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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 3 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1861 | 4 |
| 1862 | 2 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 6 |
| 1876 | 18 |
| 1877 | 14 |
| 1878 | 15 |
| 1879 | 5 |
| 1880 | 7 |
| 1882 | 5 |
| 1883 | 22 |
| 1884 | 12 |
| 1885 | 12 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 6 |
| 1888 | 7 |
| 1889 | 27 |
| 1890 | 8 |
| 1891 | 25 |
| 1892 | 40 |
| 1893 | 34 |
| 1894 | 26 |
| 1895 | 74 |
| 1898 | 2 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 19 |
| 1904 | 4 |
| 1905 | 3 |
| 1907 | 2 |
| 1908 | 27 |
| 1909 | 17 |
| 1910 | 8 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1914 | 5 |
| 1915 | 5 |
| 1916 | 11 |
| 1917 | 5 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 6 |
| 1924 | 2 |
| 1925 | 3 |
501 stories matching survey
- Mapping the Roads of White Bluffs
New highway plans aim to connect key agricultural corners and expand access to soldier settlement tracts.
- The Skagit Stand-off: A Survey Interrupted
When federal surveyors moved onto Skagit lands without a treaty, they were met by 150 armed warriors ready to defend their sovereignty.
- The Ditch That Would Cut Seattle in Two
Washington's engineers begin staking the route of the government's Lake Washington canal, and condemnation suits are expected to follow on their heels.
- Colville Boosters Redrew the Map, and the Taxpayers Paid for the Surveys
Northport cries foul after County Surveyor Clare Hunt moves the Newport–Metaline–Orient road off its original line, leaving a direct-route town side-tracked — and several thousand dollars spent on surveys that produced no road at all.
- The Sad Fate of the Umatilla
A survey of the shipwrecked vessel confirms the total loss, with underwriters bracing for the salvage auction.
- Steamer Regie Destroyed in Mystery Fire
A vessel formerly used for government coast surveying is lost to flames while beached for repairs on Lake Whatcom.
- Federal Directive Protects Indigenous Land Occupancy
A government order instructs land offices to refuse entries by white settlers on land already cultivated by Indigenous people.
- Seeking Federal Aid for the Sunnyside Canal Extension
Senator Miles Poindexter tours the Kennewick valley as local leaders lobby for a federal survey to irrigate 40,000 acres of land between Kiona and Hover.
- The Mystery of the Vanished Port Angeles Surveyor
A government townsite project stalls as the surveyor disappears, leaving the Interior Department scrambling to find his missing field notes.
- The Homesteaders Who Couldn’t Own Their Land
A delayed federal survey left settlers near Sedro unable to prove title, borrow money or improve their farms—red tape with real human cost.
- A Whaleboat Vanished in the Surf Off Grays Harbor
Lieut. Freeman H. Crosby and four seamen from the survey steamer McArthur were lost trying to land through the surf at Joe Creek, fifteen miles north of Grays Harbor.
- The Washington–Idaho Line Was Never Quite Where Everyone Thought It Was
A congressional committee moving to re-mark the boundary publishes a surveyor general's confession: the 1873 line zigzagged as much as a degree and a half off course, was measured with link chains, and stopped short when the crew quit to save their own lives.
- The Maze of the Snake River Hills
Early road surveys were so poorly planned that settlers were forced to build their own paths, leading to a tangled web of private property and impassable public routes.
- The Surveyor's Chain Reaches Metaline—and Its Squatters
A Portland firm wins the contract to survey the township containing Metaline, opening the west side of the river to settlement while fine timber already occupied by squatters awaits formal title.
- The First Professional Survey of the Puget Sound
In 1875, a new map sought to define the rugged, uncharted beauty of the Washington Territory for settlers and investors alike.
- Mapping the Road to Monticello
Commissioners finish surveying a new route from Olympia to the Cowlitz River, planning to bridge the gap between territorial settlements.
- Tragedy in the Surf: Survey Lieutenant Drowns
A routine mission to erect a coastal signal turns fatal for a U.S. Coast Survey officer and four sailors at the mouth of Joe Creek.
- The Dry Dock at Port Orchard Nears Completion
Surveyors, granite cutters and carpenters are closing in on the main structure at the Port Orchard naval station, with pumps expected next month.
- The Lonely Death of an Engineer Near Granite Falls
A young city engineer vanished while surveying mineral claims, only to be found dead in the rugged wilderness by a passing prospector.
- The River’s New Pulse: Captain Hill Promises to Link Snohomish and Seattle
A bold new steam route aims to bridge the gap between the Skagit Valley and the capital of the Sound, promising weekly travel and a boost for local farmers.
- Mapping the Gateway to the Chehalis
An official 1883 engineering survey reveals the natural promise of Gray's Harbor.
- The Settlers Beat the Railroad
A Pacific County land fight ends in favor of homesteaders after the Northern Pacific tried to claim their township under its indemnity grant.
- The Shadowy Syndicate Gobbling Up State Timber
A state land commission investigation reveals a complex web of fraudulent claims and suspicious inactivity by the Saginaw Mill Company.
- A Surveyor's Delay, a Land Office Snarl, and Four Dead Men in Okanogan
Settlers near Loomis have waited years for their homesteads to be platted and put on the market while paperwork sat unfinished in Washington — and in the meantime, four men have been killed fighting over boundary lines nobody could settle.
- The Dredgers Are Coming: Seattle's Canal Project Finally Starts Moving
After years of financing delays, engineers promised to begin bulkheads and surveys on the south canal—and to haul giant hydraulic dredgers north to reshape the tide flats.