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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 2 |
| 1861 | 2 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1872 | 7 |
| 1876 | 35 |
| 1877 | 34 |
| 1878 | 13 |
| 1879 | 4 |
| 1880 | 5 |
| 1882 | 4 |
| 1883 | 35 |
| 1884 | 17 |
| 1885 | 21 |
| 1886 | 7 |
| 1887 | 7 |
| 1888 | 22 |
| 1889 | 48 |
| 1890 | 7 |
| 1891 | 26 |
| 1892 | 38 |
| 1893 | 30 |
| 1894 | 27 |
| 1895 | 52 |
| 1897 | 5 |
| 1898 | 9 |
| 1899 | 4 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 17 |
| 1904 | 10 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 7 |
| 1909 | 9 |
| 1910 | 5 |
| 1911 | 2 |
| 1914 | 5 |
| 1915 | 6 |
| 1916 | 7 |
| 1917 | 4 |
| 1925 | 1 |
| 1929 | 1 |
541 stories matching prosper
- Aberdeen’s Call to Action
A local editor criticizes the Chamber of Commerce for inertia and demands improvements to the Wishkah River road to boost the city's growth.
- Bellingham Bay's New Steamship Era
The arrival of the steamship Wilmington signals a shift from the gold-rush volatility of 1858 to a permanent, resource-driven prosperity for the region.
- The Coal Rush: How 1876 Industry Linked Seattle and Tacoma
A historic editorial argues that the expansion of Northern Pacific Railroad coal lines from Puyallup will drive mutual prosperity for Seattle and its southern neighbor.
- The Self-Help Gospel of the Wishkah Mill
An editorial urging local unemployed men to bypass wage labor and directly operate a shuttered sawmill to kickstart the regional economy.
- The Hypocrisy of Seattle’s 'Conservative' Moralists
A citizen's sharp critique of the local council and police force, highlighting their hypocrisy in failing to enforce Sunday closing laws while positioning themselves as pillars of order.
- The Boomtown Hype of Queen Anne Hill
A classic 19th-century real estate advertisement paints a dream of rapid transit and prosperity on Seattle’s growing northern skyline.
- The Torchlight Parade for 'Prosperity'
Thousands of Seattle residents packed the streets and an armory in 1889 to cheer Republican candidates, a political display that felt more like a frantic race for jobs and survival.
- The Price of the 'Boom' in 1885 Seattle
While the city rode a wave of prosperity, locals were already feeling the strain of rapid expansion, speculation, and the 'dull times' that inevitably follow a growth spurt.
- The Peril of the Company Town
An 1887 editorial warns that Tacoma’s prosperity is built on a dangerous, fragile foundation: the sole favor of a single corporation.
- The Tragic End of a Seattle Logger
After years of success followed by a swift decline in fortune, a once-prosperous logger faces the ruin of his livelihood and his mental health.
- The Iron Will of the Puget Soundry
How a local iron works became the pride of a young Seattle, forging the industrial future of the territory.
- How Seattle Raised $50,000 for Its Canal — Bootblacks Included
A San Francisco paper marveled that Seattle's Lake Washington canal fund came in small donations from rich and poor alike, a civic-spirit story with a Puget Sound lesson.
- The Temperance Movement Comes to the Territory
A new petition arrives in Olympia calling for the total prohibition of liquor sales in the Washington Territory.
- The Boom That Refuses To Bust
While critics predicted the collapse of the Washington boom, the territory points to its literal bedrock—coal, iron, timber, and grain—as proof of its enduring prosperity.
- The Child Who Built Everett’s Prosperity
A haunting, fictionalized account of the daily drudgery faced by child laborers in the early 20th century.
- The Saloonkeeper’s Open Letter to Walla Walla Voters
An unapologetic endorsement of Mayor Hunt from a local saloon owner who argues that city officials should ignore 'blue laws' in favor of prosperity.
- The Boomtown That Almost Wasn't: Seattle in 1876
While the rest of the nation struggled through a deep economic depression, a local newspaper reflects on the unprecedented industrial and infrastructure expansion that transformed Seattle from a village into a bustling coal and lumber hub.
- Aberdeen Throws a Party for Its First Northern Pacific Train
Twelve hundred people turned out as a new spur finally brought the Northern Pacific into Aberdeen, ending years of hauling and boosting a lumber town's hopes.
- Seattle Merchants Fight New Mortgage Taxes
The Chamber of Commerce warns that taxing mortgages will strangle the city's growth and drive away essential investment.
- The New Steamboat Revolutionizing the Chehalis River
As industry and sawmills take root at Grays Harbor, a new steamer brings promise of a 'new era of prosperity' to the Chehalis valley.
- Twelve Miles Down, Twelve to Go: Seattle Bets on a Railroad to the Coal Fields
Stockholders reorganized the Seattle and Walla Walla road, re-elected their officers, and then turned on the subscribers who have not paid their bonds — because twenty-four miles of track would open the Cedar River coal and the valley's bottom land.
- Lynden Goes Dry
In a notable outlier for Whatcom County, Lynden voters decide to ban alcohol, prompting a pledge from the council to enforce the new temperance measures.
- The Strange Quiet of 1876 Seattle
After the Fourth of July celebrations, the city fell into an eerie, total stillness that unsettled its local boosters.
- The Gold Rush That Never Was: Walla Walla’s Delusion of Wealth
In January 1889, a local paper in Walla Walla, Washington, published an ecstatic report claiming the city was awash in gold dust and twenty-dollar pieces, comparing its prosperity to the heyday of the Salmon River mines. It was a stark contrast to the reality of a region still recovering from economic busts.
- The Railroad Rate Bill Dies in the Senate—and the Palouse Wants Answers
Washington's Helm freight-rate bill passed the House overwhelmingly, then fell in the Senate. Farmers calculated the loss in dollars; editors told voters to remember the senators who killed it.