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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 2 |
| 1858 | 4 |
| 1859 | 5 |
| 1861 | 7 |
| 1862 | 5 |
| 1863 | 4 |
| 1864 | 2 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1872 | 15 |
| 1876 | 93 |
| 1877 | 80 |
| 1878 | 51 |
| 1879 | 8 |
| 1880 | 23 |
| 1882 | 18 |
| 1883 | 92 |
| 1884 | 33 |
| 1885 | 94 |
| 1886 | 35 |
| 1887 | 54 |
| 1888 | 73 |
| 1889 | 194 |
| 1890 | 22 |
| 1891 | 120 |
| 1892 | 234 |
| 1893 | 250 |
| 1894 | 252 |
| 1895 | 73 |
| 1897 | 4 |
| 1898 | 3 |
| 1899 | 56 |
| 1900 | 13 |
| 1902 | 6 |
| 1903 | 169 |
| 1904 | 105 |
| 1905 | 9 |
| 1908 | 5 |
| 1909 | 89 |
| 1910 | 20 |
| 1911 | 14 |
| 1912 | 10 |
| 1914 | 18 |
| 1915 | 16 |
| 1916 | 46 |
| 1917 | 27 |
| 1918 | 5 |
| 1920 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 21 |
| 1924 | 6 |
| 1925 | 2 |
2,490 stories matching month
- The Open River Was Supposed to Pay Dividends. Was Anyone Counting?
A year after the Celilo Canal opened, the Courier-Reporter asked whether the Inland Empire would actually use the river—and bragged that Kennewick was already the Columbia’s busiest freight town this side of Celilo.
- The Sheep Herders Who Burned a Half-Million Dollars to Scare Coyotes
For eighteen months a Rattlesnake Hills gas well blazed away at a herders' camp — until experts did the math and a three-cornered oil race began.
- The Dream of 'Palatine Hill': Selling the Industrial Suburb
Promotional copy from 1888 captures the rapid-fire development of Seattle’s outskirts, dangling the promise of affordable housing to laborers near the new railroad lines.
- The Missing Payday at the First Seattle Railroad
Workers on the nascent Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad staged a walkout after a payroll error left them empty-handed.
- The General Who Conquered Rainier First
A century after his perilous climb, Gen. A.V. Kautz recounts the first recorded ascent of Mount Rainier to a Seattle reporter, correcting the historical record on glaciers and glory.
- The Mud That Stalled Seattle: Why Our Hills Are Unrideable
Four months of relentless rain have turned Seattle’s steep streets into impassable quagmires, halting commerce and terrifying travelers. As the city debates reform elsewhere, locals demand immediate graveling or paving before the mud claims another season.
- The Boomtown That Stretched Itself Thin
A local builder’s report from 1889 reveals how rapid development and land speculation transformed Snohomish into a fragmented town of 'additions,' while warning of an impending labor downturn.
- The Spokane Newspaper Price War Heats Up
A cutthroat competition between rival morning and evening papers leads to plummeting subscription rates and new publishing schedules.
- The Summer the Smoke Saved the Harvest
With rainfall a third of normal and crops burning in the fields, Seattle's paper made the case that the season's suffocating pall of forest-fire smoke had been the region's salvation.
- Ballard Goes Dark
Facing a fiscal crisis, the Ballard City Council votes to cut off the neighborhood's electric streetlights to save $250 a month.
- The Dream of Palatine: 1888 Real Estate Hype in Seattle
A sprawling advertisement for a 'suburban' development in the Salmon Bay area reveals how developers promised working-class families a foothold in the rapidly industrializing north Seattle.
- The Boom at Ross Station: Selling the Future of Seattle
Developers pitch affordable suburban lots near Salmon Bay to laborers, promising a new hub of industry just three miles from downtown.
- Seattle's Cutoff Conundrum
Superintendent Wilson triggers a neighborhood uprising by shutting off water to hundreds of residents who missed payment deadlines.
- The Six-Month Rule: A Marriage Undone
A Seattle man files suit to annul his marriage, claiming his bride was still legally bound to her ex-husband under Washington’s strict divorce laws.
- Seattle’s Post Office Was a Public Nuisance
Letters sat for a day, stamps ran short, and clerks were worked to exhaustion while the postmaster earned about $85 a month. In 1883, Seattle’s mail service was barely functioning.
- City Council Faces Telephone Monopoly Fight
Local committee pushes decision on a new telephone franchise to the full city council, triggering debates over corporate financial backing and competition.
- Spokane Gambler Cashes In on Anti-Gambling Law
A convicted gambler finds a profitable loophole in his prison sentence, allegedly collecting a daily stipend while serving time.
- The Bull Catcher’s Salary
Seattle’s Black Republicans turned out for the city ticket, then were handed the lowest-paid patronage jobs. A Black paper asked whether the party meant to pay them in gratitude or insult.
- The Cattle Boom That Was Selling Off Its Own Future
A Northern Pacific land examiner warns that Nebraska buyers are sweeping up Washington breeding stock, prices are surging in Yakima County, and an Adams County artesian well could open a new grazing frontier.
- The Promised Suburb: Sales Pitch for Palatine Hill
A late 19th-century land developer lures Seattle workers to a ‘suburban’ frontier near Salmon Bay with promises of factories and affordable housing.
- The Rise of the Suburban Commute
Promotional real estate copy from 1888 reveals the birth of Seattle's northern suburbs, marketing small lots to working-class families tethered to new industrial rail lines.
- The Real Estate Boom of the 1880s
Promotional copy for a new suburban development near Salmon Bay promised cheap, accessible housing for the city's rapidly growing workforce.
- Seattle's Library on the Brink: Fines Fall, Debt Rises
The city's finance committee and library commission meet to confront a growing debt caused by declining fine revenue, as circulation soars and the institution struggles to stay open.
- The Courthouse That Couldn’t: Contractors Fall Months Behind as Penalties Mount
Thurston County’s new courthouse is five months late, triggering a $20-a-day penalty and a standoff over withheld payments.
- A Dry Spell Finally Ends for Walla Walla Farmers
A much-needed rainfall brings relief to local agriculture after a month of concerning precipitation deficits.