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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 6 |
| 1877 | 5 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 11 |
| 1885 | 9 |
| 1886 | 9 |
| 1887 | 5 |
| 1888 | 5 |
| 1889 | 16 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 21 |
| 1892 | 43 |
| 1893 | 33 |
| 1894 | 48 |
| 1895 | 53 |
| 1898 | 3 |
| 1899 | 16 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 14 |
| 1904 | 12 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 8 |
| 1909 | 30 |
| 1910 | 5 |
| 1911 | 4 |
| 1914 | 5 |
| 1915 | 7 |
| 1916 | 10 |
| 1917 | 9 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 4 |
| 1924 | 3 |
| 1925 | 1 |
407 stories matching wire
- The Safety of City Lights
A San Francisco electrician tours Seattle's growing network of lights and warns that competition among workers leads to dangerous, sloppy wiring.
- The Finley Fair Feud
Kennewick business leaders are accused of ignoring their neighbors after a local paper falsely claimed they supported the Finley Fair.
- The Price of a Live Wire
A local man faces a life-threatening complication after a horrific electrical accident.
- A Ten-Inch Snowstorm Buries Seattle and Stalls the Cars
The city's streetcars, telegraph wires and outlying districts struggle under a heavy January snowfall as Portland reports three feet and the weather observer warns of more to come.
- Coulee City Mandates Electrical Safety Inspections
New municipal code establishes safety standards and inspection fees for residential and commercial wiring.
- The City’s New Legal Nightmare: Lawsuits Filed Over the Pioneer Square Explosion
Attorneys Ronald and Rattle have been retained to represent relatives of the men killed in Tuesday’s boiler explosion, signaling a major battle for damages against Seattle.
- The Wire War: Railroad vs. Telegraph
A legal standoff erupts between the Postal Telegraph Company and the Northern Pacific Railroad along the tracks between Tacoma and Kalama.
- The Union Treasurer Who Caught a Ship
Thomas Pentory left a letter admitting he was short in the books, then sailed for Britain. Tacoma wired Port Townsend to take him off the vessel.
- The Delicate Sensitivity of Seattle’s Fire Alarm
An accidental rock throw reveals how fragile the city's early fire alarm infrastructure truly was.
- Fatal Runaway Mine Car Claims Life in Roslyn
A broken wire rope sends coal cars plunging down the slope, leaving one miner dead and another seriously injured.
- Richland Trading Company Store Destroyed by Fire
The town's largest mercantile establishment burned to the ground early Wednesday morning in a blaze suspected to be caused by faulty electrical wiring.
- City Hall Battle Over City Wires
A fiery public confrontation between the Mayor and the City Council leads to the death of an ordinance designed to move unsightly and dangerous power poles underground.
- Disaster Strikes Spokane Falls Again
Mayor R.K. Nichols of North Yakima reaches out as news of a second major fire catastrophe hits Spokane.
- 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.
- Tragedy at the Tacoma Coal Bunkers
A collapse of a loading chute drops seven men into forty feet of water, leading to a desperate rescue attempt and a tragic loss.
- 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.
- Death on the Wire: The Perilous Walk of Snohomish’s Bridge Builders
While politicians scheme in safe offices, local workers are laying footbridges over the Skykomish River at dizzying heights, performing a feat described as 'the most dangerous part of the grand work.'
- The House That Blocked the Train
A standoff between a homeowner moving a house and the Everett street railway leads to suspended service and a tense municipal conflict.
- The City Clock-Watchers
Tacoma’s electric linemen accused of turning city work hours into a full-time pinochle parlor.
- Walla Walla Tells Its Lawmakers: Drop Everything and Fight the Railroads
The Commercial Club wired the legislature to back the Morgan bill—and warned that any half-hearted local representative would be treated as “an enemy to this town.”
- City Hall's Petty Wars and the Cost of Patronage
Seattle's water and fire departments are being crippled by the 'reform' administration's obsession with political spoils and patronage over efficiency.
- The Day the Circus Rolled into Seattle
Thousands flocked to the depot in 1885 to witness the grand arrival of John Robinson’s circus, a massive production that brought exotic animals and high-wire spectacle to the nascent town.
- The Unbreakable Christmas Tradition
An immigrant inventor finds success in America with intricate, indestructible bead trees once commissioned by European royalty.
- The Deadly Alley Between Cherry and James
Fire Chief A.B. Hunt races to protect Seattle firefighters from electrocution in the city's most hazardous alleys.
- Midnight Blaze Levels Kennewick Meat Market
A stubborn fire likely sparked by faulty wiring or equipment ruins the local butcher shop, leaving the owner to contemplate rebuilding.