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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 2 |
| 1876 | 7 |
| 1877 | 6 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 5 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 12 |
| 1887 | 3 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 34 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 7 |
| 1892 | 23 |
| 1893 | 17 |
| 1894 | 9 |
| 1895 | 3 |
| 1897 | 2 |
| 1898 | 5 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1900 | 3 |
| 1903 | 9 |
| 1904 | 8 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 3 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1914 | 4 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 6 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
184 stories matching devast
- A Woman Kidnapped from Her Home
A Chinese immigrant couple is torn apart as conspirators use a bogus larceny charge and a U.S. Marshal to traffic a woman into potential enslavement.
- A Night of Ruin: Olympia’s Business District Ravaged by Fire
A catastrophic blaze tears through a full city block in Olympia, leaving shopkeepers and residents devastated in its wake.
- Inferno Consumes Roslyn Mining Town
A devastating fire tore through the canyon-bound town of Roslyn, destroying over 100 buildings and leaving the mining community in ruins.
- The Great Seattle Fire Erased Our Roots
An early record of Seattle’s vanished architecture and the displacement of its first churches following the devastating 1889 fire.
- The Tragedy at the Roslyn Slope
A devastating gas explosion in the Roslyn mines claims forty-three lives, leaving a town in mourning and a company under scrutiny.
- Fire Devastates Downtown Stanwood
A late-night blaze destroys two city blocks, leaving the community to battle the flames with a bucket brigade after water supply infrastructure fails.
- The Town of Oakesdale Is Reduced to Smoldering Ruins
A three-story hotel blaze consumes the city's business district in just two hours, leaving merchants devastated and the community reeling.
- The Tragic Sinking of the Steamer Clallam
A devastating storm claims the lives of dozens as the Puget Sound Navigation Company’s new steamer founders in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
- Avalanche Devastates Great Northern Train in the Cascades
A passenger train stopped on the tracks in the Cascade mountains was struck by a massive snowslide, resulting in multiple deaths and a desperate rescue effort in the snow.
- The Price of Growth in Early Snohomish
While town elites built elegant homes and secured university futures for their sons, a diphtheria outbreak devastated the river settlements, revealing the stark human cost of frontier expansion.
- The Chehalis Inferno
A devastating blaze sweeps through four blocks of wooden buildings, leaving residents to wonder if firebugs are to blame for the city's second disaster in two months.
- The Brutal Winter of 1893
A historic freeze and heavy snows devastate livestock across the region, while Seattle's own marginalized residents struggle to survive the record-breaking cold.
- A Devastating Betrayal in Marriage
An elderly woman sues for divorce and the recovery of her property after her husband allegedly swindled her and threatened her life.
- The Strange Disappearance of Nellie Holgate
A young Seattle woman reported missing for weeks is found alive in South Dakota, sparking a bizarre mystery involving insurance scammers and a grieving father.
- The Great 1894 Northwest Flood
Catastrophic rising rivers submerge farmland, destroy crops, and paralyze rail lines across Washington and British Columbia.
- The Judge Who Warned Seattle Not to Sell Its Waterfront to a Canal Company
In 1894, Judge John J. McGilvra urged Congress to build the Lake Washington Ship Canal and warned that a private company's tideflat scheme would put tolls on the water and enrich speculators at public expense.
- The Desert Blooms: Harnessing the Yakima River
A look at the massive Sunnyside Canal project promising to turn 75,000 acres of arid volcanic ash into a fruit-growing paradise.
- The Smoke Over the Okanogan
Forest fires fueled by arsonists are devastating the landscape and choking the residents of the Okanogan country.
- Record Flood Devastates Lower Yakima Valley
A catastrophic flood wipes out the recently constructed Richland bridge and isolates valley farmers as the Yakima River surges past its banks.
- The Great Drain Struggle
Farmers from the Duwamish and Sammamish valleys rally to demand an expanded canal to solve recurring, devastating floods.
- After the Great Fire of 1889: Rebuilding a City from the Ashes
While Seattle recovers from a devastating conflagration, a citywide debate pits public safety and urban planning against private interests over the future layout of the business district.
- The Phoenix of the Pacific Northwest
Following the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, citizens and local editors debate the path forward, viewing the total destruction of the business district as a necessary—if painful—opportunity for modern urban planning.
- Rising from the Embers: Ellensburg's Rapid Rebirth
After a devastating fire consumed the heart of the city in July 1889, the community transformed from a charred wasteland into a brick-fronted city in just two months.
- The Roslyn Mine Disaster
A devastating gas explosion in Northern Pacific Coal Company's Mine No. 2 leaves dozens of families in mourning as the town of Roslyn turns its city hall into a temporary morgue.
- The Roslyn Mine Disaster: A City Rallies for the Bereaved
When an explosion ripped through the Roslyn coal mines in May 1892, Seattle’s civic leaders mobilized an immediate relief effort for the families left behind.