Research the archive
Narrow 25,688 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 7 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1885 | 5 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 6 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 10 |
| 1893 | 7 |
| 1894 | 15 |
| 1895 | 7 |
| 1898 | 3 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 4 |
| 1917 | 2 |
| 1923 | 1 |
90 stories matching shell
- The Fresh Water Fortress: Why Seattle Was Built to Save Ships from the Sea
Captain U.H. Hall returns from Washington D.C. with a bold proposal for a Navy Yard in Lake Washington, arguing that fresh water is the only defense against the 'Teredo' worm and foreign invasion.
- The Shadowed Streets of Old Tacoma
A late-night robbery on Jefferson Street leaves a local man penniless and sparks public outrage over a surge in city crime.
- The Political Shell Game in Spokane
Leaked telegrams expose how national committeeman Hugh C. Wallace manipulated job seekers to install his own favorite for U.S. Attorney, leaving honest candidates in the lurch.
- The 75-Year-Old Whistling-Buoy Inventor Comes to Fit the Navy's 600-Ton Gate
James Bigler, who has built the giant steel caissons in every government dry dock in the country, arrives on Puget Sound to assemble the mammoth gate for the Port Orchard dock — a 600-ton steel vessel shipped in pieces around Cape Horn.
- The Unchecked Movement of 'Worthless' Buildings
A local editor slams lax city ordinances after a businessman relocates a derelict building into the heart of Yakima.
- The Weather Bureau's Secret Weapon
An Aberdeen inventor was caught with a bizarre, Gattling-gun-style contraption designed to blast the clouds away and control the rain.
- A Hunting Trip Turns Into a Fight for Survival
A teenager faces a grueling recovery after a accidental gunshot wound forces an emergency trip to a Pasco hospital.
- The Vanishing Proprietor of the People's Theater
A court case against John Considine exposes a shell game at the People's Theater, where a mysterious owner named 'J.J. Clark' remains conspicuously absent.
- A Lone Rancher, a Burning Tree, and a Fatal Crush
Nathaniel S. Drake lived alone on a five-acre tract near Sunnydale, clearing land by fire. A neighbor found him crushed beneath a massive tree, his body driven into the ground.
- Olympia's Streetcar Franchise Shell Game
A franchise extension granted on a promise of negotiations turns out to be empty—and the editor wants electric cars for the capital.
- Forty-Three Old Soldiers at Orting — and the Olympia Women Furnishing Their Rooms
The state soldiers' home that legislators once laughed at now shelters 43 Civil War veterans, and cities across Washington are racing to outfit their quarters — Olympia's Relief Corps is fitting up an 'Olympia room.'
- Olympia's High School Bond Fight, Priced at 25 Cents
The Tribune urges voters to approve a $40,000 school bond, rebutting claims of contractor influence and calculating the cost to a $7,000 homeowner at about a quarter.
- The Paperwork of Exclusion: Chinese Residents Ordered to Register
New federal rules land in Seattle requiring every Chinese resident to carry a photographic certificate of residence, sworn affidavits and a detailed physical description — the machinery of the Geary Act takes shape.
- The Eastern Oregon After the Fire
A board of survey finds the burned steamer's machinery ruined and its safe intact, while the crew buries the ship's cook.
- Puget Sound Oyster Beds Need Cultivation, Not Waste
While Connecticut creates a million-dollar oyster industry through cultivation, Seattle’s local beds are being eaten into oblivion.
- The Poultry Aristocracy of 1895 Seattle
A Sound Poultry Club show filled a hall with prize pigeons, canaries, and incubator chicks—including a homing pigeon said to be the fastest in the world.
- The Whaleback That Made Puget Sound Look Impossible
Seattle crowds toured the strange, cigar-shaped City of Everett before it steamed out with nearly 4,000 tons of coal—the largest shipment yet from the Oregon Improvement Company’s bunkers.
- The McKinley Tariff Sham
A political critique on how proposed protectionist duties on farm goods served industrial monopolies rather than the rural population.
- The Perils of Planting: A Warning to Yakima Valley Orchardists
A local agricultural expert debunks state-sanctioned advice on walnut cultivation, warning farmers against the financial ruin of planting untried varieties.
- The Tumbleweed That Threatened Washington's Wheat
In 1898, a state agricultural professor traced an invasive Russian thistle to railway yards and warned that Yakima County was already infested.
- The Oyster King’s Great Bay: How One Man Planted a Fortune in Puget Sound
While the rest of Seattle watches the markets, A.J. Burr is engineering a tidal empire at Marshville, turning mudflats into gold with dykes and 1,000 bushels of seed.
- The Soul of a Building
When the new Unitarian Church on Seventh Street held its dedication in 1889, the sermon offered a meditation on how timber, iron, and stone are transformed into a living, spiritual home for the community.
- The Clam-Bake Diplomacy of 1885
When a visiting excursion party arrived in Seattle, they were treated to a massive, industrial-scale clam bake at Port Blakely—and the spectacle of geoduck-sized clams that baffled the visitors.
- An Accidental Blast at The Tanks
A bungled attempt to extract a stuck shell from a Winchester rifle triggers a chaotic runaway at a local camp.
- The Whole Lake Turns Out: Seattle's 1894 Rowing Championship
Crews from Portland, Vancouver and the Burrard Inlet club row for the senior cup off Madrona Park, with the finish line at the foot of Madison Street and every boat on Lake Washington pressed into spectator service.