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80 stories matching fraction
- The Dream of a Waterway: Seattle's 1892 Vision
Before the Panama Canal, Washington's Senator John B. Allen championed a trans-hemispheric waterway through Nicaragua to liberate the Pacific Northwest from the high costs of rail transit.
- Tacoma’s Million-Dollar Water Scandal
Citizens are fighting to repudiate a massive bond issue for a municipal water plant they claim is worth only a fraction of the cost.
- The Struggle to Build the First King County Jail
After years of delay, the King County Commissioners finally moved to secure land for a permanent jail—using $3,500 in county warrants to purchase a lot between Jefferson and Mill Streets.
- The Unfair Tax Burden on Everett's Small Homeowners
Local labor advocates expose how corporations and land speculators pay only a fraction of their property taxes compared to the working class.
- Seattle Lot Listings Pitch Prime Business Corners in 1888
A classic advertisement from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reveals the city’s early land-grabbing fervor, offering prime downtown lots and suburban tracts for a fraction of today's prices.
- A Jury Settles the Water for Calispell
Landowners in the Calispell bottoms are awarded damages, clearing the way for a diking district to reclaim about 100 acres from the annual overflow.
- The City of Experts
Walla Walla's local government is criticized for a wave of high-priced, unnecessary 'expert' consultants while local talent remains ignored.
- The Struggle to Feed and House King County's Poor in 1876
Newly surfaced county records reveal the bureaucratic grind of managing public welfare, road construction, and the sequestration of municipal rents in 1870s Seattle.
- Puyallup Land Sales Spark Tension With Federal Agent
Agent Eells defends his role in the controversial sale of tribal lands, claiming the Puyallup people are being manipulated by real estate speculators.
- The Cascades of Disparity
Federal engineers reveal that Washington state's infrastructure projects receive only a fraction of the funding allocated to Oregon.
- The Speaker’s High-Stakes Balancing Act
Speaker Meigs stacks the House Public Morals Committee with an even split of prohibitionists and anti-prohibitionists, leaving the committee’s crucial legislative decisions deadlocked.
- Freeholders Fight a Fire-Sale Price on Seattle's Tide Lands
A petition filed with the city protested the state's low appraisal of tide lands, warning that selling public waterfront at a fraction of its value would cheat both Seattle and Washington.
- The Great Representation Scandal of 1886
A look back at how political gerrymandering in Washington Territory left voters with wildly unequal voices in their own government.
- The Shadow Market for Public Land
A look at the opaque system of land scrip that fueled Washington's early expansion and the brokers who profited from the hustle.
- The Fight for Yakima's First Park
The city council rejected a land purchase for a public park, ignoring the future needs of a growing population.
- The New 'Maynard's Lake Washington Addition' Hits the Market
A sprawling 366-acre tract of land near the lake is now being subdivided into 131 blocks, sparking a rush of early interest from investors.
- The Fight Over Washington’s Missing School Sections
A Port Townsend case over “lieu lands” reaches a federal courtroom—and the title to hundreds of thousands of acres of school land.
- The 1877 Seattle Real Estate Boom
A local newspaper editorial from 1877 argues that despite economic 'stringency,' land investment remains the safest bet for the city's future.
- Hanford Water Users Seek More Water and Lower Fees
Water users on the old Hanford project take their fight against high maintenance fees to the State Public Service Commission.
- A Jinxed Steamer Sold at Auction: The Henry Bailey's Bad Luck on the Skagit
After repeated sinkings in the Skagit River and a crew's libel suit, the steamer Henry Bailey went on the auction block at Seattle's Yesler dock—fetching a fraction of its original cost.
- The Great Tax Assessment Mess of 1887
Seattle and King County property owners find their tax rolls hopelessly entangled in errors, leaving public officials to question if the entire assessment should be scrapped.
- 1889 Plan to Sell Washington’s Tide Lands
A scathing editorial from 1889 warns that the state's proposed policy for selling tide lands is a 'farce' designed to gift public waterfront to private speculators.
- The Barn That Was a Courthouse: King County’s Shameful Jail and Office Conditions
An editorial exposé reveals that King County’s records are stored in a 'mere barn' and prisoners live in conditions 'a disgrace to a humane community,' urging the sale of bonds for new buildings.
- The Empty Vault: How the Pioneers' Association Went Broke
A financial audit of the Washington Territorial Association reveals a treasury with no money and a membership list full of ghosts, raising questions about the future of Seattle's oldest civic society.
- The Unchecked Ambitions of 1878 Seattle
A prophetic editorial from the Intelligencer reveals how early leaders envisioned Seattle as the industrial and commercial juggernaut of the Pacific Northwest.