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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1876 | 4 |
| 1877 | 4 |
| 1878 | 10 |
| 1879 | 3 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1889 | 4 |
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| 1891 | 6 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 3 |
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| 1895 | 17 |
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| 1916 | 1 |
75 stories matching payabl
- Kennewick Declares War on the Bottle
With state prohibition looming, the city council passes a sweeping ordinance to criminalize the possession, sale, and even the advertisement of alcohol.
- The Price of Progress: Yakima County Bids for the State College
In a special session, county commissioners authorize $15,000 in warrants to help secure the site for the newly forming state agricultural college.
- The City’s New Bonding Power
New legislation grants Seattle the authority to issue local improvement bonds, shifting the financial burden of street and sewer projects directly onto benefited property owners.
- Seattle’s First City Hall: A $500 Bill for Front Street
In September 1876, the fledgling city council authorized a payment to George Edwards for rebuilding the cribbing and earthworks on Front Street, marking one of the earliest municipal infrastructure contracts in Seattle's history.
- The Business Academy on the Frontier
A look at the professional aspirations of Snohomish in 1888, where ambitious students flocked to learn the complexities of commerce, bookkeeping, and mercantile law.
- The Price of a Bed and Board: A Snohomish Debt Struggle
A legal summons filed in 1878 highlights the precarious financial lives of territorial residents, revealing how the basic cost of survival—rent and provisions—could swiftly result in litigation.
- Evicted from the Table: A Frontier Debt Dispute
When boarder Daniel Leighton failed to settle his bill for food and lodging, he found himself named in a district court summons, revealing the precarious reality of daily life in the Snohomish territory.
- The Walla Walla County Debt Trap
A railroad promoter’s aggressive scheme to offload personal financial liabilities onto the taxpayers of Walla Walla County.
- The Price of Municipal Ownership in Kent
Citizens of Kent are left with a mounting debt and a white elephant after a failed attempt to run their own utilities.
- The Money Lenders Take Another Spokane Block
A foreclosure suit on the Kaele block reveals a family that paid nearly $11,000 in interest — and still stands to lose the property to a Dutch mortgage bank.
- Legislature Offers Tax Relief to Struggling Property Owners
A new bill aims to waive penalties and interest for delinquent taxpayers, while proposing a shift to semi-annual payments to ease the burden on residents.
- The Hypocrisy of a 'People's' Candidate
Promissory notes reveal the high-interest lending practices of a gubernatorial candidate campaigning on cheap money.
- Secret of the Palouse River
A grisly discovery of blood-stained shirts and Spanish documents suggests a cold case murder.
- A Local Bank Closes Its Doors as Its Officers Head to Seattle
The State Bank of Olympia winds down after its president and cashier leave for Seattle, transferring accounts to the First National Bank.
- A County Deep in Warrants Calls for $200,000 in Bonds
Stevens County commissioners call a September special election to validate debt and issue bonds to redeem current expense warrants, some of which exceeded the constitutional limit.
- The Cost of Survival in Early Snohomish
A legal summons from 1878 reveals the precarious nature of life for transient workers, as one man is sued for his unpaid tab for basic food and shelter.
- The 'Chisel' Game: How Seattle's Working Class Fought Labor Exploitation
A scathing report from 1887 reveals the corrupt 'ticket' system that allowed middlemen to siphon wages from laborers—a century-old echo of modern gig-economy wage theft.
- Railroad Workers Left Without Pay in Seattle
Construction crews on the Cedar River extension face a dire crisis after the Oregon Transcontinental company fails to issue wages since January.
- A Debt of Board and Lodging
A legal dispute over a $236 unpaid bill offers a rare, granular look at the economy of 1878 Snohomish.
- The Price of Staying Fed: A Frontier Debt
A legal notice from 1877 reveals the precarious reality of life in the Snohomish River Valley, where board, lodging, and dry goods could lead to a court summons for unpaid accounts.
- The Seattle Coal Cooperative of 1876
A century and a half ago, Seattle workers formed a mutual benefit mining company to secure their own fuel and profits.
- Seattle Bets $7 Million on a Canal Through the Tide Flats
St. Louis capitalists will dredge a waterway from Lake Washington to the Sound and fill the flats with new ground — if the subsidies come through. The paper calls it the making of the city's commercial supremacy.
- The Struggle to Keep the Grape Carnival Alive
Kennewick business leaders scramble to raise a $2,000 guarantee fund to ensure the city's annual Grape Carnival continues.
- The Boarding House Debt
A legal dispute over unpaid bills for housing and goods reveals the precarious reality of daily life in the Washington Territory in 1877.
- A Rope of Rags, a Jar of Coal Oil, and a Tacoma Arson Plot
Fire Chief Bruemmer found a carefully laid fuse running through a mortgaged tenement—just before the owner left town for Neah Bay.