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1. The irrigation revolution comes to the Yakima Valley

   Farmers are abandoning rain-dependent coast lands for the guaranteed harvests of the irrigated sagebrush plains.

   Mar 31, 1892The Yakima HeraldYakima, Yakima CountyBoom & Bust

2. The Great Seattle Main Street Flood of 1886

   Heavy rains turn a bustling thoroughfare into a literal river, driving residents from their homes and stalling city business.

   Jul 4, 1885Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerMain Street, Seattle, King CountyDisasters

3. The Wettest Spring in Memory: Walla Walla’s Deluge and the Rainbow That Spanned Mountains

   While Seattle residents fret over rain cisterns, neighbors to the east endure a historic deluge that has delayed planting and produced a rare midnight rainbow stretching from the Cascades to the Columbia.

   Jun 9, 1876The Daily IntelligencerWalla Walla, Walla Walla CountyStrange But True

4. The Phosphorus Terror of Hoquiam

   A saboteur sows the streets with incendiary devices, nearly reducing the town to ash before the rains intervene.

   Jul 9, 1891Aberdeen HeraldHoquiam, Grays Harbor CountyTrue Crime

5. Record Harvest Threatened by Wet Weather

   Valley fruit growers face a race against time as rain stalls the largest apple crop in local history.

   Oct 12, 1923White Bluffs SpokesmanWhite Bluffs, Benton County

6. The Unlucky Hitchhiker of Seattle

   A freak accident during a spring storm proves deadly for a man seeking shelter under a passing wagon.

   Apr 22, 1885Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyStrange But True

7. Late-Night Stickup on South 25th Street

   A Tacoma worker walking home in the pouring rain is held at gunpoint by two highwaymen.

   Feb 12, 1904The Tacoma TimesTacoma, Pierce CountyTrue Crime

8. A Soggy Fourth of July at the Ballpark

   Rain and firecrackers dampen the spirits at a lackluster match between the Maroons and Bellingham Bay.

   Jul 5, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMadison Street Park, Seattle, King CountyNightlife

9. A Record-Breaking Wheat Harvest Expected

   Horse Heaven farmers prepare for an unprecedented bounty as national grain forecasts predict a billion-bushel harvest.

   Jun 17, 1915The Kennewick Courier-ReporterHorse Heaven Hills, Kennewick, Benton CountyBoom & Bust

10. The Desert Town That Finally Found a Well

    For years, the residents of Port Townsend relied entirely on collected rain for drinking water, fearing the earth held nothing but salt.

    Jun 22, 1878Puget Sound DispatchPort Townsend, Jefferson CountyStrange But True

11. The Winter the River Took Lowell

    Days of warm rain on deep snow sent the Snohomish over its banks in 1917 — and families rowed out of their own second-story windows.

    Dec 30, 1917The Everett Morning TribuneLowell riverfront, Everett, Snohomish CountyDisasters

12. Building the Great Northern Through the Cascades

    Tunnel construction for the Great Northern Railroad claims a life as laborers battle mountain mud and unrelenting rain.

    Jun 11, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSkykomish, King CountyWork & Pay · Disasters

13. The Sudden 'White Squall' Hits Tacoma

    A ferocious storm rips through the harbor with wind, rain, and snow, causing ships to drift and confusing local scientists.

    Apr 2, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma Harbor, Tacoma, Pierce CountyStrange But True

14. A Saturated Sound Country Braces for a Mountain Thaw

    Heavy rain and deep snow in the Cascades raised fears of floods across Puget Sound, while Lake Washington already spilled into Seattle's parks.

    Apr 21, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyDisasters

15. A Sudden Tragedy on the Tide Flats

    A dray team loses their footing on a rain-slicked plank road and plunges into the dark water below.

    Dec 22, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerCommercial Street, Seattle, King CountyCity Hall · Disasters

16. The Pastor’s Sales Pitch for Kennewick

    Rev. C. D. Rarey returns from an Indiana lecture tour, selling the Northwest as a land of opportunity to those weary of rain-soaked, failing harvests.

    Sep 2, 1915The Kennewick Courier-ReporterKennewick, Benton CountyBoom & Bust

17. The Next Governor Hits the Campaign Trail

    Republican gubernatorial candidate John H. McGraw receives a hero’s welcome in the coastal town of Ilwaco during a rain-swept campaign tour.

    Oct 12, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerCape Disappointment, Ilwaco, Pacific CountyCity Hall

18. The Weather Bureau's Secret Weapon

    An Aberdeen inventor was caught with a bizarre, Gattling-gun-style contraption designed to blast the clouds away and control the rain.

    Feb 4, 1892Aberdeen HeraldAberdeen, Grays Harbor CountySnake Oil

19. City Landslide Disrupts Utilities

    Heavy rain triggers an embankment collapse, fracturing gas and water lines in Tacoma’s lower districts.

    Feb 29, 1904The Tacoma TimesTacoma, Pierce CountyDisasters

20. Labor Day Parade Marches Through Walla Walla

    Despite a drizzling rain, 350 union members and city officials celebrated the holiday with a parade, speeches, and athletic competition at Singleton’s Grove.

    Sep 8, 1903The Evening StatesmanWalla Walla, Walla Walla CountyWork & Pay

21. Summer Storm Floods Walla Walla

    A sudden deluge leaves streets submerged, damages wheat harvests, and sends mountain campers fleeing back to the city.

    Aug 25, 1903The Evening StatesmanThird Street, Walla Walla, Walla Walla CountyDisasters

22. The Great Walla Walla Freshet of 1876

    After unseasonable rains decimated the region's infrastructure, locals wondered if a waterspout had carved a path of destruction through the mountains.

    Dec 9, 1876The Daily IntelligencerWalla Walla, Walla Walla CountyDisasters

23. Community Mourns the Drowning of 'Old Jack'

    Indigenous community members gather in the rain to recover the body of a tribal elder near Westminster.

    Feb 26, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyExclusion & Resistance

24. The Public Shut Out of the 'Floating Palace'

    Residents gathered in the rain to welcome a massive new steamer, only to be denied entry by a locked-out policy.

    Mar 25, 1884Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyBoom & Bust · Strange But True

25. Seven Inches in Ten Days: The Flood That Broke Puget Sound

    A warm Chinook melted mountain snow into relentless rain, washing out the Northern Pacific, wrecking the Naphtha launch works, and isolating towns from Tacoma to Seattle.

    Nov 11, 1891The Olympia TribuneTacoma, Pierce CountyDisasters

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