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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 8 |
| 1858 | 2 |
| 1859 | 4 |
| 1860 | 3 |
| 1861 | 13 |
| 1862 | 4 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1871 | 3 |
| 1872 | 12 |
| 1876 | 47 |
| 1877 | 42 |
| 1878 | 57 |
| 1879 | 5 |
| 1880 | 6 |
| 1882 | 4 |
| 1883 | 42 |
| 1884 | 35 |
| 1885 | 47 |
| 1886 | 21 |
| 1887 | 12 |
| 1888 | 11 |
| 1889 | 43 |
| 1890 | 6 |
| 1891 | 31 |
| 1892 | 58 |
| 1893 | 46 |
| 1894 | 30 |
| 1895 | 49 |
| 1897 | 3 |
| 1898 | 13 |
| 1899 | 4 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 21 |
| 1904 | 5 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1907 | 2 |
| 1908 | 12 |
| 1909 | 21 |
| 1910 | 12 |
| 1914 | 6 |
| 1915 | 3 |
| 1916 | 10 |
| 1917 | 3 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 12 |
| 1924 | 1 |
| 1925 | 6 |
780 stories matching settler
- The Great Rabbit Invasion of 1897
Farmers and settlers in the Palouse region faced a desperate agricultural crisis as a massive swarm of rabbits descended upon their fields.
- Railroad Land Grabs Threaten Whitman County Settlers
Homesteaders fight a corporate legal battle to save their farms from a massive Northern Pacific land grant interpretation.
- The High Cost of Being 'Across the River'
In 1878, Sumner settlers faced a familiar struggle: a transportation monopoly that forced them to pay as much to haul freight across the river as to ship it 150 miles by rail.
- A Seattle Party Ran Fifteen Deer Into Puget Sound — Then Shot Them From Boats
Vashon Island settlers had let the local deer grow so tame they were a familiar sight. Then one snowy dawn a hunting party came over from Seattle with five hounds and swept the herd into the water.
- The Great 'Old Settler' Debate of 1898
Ritzville's town paper picks a fight over who actually earns the title of 'pioneer' in Adams County.
- Railroads Drew Pencil Lines to Claim Millions of Acres
A scathing official report exposes how railroad corporations in Washington Territory and beyond used fraudulent land maps and 'pencil-line' routes to displace settlers and hoard public resources.
- Soldier Settlers Seek Strength in Numbers
Ex-service men on the state land project look to unite local farmers in a cooperative vegetable venture to combat high shipping costs.
- The Teenage Outlaw of the Dungeness Valley
A sixteen-year-old boy armed with a rifle terrorizes settlers, holding up officials and sparking a manhunt.
- The Great Land Squeeze of 1885
While the Northern Pacific Railroad publicly promised to 'build up the country,' settlers in King County found their land held hostage for mineral rights and future profits.
- The Fight for the Indemnity Belt
How Washington settlers fought to reclaim land from corporate control, breaking the grip of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
- The Cowychee Valley Road Struggle
Settlers in the Cowychee Valley fight for a direct path to North Yakima, trapped by encroaching fences and rugged terrain.
- The Struggle to Survey Washington’s Wilds
A historic circular reveals the bureaucratic and financial hurdles homesteaders faced to prove their land claims in 1883.
- Tension and Violence at the Colville Reservation
Settlers at Colville petition for military intervention following reports of burned hay fields and armed conflict with local Indigenous people.
- The Unsinkable 'Old Settler' of the Olympia Tide-Flats
An enterprising Olympia pioneer launches a custom-built, shallow-draft vessel to dominate the local oyster trade.
- The Great Land Sell-Off
The Northern Pacific Railroad begins dumping vast swaths of Washington Territory land onto actual settlers for $2.60 an acre.
- The Settler vs. The Railroad
A federal ruling clears the way for George Pressey to keep his homestead, challenging the Northern Pacific Railroad's land claims.
- A Killing Winter
A brutal freeze destroys orchards and crops, threatening the livelihoods of settlers across Okanogan County.
- The First White Woman of the Skykomish
In the rugged valley north of Snohomish, pioneer settler Mrs. Furtun stands as a solitary female figure in a male-dominated frontier, marking the slow, steady growth of a region destined to become a timber and mining hub.
- The Great Land Grab of 1890
Official records from the Seattle land office reveal a massive migration of settlers moving into Washington’s 'virgin soil,' fueling a population boom and shifting the region's economy toward private ownership.
- The Great Cedar Jam: How Settlers Cleared the Skagit River by Hand
In September 1876, a group of determined farmers and loggers took on the massive timber jams blocking the Skagit River, hoping to unlock sixty miles of navigation for their struggling community.
- Government to Build School for Pend Oreille Indians as Settlers Push for Removal
A new school is planned for Indigenous families opposite Cusick, but the report reveals settler pressure to move them off prime hay lands and allot the land instead.
- Claiming the Puyallup Valley
A pioneer report from 1853 describes a rush of settlers onto rich timberland and the struggle to navigate the inaccessible river banks.
- The Battle for the LeClerc Creek Basin
Settlers face off against the U.S. Forest Service in a high-stakes legal fight over homestead patents and timber rights.
- Forest Fires Ravage Vashon and Peninsula
Settlers battle encroaching brush fires across Vashon Island and the mainland near Olalla.
- The Lonely Soul of the Yukon Territory
An 1888 lonely-hearts advertisement from a settler in the Washington Territory reveals the frontier's stark isolation and the desperate social engineering that built the Pacific Northwest.