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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 1 |
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| 1876 | 6 |
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115 stories matching eager
- The Great Car Tax: How a Treasury Order Threatened Seattle’s Rail Lifeline
A new federal duty on foreign railroad cars threatens to strangle trade between the Pacific Northwest and the East, sparking fears of economic isolation for Washington Territory.
- The Price of a City's Thirst
Tacoma’s struggle to purchase its own waterworks reveals the city's entanglement with Northern Pacific rail interests and the high cost of utility monopolies.
- The Pacific Coast Rises Against Federal Chinese Policy
Washington's congressional delegation leads a fierce backlash against a new federal treaty that critics fear undermines the Geary Act's restrictive immigration laws.
- The $8,000 Schoolyard Fight
A losing contractor accuses Seattle’s school board of steering a South School grounds contract to a favored bidder and wasting taxpayer money. The board fires back that the cheapest bids were unsafe and that a $25,000 schoolhouse was at risk of falling.
- The Fight for Seattle’s Commercial Future
A local merchant defends Seattle against the Northern Pacific Railroad's efforts to favor Tacoma as the terminal city.
- The Gallows at Colfax
A thousand spectators crowded the streets and hillsides to witness the final penalty for a murder in Whitman County.
- Two Council Members Arrested in Sewer Bribe Case
Two councilmen are arrested in Tacoma following a sting operation by a local citizens' group over a sewer contract.
- The $4-an-Acre Shoreline Fight
Olympia’s Tribune rebuts a Spokane paper’s claim that Washington tide lands were being handed away for a pittance—and asks whether Governor Ferry must share the blame.
- Gold in the Wenatchee, but the Miners Were Told to Leave
Pearson's party returns to Steilacoom after Indians warn them off the new gold fields; a handful of dirt shows a dollar's worth of gold.
- Two Weeks In, Still No Senator: Olympia's Republicans Tire of the Ankeny Fight
The legislature has been in session a fortnight and Washington still has no United States senator. A colleague's insulting letter blows up, the Wilson and Allen camps fold, and a caucus is called to force the thing to an end.
- The Great Escape: Professor Baldwin’s Spectacular Deception in Seattle
In July 1876, a traveling spiritualist and escape artist took over Yeager's Hall, challenging the public to witness his 'human agency' escapes from handcuffs and pillories, exposing the mediums of the day as frauds.
- A Child’s Tragic Afternoon on the Flats
A six-year-old Seattle boy drowns in the harbor while fishing for crabs, exposing the perils of the waterfront mudflats for the city's youth.
- The Industrial War Between Seattle and Tacoma
Fresh census data is weaponized in a heated civic rivalry over wages, manufacturing growth, and economic dominance.
- The Floating Fortress at Baker's Wharf
Seattle prepares for the Fourth of July as a heavily armed U.S. Navy monitor arrives to show off its new steel power.
- The Failed 'Colony' Scheme to Rig the Ninth Ward
Local political operatives attempted to pack the Ninth Ward with manufactured voters by dangling sewer-digging jobs and boarding house deals, but the plan collapsed under the weight of its own incompetence.
- A Gavel, a Roar, and a Populist Ticket Born in Chaos
King County's People's Party convention at Turner Hall turned into a shouting, proxy-fighting, faction-splitting marathon—and buried Dr. J. Eugene Jordan and Jack McDonald on the way to nominating a ticket.
- A Night of Political Chaos in Ballard
A routine city council meeting in Ballard spirals into personal attacks, accusations of corruption, and a public name-calling match between council members.
- An Ambassador for the Northwest: Judge Lewis Returns from the East
A Seattle judge’s 1885 journey reveals a Pacific Northwest eager to prove itself to the skeptical East, complete with butter-churning Quakers and coal-scam lawsuits.
- Life in the Yakima Prospecting Camps
A vivid look at the daily grit, dashed hopes, and stubborn optimism of the men digging for fortunes in the upper Natchees.
- The Broken Promise of the University
A bitter civic dispute over why the territorial university moved from Port Townsend to Seattle, revealing 19th-century political maneuvering and broken handshakes.
- Seattle Voters Topple the 'Tammany' Machine in a Republican Landslide
A sweeping 1894 municipal election repudiates a corrupt city government, a boss named John Collins, and a looted treasury — with Democrats joining the revolt.
- The Push for Washington Statehood
While Washington Territory eyes the Union, local leaders debate whether to wait for Congress or force the issue.
- The Greasy Pole Gambit: Seattle’s Summer of Slapstick and Sweat
On a sweltering July evening in 1889, thousands gathered at the foot of Madison Street not for politics or protest, but to watch three men fail spectacularly at climbing an oiled pole—a moment of pure, unadulterated civic joy.
- The Gold Rush That Never Was: Seattle’s First Wave of Klondike Dreamers
As the first steamers arrive from the Yukon with empty hands and full cargo holds, Seattleites prepare to follow them north, unaware that the gold rush is already over.
- Seattle's 1877 Plea: Build a Wagon Road Over the Cascades Before Portland Steals the Inland Empire
With no railroad yet across the mountains, a Seattle newspaper argued the city's future depended on a wagon road to Yakima—before Portland grabbed the inland trade forever.