Research the archive
Narrow 25,688 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 3 |
| 1859 | 3 |
| 1861 | 2 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1864 | 2 |
| 1871 | 2 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 26 |
| 1877 | 19 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1880 | 5 |
| 1882 | 6 |
| 1883 | 18 |
| 1884 | 5 |
| 1885 | 18 |
| 1886 | 8 |
| 1887 | 6 |
| 1888 | 8 |
| 1889 | 20 |
| 1890 | 4 |
| 1891 | 27 |
| 1892 | 35 |
| 1893 | 25 |
| 1894 | 43 |
| 1895 | 59 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 6 |
| 1899 | 8 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 32 |
| 1904 | 18 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 6 |
| 1909 | 27 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1911 | 3 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 2 |
| 1916 | 4 |
| 1917 | 6 |
| 1923 | 3 |
| 1925 | 1 |
| 1928 | 1 |
476 stories matching plain
- The Legal Limits of Game Warden Searches
A state legal opinion clarifies that officers cannot search cars for game without a warrant or probable cause, unless it is in plain view.
- Military Spectacle at Lakeview
Thousands gathered at the plain near Lakeview to witness a massive review of state troops, marking the end of recent military maneuvers.
- The Ten-Foot Map That Would Sewer Olympia
In 1891, an engineer drew a room-sized map and planned a drainage system for a city of 20,000—if the council could get around the Seventh Street tunnel.
- The Settler Who Watched Olympia Get Claimed
R. C. Smith, who crossed the plains in 1848, recalls the canoe landing where Edmund Sylvester took the claim that became Olympia.
- The Woman Who Bet $20,000 She Could Walk Around the World
Champion pedestrian Zoe Gayton stops in Seattle before a globe-circling wager—armed with walking shoes, two revolvers, and a cocker spaniel.
- The Court House Frame-Up: Farmers Cry Foul Over a $30,000 Bond Deal
Benton County taxpayers say commissioners tried to sell courthouse bonds without advertising for bids — and that the prosecuting attorney helped fight the very people he was elected to represent.
- Col. Wright's Column Drives Spokane Fighters Across the Plains
An 1858 campaign report describes a running fight on the Spokane Plains—and the violent logic of dispossession behind it.
- A Lincoln Judge Buried: Olympia Mourns C. C. Hewitt
The bar and superior court adjourn as pioneers honor the ex-chief justice of Washington Territory, remembered as a plain, honest man who served from the bench through stormy years.
- The Great Reclamation: Opening the Interior
How a 1877 federal law sought to transform the 'Great American Desert' of the Yakima plains into a productive landscape.
- The Schoolhouse That Wasn't: Seattle’s Bureaucratic Battle Over Public Education
In 1877, a local dispute over the construction of a new school in Helltown reveals the early struggles of civic infrastructure and the tension between taxpayer demands and administrative delay.
- Col. Lewis Defends the Militia Against Corporate Capture
A fiery speech at the Seattle Armory denies that the state militia is a tool of the railroads, drawing cheers from 1,500 spectators.
- The Great Northwestern Migration
Economic promises and the promise of a new life draw thousands to Washington Territory, fleeing the hardships of the eastern plains.
- The Souvenir That Sold Washington by the Page
A state pamphlet meant to promote Washington at the World's Fair gave Tacoma ten pages and Aberdeen not a line—unless towns paid. South Bend's mayor had already refused.
- The Panther, the Mail Route and the Ox Team: A Frontier Preacher's Long Road to Walla Walla
Rev. A. W. Sweeney, who carried the U.S. mail alone through the Arkansas wilds at eight years old and crossed the plains by ox team to the gold camps, died this morning at his son's house in Walla Walla at 76.
- The Farmer Who Said the Colleges Were Failing Rural Washington
Addressing the state dairymen, farmer Wm. F. Izett argues that the land-grant colleges move too slowly and cost too much to save the farm — and pitches a cheaper, faster kind of agricultural school as the 'machine gun' the countryside needs.
- An Explorer’s Report from the Northwestern Frontier
A detailed dispatch describing the agricultural potential, wildlife, and natural beauty of the Clallam County prairies.
- The Logger’s Dilemma: Why Cheap Labor Is Killing Washington's Future
In a fierce editorial from January 1877, the Puget Sound Dispatch argues that low wages for loggers don't just hurt workers—they stunt the growth of the entire territory, creating a class of 'mental and physical wrecks' instead of future statesmen.
- A Jury Called the Franklin Mine Fire Arson. Thirty-Seven Miners Were Already Dead.
A coroner's jury found that someone deliberately set the fire that suffocated 37 workers in the Franklin mine. The only survivor described how one opened door and one stopped fan turned the gangway into a death trap.
- Priest Rapids Dam License Brings White Bluffs a City Dream
A century ago, boosters dreamed of a massive industrial city on the Columbia, promised by the General Electric Company as a 'second Niagara Falls.'
- Guns at the Polls: Seattle’s First Ward Primary Erupts in a Street Brawl
Sheriff Woolery and saloon man John Considine tried to seize a Republican primary by arresting the election judges; Chief Rogers and his police fought back with warrants, clubs and drawn revolvers.
- The Birth of Mount Rainier National Park
Federal officials move to secure the mountain's forests and glaciers for public preservation, setting the stage for a new national treasure.
- The Great Northwest Flood of 1894
Historic deluges across the Columbia, Fraser, and Skagit river valleys have paralyzed rail travel and left thousands displaced from their homes.
- A Sobering Plunge from the Eleventh Street Bridge
After attempting to end his life in the harbor while intoxicated, a local laborer decides that everyday life is worth holding onto.
- Under Fire on the Way to Spokane: Seattle's Militia Rode Into a Rail War
Col. Joseph Green's detachment returns from Spokane after escorting a mutinied company through burned bridges, ambushes and striker country—and the city turns out to cheer.
- The Midnight Death of Seattle’s Charter
When a judge declared the city’s incorporation invalid in 1877, the local newspaper editor went on the warpath to save the municipality from 'gratuitous anarchy.'