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83 stories matching exorbit
- A Costly Court House Proposal
A local property owner attempts to pressure King County into buying his bluff-top lot for an exorbitant price, despite the site's clear logistical flaws.
- The Great Tax Assessment Mess of 1887
Seattle and King County property owners find their tax rolls hopelessly entangled in errors, leaving public officials to question if the entire assessment should be scrapped.
- The Boss of Port Townsend
A taxpayer-led revolt targets a city treasurer backed by gamblers, prostitutes, and the local political machine.
- The Price of Progress: A Right-of-Way Dispute That Reshaped the Region
When an exorbitant demand from a local farmer stalled the Great Northern Railway, the company threatened to bypass Snohomish and Everett entirely in favor of Seattle.
- The Great 'Sour Grapes' Feud of 1892
When a Tacoma newspaper attempted to trash the San Juan Islands as a speculative wasteland, the locals hit back in print—blaming the insult on petty jealousy over their loyalty to Seattle.
- The Cynical Toll of Local Politics
A satirical diary of a man who wins a nomination for public office, only to be ruined by the exorbitant financial and social demands of his supporters.
- The Hydra-Headed Monster of the Yakima Valley
A scathing indictment from 1885 reveals how the Northern Pacific Railroad's broken promises and predatory land schemes terrorized Washington frontier settlers.
- The Battle for Sullivan Creek
A high-stakes legal fight over water rights and industrial development reveals the tension between speculative land-holding and the growth of the new town of Metaline.
- The Boom is Over: Seattle’s Doctors Face Public Backlash Over 'Trust' Pricing
As the city settles into metropolitan growth, a newspaper investigation into exorbitant medical fees sparks outrage among patients and division among physicians.
- The Uncharted Riches of the Deep Sea
In 1891, visionary fisheries expert James G. Swan argued that Washington's future wealth wasn't just in timber, but in the massive, untapped halibut and cod banks off the coast.
- The Salted Sea: A Tacoma Captain’s War on the 'Blah' Price Gang
In a fiery letter to the editor, a local shipping captain denounces the collusion of dockworkers and merchants who inflate freight rates, vowing to bypass them entirely for cheaper ports.
- The Railroad Raises Its Rates, and the Northwest Howls
Spokane Falls merchants protest a Northern Pacific freight hike that makes shipping from Minneapolis cost as much as shipping from New York — and warn the railroad it is strangling its own territory.
- The Death of the American Shipyard
In an 1873 speech, Congressman Alexander Mitchell argued that excessive taxation and protectionist tariffs were systematically destroying the American shipping industry, forcing once-prosperous shipbuilders into obsolescence.
- The predatory business of 'confidential' loans
A Seattle reporter goes undercover to expose local money lenders charging exorbitant interest rates to the desperate.
- The Schoolteacher vs. The Coal Baron
An outspoken Newcastle teacher risks his career to confront the Oregon Improvement Company over its brutal labor practices and the displacement of local widows.
- The County Printing War: Seattle's Oldest Paper Claims Moral High Ground in Bid for Public Contracts
In May 1877, the publisher of Seattle’s leading newspaper defends his bid for county printing contracts against rivals who accused him of greed, arguing that 'the laborer is worthy of his hire' and that public money should support a responsible local press.
- The Art of the Con: How a Swindler Sold 'Rare' Books to Seattle’s Elite
A clever grifter conned prominent Seattle society women into buying ordinary books at exorbitant markups by selling them on a false promise of exclusivity and 'easy' monthly payments.
- The Governor Tells Olympia to Tighten Its Belt
In 1895, Governor McGraw used his message to demand retrenchment, railroad reform and a quick end to the U.S. Senate fight so lawmakers could get to the people's business.
- The Tax Collector’s Secret: How Seattle Officials Hid Debts to Profit from Advertising
A local newspaper exposes a scheme where the School District collector withheld tax information, forcing taxpayers to pay exorbitant advertising fees to clear liens they didn't know existed.
- The Vampire of Hard Times: Why Seattle's Banks Are Starving Its Growth
An editorial in the March 1877 *Seattle Intelligencer* blames the region’s economic stagnation not on a lack of enterprise, but on predatory lending rates that are strangling local industry.
- Seattle’s Tinderbox: A Warning from the Ashes of Reno
As a massive fire ravages Nevada, this Seattle editor sounds the alarm over the city’s wooden buildings and exorbitant insurance costs, urging brick construction before disaster strikes.
- Fifty Dollars for a Clean Bill of Health
A quarantine officer charged a sealing schooner $50 to steam over and inspect her — and shipping men say the fee was less public health than protection money.
- Can 840 Acres of University Land Become 42 Veterans’ Farms?
White Bluffs boosters asked the state university to sell 840 acres near Vernita at $10 an acre, arguing that settled farms would raise the value of the rest.
- Newport's Water-Land Lease Fight Heads to the Voters
Ahead of the Dec. 3, 1907, municipal election, the Citizens' Independent Party asks whether the city should spend public money to defend a controversial 99-year lease on the Carter water land.
- Kennewick’s Merchants Are Losing the Town to the Mail-Order Catalogue
A Courier-Reporter editor counts the local ads that never ran—and blames Kennewick shopkeepers, not distant catalogue houses, for the trade slipping away.