Divorce Mill: Three Women Escape Their Marriages in Seattle
A single day in Judge Humes’ court saw three women granted divorces on grounds of desertion, cruelty, and financial abandonment.
- The Desert Blooms in Mozee Valley
A bold irrigation syndicate strikes an artesian well, promising to transform 200,000 acres of arid Washington land into a fertile paradise.
- The Desert Land Rush of 1903
Speculators and settlers stake claims in the arid sagebrush near Pasco, betting that irrigation will transform the wasteland into a garden.
- Vancouver’s Sunday Shutdown
The saloon keepers of Vancouver, Washington, enforce a strict city-wide Sunday closure, leaving the town deserted.
- The Desert Blooms
A massive irrigation project, years in the making, promises to transform Yakima's arid landscape into a fertile garden for hundreds of families.
- Gold Fever Empties the Army Posts—and Leaves Steilacoom’s Mail in a Canoe
A steamer from the north brings word of rich surface diggings on the Fraser and Thompson rivers, soldiers deserting lower Puget Sound posts, and Steilacoom cut off from its mail.
- The Desert That Could Bloom: Pasco’s Irrigation Revival
Philadelphia capital revives an abandoned Palouse canal project, promising water for 5,000 acres this summer and eventually 15,000 acres near Pasco.
- 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.
- Mutiny on the Parthenia
A Norwegian ship captain enlists the help of neighboring vessels to suppress a crew revolt at sea.
- The Ice-Cold Escape From the Myloemene
A sick sailor refused the ship's hospital, a Dane swam two miles ashore, and six crewmen forfeited their pay to desert the British bark in Port Angeles harbor.
- The Terminal City That Died on Grays Harbor
A St. Paul syndicate graded streets, cleared forest and built a mile-long wharf for a railroad boomtown that never got its railroad. Only two families are left, living on clams.
- The Double Life of 'John West'
A Seattle man is sued by a woman claiming to be his first wife, exposing a decade of assumed identities, hidden property, and mutual accusations of abandonment.
- The Desert Transformed: A Correspondent's View of North Yakima
A visiting writer discovers that irrigation is rapidly turning the 'arid' sagebrush plains into a lush, productive garden of fruit and hops.
- Divorce and Desertion in Walla Walla
A local mother is granted custody of her son after her husband abandons the family for two years.
- The Bold Scheme to Irrigate the Desert
Local entrepreneurs hope to redeem 15,000 acres of 'worthless' land through an ambitious artesian well project.
- The Theater Owner's Divorce
John Considine, proprietor of the People's Theater, admitted to adultery and desertion, but claimed bankruptcy to minimize alimony payments.
- The Rescue of Little Pearl
A lawman retrieves a young girl from a neglectful situation in Whatcom after her parents fall into a cycle of crime and separation.
- The High Price of Ten Cents
A local man sued for damages after he was arrested, fired, and deserted by his wife over a petty accusation of wood theft.
- The Pastor, the Missing Husband, and the Seattle Libel Trial
A church feud goes to court as Rev. M. H. Nichols is tried for circulating scandalous charges against Dr. T. B. Ford—whose testimony reveals a broken engagement, a vanished first husband, and a dramatic courtroom kiss.