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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 6 |
| 1877 | 5 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 8 |
| 1885 | 9 |
| 1886 | 9 |
| 1887 | 5 |
| 1888 | 5 |
| 1889 | 16 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 19 |
| 1892 | 42 |
| 1893 | 32 |
| 1894 | 47 |
| 1895 | 52 |
| 1898 | 3 |
| 1899 | 16 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 14 |
| 1904 | 12 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 8 |
| 1909 | 28 |
| 1910 | 2 |
| 1911 | 4 |
| 1914 | 5 |
| 1915 | 7 |
| 1916 | 10 |
| 1917 | 9 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1923 | 4 |
| 1924 | 3 |
| 1925 | 1 |
392 stories matching wire
- Miners Plunge 70 Feet in Mine Shaft Accident
A broken signal wire leads to a terrifying fall for two miners working at the Oakdale coal mine near Franklin.
- High-Voltage Hazards on Tacoma’s Lines
Two linemen survive massive electrical shocks during a winter storm and a routine repair job.
- Farmer Chases Engineers Away with Barbed Wire
A landowner in the lower Yakima Valley defended his property rights in spectacular fashion, chasing an engineering crew off his land with a lasso of barbed wire.
- The Burglars Who Rang the Doorbell
In a brazen early morning attempt to rob W. I. Thompson’s Broadway residence, thieves cut telephone wires and rang the front door bell—only to be foiled by Mrs. Thompson’s sharp eyes.
- Whispering Wires: The High-Tech Telephone Line
Engineers build a metallic copper circuit to link Seattle and Portland, hoping to eliminate 'induction' and allow for quiet conversation.
- The Fireboat That Saved the Northern Hotel
An insurance inspector in town to check Seattle's electrical wiring watched Monday night's fire — and credited the fireboat with stopping it from spreading.
- The Secret Game Under the Sidewalk
A reporter uncovers a network of hidden gambling dens and 'wire-puller' locks operating with total impunity under the city's reform administration.
- The Fishhook Baited With Human Flesh
In a Port Townsend hotel, a sailor displays the improvised wire hook that kept survivors of the wrecked whaler James Allen alive after the disaster in Bering Sea.
- The Electrified Watchman
When the Seattle Electric Railway’s infrastructure turned the city into a hazard, a local watchman learned the hard way that his job required handling more than just time.
- Seattle’s Grand Welcome: The Battle for the First Washington Volunteers’ Homecoming
In May 1899, Seattle mobilized its entire civic infrastructure to welcome home the first regiment from the Spanish-American War. With Mayor Hume calling joint committees and the City Council lobbying the Navy for a battleship, the city prepared for a celebration that would define its post-war identity.
- The Rat That Didn't Die: A Seattle Street Performer’s Electric Shock Gambit
In a desperate bid to steal customers from a rival vendor on Commercial Street, an electricity salesman rigged a dead rat to a copper plate—only for the rodent to remain stubbornly lifeless.
- The $10,000 Bet That Built Seattle’s Front Street
Superintendent Thompson risks a fortune to beat the calendar, while a separate land dispute erupts over tide flats near Grant Street.
- The Perilous Descent of Professor Parker
A daredevil aeronaut nearly meets his end in a tangle of city wires and building cornices during a botched parachute stunt over downtown Seattle.
- Industrial Tragedy Claims Everett Lineman
W. S. Hardy, a well-known local electrician, died following a fatal workplace accident while stringing high-tension wires in Spokane.
- A Power Station to Light Newport
The Northern Idaho & Montana Power Co. is building a $15,000 fireproof office and substation at Washington and Pine, promising 24-hour electric service within ninety days.
- A Hanging in the Armory: The Unpopular Corporal and the Men Who Stuffed His Uniform
Company E turned a grudge into theatre — an effigy rigged with an electric-light wire, a pair of odd-coloured glasses and a chalked gravestone — and a military court may follow.
- The Wires That Grew With Seattle
How the Sunset Telephone and Telegraph Company rode Seattle from a forest village to a 25,000-person city — and, when the Great Fire of 1889 burned its plant out of existence, rebuilt the service in tents within ten days.
- Seattle’s Fire Department Answered 197 Alarms in 1893 — Nearly Half Were False
The chief’s annual report counted 98 false alarms, touted small losses, and asked the city for a fire marshal and better alarm wires.
- The Battle for Tacoma’s Trees
Citizens revolt against a plan to destroy shade trees to make way for unsightly power poles.
- A Live Wire Takes a Trimmer's Foot
An electric-light worker pays a brutal price for a fall across Tacoma's city wires.
- Hail, Snow, Thunder and a Shock Down the Telephone Wire
For two and a half hours Seattle gets a storm almost no climate can produce — and a businessman on Second Street gets knocked against the door by lightning on the line.
- The River Would Not Give Seth Catlin Back
After Seth Catlin drowned, his father and a crew of searchers fought an eight-mile-an-hour current with fish nets and telegraph wire.
- The Copper Wire Heist
Four laborers are taken into custody after allegedly stealing 50 pounds of copper wire from local transit facilities.
- 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.
- City Council Denies Police Expansion Amidst Infrastructure Debates
Aldermen reject a bid for fifteen additional officers while debating the undergrounding of electric wires.