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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1861 | 2 |
| 1876 | 6 |
| 1877 | 7 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1880 | 3 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 4 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 6 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 8 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1903 | 3 |
| 1904 | 3 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 |
69 stories matching elaps
- The Decades-Long Battle Over Yesler’s Mill
A landmark legal struggle over the future of Seattle’s foundational sawmill reaches a tense standoff in the courts.
- The Art of Boosting: How Early Seattle Built a Territory
In an era before mass media, Seattle’s newspaper editors viewed themselves as the primary architects of immigration, using booster journalism to lure settlers to the Pacific Northwest.
- The Tragedy of the North Star: A Lost Crew and a Community’s Grief
Fifty-two days after departing for San Diego with a heavy timber load, the brig North Star is officially presumed lost, leaving a community to reckon with the perils of the Pacific and the cost of the lumber boom.
- The Unjust Public Shaming of J.E. Spafford
After the death of his wife, a Seattle laborer fights back against local gossip and accusations of neglect in a poignant appeal to the press.
- The Political Honeymoon of 1889
Four months into the Harrison administration, a Seattle editor reflects on the stability of a presidency that weathered a major international crisis in Samoa.
- Debating the Northern Railroad's Route to Puget Sound
As the Northern Pacific Railroad eyed a Portland terminus to maximize its land grants, a fierce editorial demands the company fulfill its promise to connect the Columbia River to Puget Sound or forfeit its territory.
- When a Railroad Held the Territory Hostage: The 1877 Fight Over the Northern Pacific Land Grant
Governor Ferry's message to the Legislature proposes a 10-year extension for the Northern Pacific—but warns the territory will be crippled if the western terminus lands in Portland instead of Puget Sound.
- 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 Struggle for the Pacific Northwest’s Iron Backbone
As the Northern Pacific Railroad languished in 1877, the Governor of Washington Territory demanded the company fulfill its land grant promises to break the cycle of land speculation and stagnation.
- The City Was Broke. The Paper Wanted the Mayor and Council to Quit.
With Olympia's finances in a muddle and a bond election already doomed by irregularities, the Tribune pressed Mayor Kerr and three councilmen to resign early so the newly elected government could take charge.
- The State of the Territory: 1885
Governor Watson C. Squire delivers a wide-ranging address on Washington's rapid growth, the need for a penitentiary, and the rising 'anti-Chinese' labor tensions in Seattle.
- The Futility of the Gallows
One month after Seattle's first judicial execution of a white man, the local press questions whether state-sanctioned violence actually deters crime or simply breeds contempt for the law.
- The Fighting Bulldog of the Navy Departs
Amid steam whistles and cheering crowds, the battleship USS Iowa successfully navigated the Port Orchard dry dock, proving the facility’s superiority over its East Coast rivals.
- City Dock Bottleneck Hits Local Merchants
The Northern Pacific Railway's failure to install a short spur track has left Tacoma's new city dock paralyzed for months, forcing local producers to pay extra wharfage fees.
- The Tragedy at H Lake
A young man breaks through thin ice while skating, leaving his companions helpless to save him.
- The People vs. The Northern Pacific Railroad
Across Washington Territory, furious citizens—from farmers in Colfax to merchants in Seattle—revolted against a railroad monopoly they claimed was hoarding millions of acres of 'earned' land and stifling development.
- The Unraveling of Professor Barrimore
A traveling actor and self-proclaimed 'Professor' leaves a trail of abandoned wives and broken hearts across the Pacific Northwest.
- The Mail That Stopped Coming to Puget Sound
For more than ten days no mail arrived from California or the Atlantic states. Steilacoom’s editor blamed a federal order in San Francisco and wondered how long the town could keep publishing.
- The Promised Land of North River
A booster advertisement in 1878 paints the North River Valley as a hidden agricultural utopia awaiting two hundred families.
- The Rapid Rise of a City from the Ashes
After a devastating fire nearly destroyed Spokane, the community bypassed despair, opting instead for an immediate, high-velocity reconstruction effort that saw the city rising before the smoke had even cleared.
- A Surveyor's Delay, a Land Office Snarl, and Four Dead Men in Okanogan
Settlers near Loomis have waited years for their homesteads to be platted and put on the market while paperwork sat unfinished in Washington — and in the meantime, four men have been killed fighting over boundary lines nobody could settle.
- The Night Steilacoom's Records Burned
A Tuesday-night blaze destroyed the county auditor's office, forced the demolition of a neighboring building, and nearly took Anthony's Hotel—until soldiers joined the bucket brigade.
- Olympia's Grand Washington's Birthday Celebration and Statehood Pride
A parade, a packed theater, and a speech linking Washington's legacy to the new state of Washington—Olympia celebrates February 22, 1892.
- The Iron Vanguard of the Pacific
While the USS Nipsic was an aging relic of a bygone naval era, its arrival at the Puget Sound station in 1892 marked a pivotal, hard-fought milestone in Seattle's rise as a major military port.
- The Great Tacoma Water Grift
How a corrupt water monopoly swindled the city out of nearly $1.5 million for a tainted water supply, leaving residents with a decade of filth.