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83 stories matching exorbit
- The High Price of Patronage Printing
A sharp look at how the Tacoma Ledger allegedly extracted $9,000 from the Pierce County treasury through sweetheart printing contracts.
- The Price of Rail Dominance
A clash over mileage rates and interest terms strains the relationship between the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company and the Northern Pacific.
- The Price of Passage on Bellingham Bay
Passengers are protesting predatory fare hikes on local steamers, pitting citizens against boat operators in a fight over transit costs.
- The Power Grab: Tacoma Businessmen Battle Utility Monopoly
Prominent citizens organize to fight an electric franchise they fear will cripple local industry and inflate power prices.
- The Boarding-House Ransom
When a sailor fell deathly ill in Tacoma, his boarding-house proprietor held him hostage, hoping to claim the dying man's life savings as an exorbitant medical bill.
- Tacoma’s Water War: A City Divided Over Private Utility Buyout
A heated municipal battle erupts as citizens protest the proposed purchase of a private water plant, fearing corruption and an exorbitant price tag.
- The Great Tax Assessment Debacle of 1887
King County taxpayers find themselves in an uproar as a bungled property assessment, based on a worthless abstract, threatens the city’s financial stability.
- City Hall Under Siege for Corruption
Calls for the impeachment of two public works commissioners trigger fears of a city hall whitewash.
- The Price of Power: Citizens Take on the Electric Monopoly
Dr. J. F. Cropp leads a crusade against the Northwestern Gas and Electric company, armed with petitions and a list of rates from 27 other cities.
- Newspaper Presses First National Bank on Water Deal
The Statesman accuses local banking interests of attempting to force an overpriced land deal onto the city through the municipal council.
- Jefferson Street Was Graded on Paper
Homeowners refused to pay an assessment for street work they say was never properly authorized—or finished.
- The Thankless Grind of Seattle’s Territorial Delegate
In 1877, Judge Jacobs faced a barrage of local criticism for his D.C. lobbying efforts—a precursor to the modern frustrations of representing a growing, isolated Northwest in the halls of federal power.
- The Battle for a Living Wage in Washington
When the State Supreme Court struck down Spokane’s minimum wage ordinance, they left city workers vulnerable to the whims of contractors and the bottom line.
- The Great Sewerage Snafu
As Seattle rapidly expanded, the city council struggled to build a modern waste system, hampered by exorbitant royalty demands from engineers and local political bickering.
- The Great Land Grant Rebellion
Farmers in the Snake River region revolt against the Northern Pacific Railroad's land policies, demanding the forfeiture of unearned land grants.
- The Great Grain Rate War
Legislators in Olympia spar over a proposed reduction in railroad freight rates, setting Eastern Washington farmers against the powerful railroad corporations.
- Grand Jury Investigates Grocery Cartel
Tacoma grocers and commissioners face scrutiny over allegations of price-fixing and shady contracts.
- The Exhausting Wait: How Seattle's 1874 Election Paralyzed the City
After election clerks were locked in a hall for thirty hours to tally votes, local journalists decried the bureaucratic slog as a 'quarry slave' ordeal that turned even the most patient men into irritable, sleep-deprived ruins.
- The City Council vs. The Chamber of Commerce
Tacoma's governing body fires back at local business elites, accusing them of fiscal hypocrisy and meddling in city affairs.
- The Rogue Commissioner of Snohomish County
Local ranchers file affidavits against a young U.S. Commissioner accused of extortion, petty larceny, and raiding the local candy supply.
- Fairhaven Fights for Its Own Steamship Line
Local merchants move to break the shipping monopoly of Seattle and Tacoma by courting a direct San Francisco steamship connection.
- The Forger Who Fooled Seattle Banks
A clever check-raiser who cut his mustache and fled to Snohomish leaves behind a tangled web of litigation between an Aberdeen bank and Seattle’s financial elite.
- The Socialist Surge in Everett City Hall
Voters are turning to the Socialist ticket as a protest against rising costs and corporate influence in municipal governance.
- Endicott's Russian Immigrants Defy Czarist Loyalty
Local Russian immigrants in Whitman County express solidarity with Japan, citing personal trauma under the Russian regime.
- The Battle for Cheaper Lights
Mayor Campbell's administration faced intense pushback from the city council while attempting to dismantle an electric lighting monopoly.