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62 stories matching transmit
- The Niagara of the Northwest: Wiring Snoqualmie Falls to Seattle
A new company with $2 million in capital proposes to harness a 265-foot waterfall 23 miles east and sell 5,000 horse power of electricity to the city — if the capitalists will foot the bill.
- The Mugwump’s Ledger: How Seattle’s Territorial Secretary Gamed the Law Printing Contract
A fierce editorial exposes Secretary Owings for delaying the publication of territorial laws to favor a cronies’ printing bid, while padding the bill with 40 pages of his own party platform.
- The Global Hop Trade of 1888
While the farmers of Puyallup slept, their harvests were already changing hands in the high-stakes markets of London.
- The Horse That Stopped a City: How an Epidemic Ground Seattle to a Halt
In October 1872, a mysterious disease swept through the Pacific Northwest, paralyzing streetcars and commerce. As merchants turned to oxen and hand carts, the Territory of Washington faced its first major public health crisis.
- The Mystery of the Creeping Rail
A phantom force is physically shifting the interurban line's tracks toward Tacoma, baffling engineers and causing havoc with the electrical system.
- The Bank Failure That Didn't Break the County
Through diligent use of bonding companies and collateral, Benton County recovered every cent lost in the 1924 Citizens State Bank collapse.
- The Mail System is Broken
In 1880, Seattle residents faced endless delays and 'willful neglect' from the postal service—an early grievance about failing public infrastructure.
- The Lonely Life of a Government Wireman
Operating the seventy-six-mile telegraph line to the tip of the Olympic Peninsula was a grueling, low-paying job that pitted the weather bureau against the raw Washington wilderness.
- The Millions Buried in Puyallup Indian Land
A government report reveals the staggering valuation of tribal lands near Tacoma, sparking a 19th-century struggle over ownership, development, and the protection of Indigenous sovereignty against encroaching white expansion.
- The Postmaster General's Forgotten 'Postal Telegraph' Scheme
Before the digital age, a visionary postmaster proposed merging the U.S. Mail with the telegraph to turn instant messaging into a public utility, aiming to bypass corporate monopolies.
- The Unsettled Presidency of 1876
As the nation grappled with a deadlocked electoral count in the Hayes-Tilden election, Seattle residents read a deep-dive analysis of the constitutional chaos and the risk of a political breakdown.
- Seattle's Money for the Roslyn Widows and Orphans
A citizens' committee reports nearly $3,000 raised for families of the Roslyn mine explosion, places five Catholic children in the House of the Good Shepherd, and sends the final check to Roslyn.
- The Rogue Marshal of Tacoma
Citizens formally impeach the City Marshal for cozying up to brothel owners and ignoring the law.
- The Bankrupt Giant and the Tacoma Land Ring
A skeptical editor exposes the Northern Pacific Railroad's questionable finances and a suspicious telegraph campaign used to inflate land values in Tacoma.
- Snoqualmie Falls: The Dawn of Clean Energy in Seattle
A century before the green energy transition, the city’s early industry turned away from coal and toward the 'falling waters' of Snoqualmie to power a growing metropolis.
- The Feast of Lots: Seattle's Jewish Community Celebrates Purim with an Auction of Sacred Letters
At the Hinckley block, the Orthodox congregation dedicated a new Torah scroll and auctioned off its letters to fund education.
- Washington Asked Congress for $34,500 to Finish Carving Up the Colville Reservation
An 1894 dispatch from the capital details the surveying and allotment machinery behind opening the northern Colville Reservation to settlement — right down to the promise that the cost would be repaid 'from the proceeds of the lands when sold.'
- The Fire Alarm Circuit That Left a Third of Seattle Uncovered
The 1894 fire department report celebrated lower expenses but warned that overloaded alarm circuits could leave a third of the city cut off during repairs.
- Caught in the Shaft: A Miller's Close Call at Post's Mill
George Hilbert, assistant miller at Frederick Post's flour mill, was nearly torn apart when his foot was snagged by a spinning iron shaft. Quick action by a coworker saved his life.
- The Governor Vetoes Debtor Relief—and Warns It Would Speed Foreclosures
Gov. McGraw kills a bill meant to shield struggling debtors, arguing it cannot apply to existing contracts and may trigger the mortgage sales it was supposed to prevent.
- The Sealing Monopoly Judge Swan Called a ‘Monumental Humbug’
A federal report from Port Townsend shows Puget Sound sealers thriving while a Smithsonian expert blasts the Alaska Commercial Company’s grip on the Pribilof Islands.
- A Shoemaker's Carefully Planned Farewell at the Grand Hotel
Carl Eggert, despondent over his wife's death and his son's suicide, shot himself in a Tacoma hotel after leaving detailed notes, money for the cleanup, and instructions to wait until morning.
- The 17,000-Horsepower Plan to Electrify Seattle
Engineers proposed an 800-foot steel pipe, a tunnel through basalt, and a 23-mile copper line to turn Snoqualmie Falls into the city’s power source.
- Seattle's First Poultry Show Was a Rooster Booster's Dream
The Puget Sound Poultry Club opened its first annual exhibition at Rialto Hall, with a California judge, silver cups, and homing pigeons that had just flown messages from a mountain expedition.
- One Day Late: The Veto That May Hang a Man
A clerk's date stamp, a messenger who cannot recall which day he ran an errand, and a condemned Italian at Tacoma whose last chance at a new appeal may have expired in the paperwork.