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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 5 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 3 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 9 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 12 |
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| 1894 | 6 |
| 1895 | 4 |
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| 1903 | 5 |
| 1904 | 5 |
| 1908 | 2 |
| 1909 | 11 |
| 1910 | 5 |
| 1911 | 7 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
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| 1923 | 1 |
115 stories matching exploit
- The Great Pacific Northwest Timber Heist
A federal investigation reveals that $40 million worth of timber was pilfered from government lands in the Puget Sound region since 1855, fueling a battle over corporate exploitation of public resources.
- The Price of a Day's Pay: Seattle’s 1887 Labor Brokers
A deep dive into the predatory practices of late 19th-century employment agencies that thrived on the desperation of transient laborers.
- The City’s Call for Child Labor
A 1892 classified section reveals the casual exploitation of youth, alongside a frantic city infrastructure project that mirrors modern growth pains.
- The Hypocrites of Commercial Street
A biting piece of social commentary from 1878 Seattle poetry attacks the town's pious moneylenders who exploit their neighbors while maintaining a veneer of religious devotion.
- The Socialist Civil War
A fiery dispatch from Spokane exposes a rift within the Socialist Party over internal discipline, alleged corruption, and the fight for union labor in city government.
- The Price of Resistance: Seattle Unions Take On 'Dark' Boarding House Practices
While Seattle’s 1887 press was full of land speculation and railroad hype, a quiet labor dispute reveals how maritime workers fought back against predatory rooming house keepers who swindled sailors out of their hard-earned pay.
- The Siege of the Waterfront Hoodlums
A wave of unprovoked violence by organized gangs of youths in Seattle reaches a breaking point when a young girl is struck by a thrown stone.
- The State-Owned Railroad Dream
Prominent attorney and activist Colonel Patrick H. Winston argues that the state of Washington should own its own railroad to prevent corporate exploitation.
- The Price of 'Independence'
A overheard conversation between union workers and non-union polishers reveals the harsh reality of labor exploitation in 1911 Everett.
- The 'Contraband' Migration to Walla Walla
Newly freed enslaved people from the South arrive in the territory, facing economic exploitation and virulent local racism.
- The Priest Writes Back: A Territorial Feud Over 'Romanism'
A Methodist minister's warning in Olympia draws a sharp reply from the Catholic missionary he accused.
- The Price of a Mill Hand's Life
An anonymous laborer exposes the exploitative wage practices of the Puget Mill Company, detailing how the firm undercuts competitors by replacing white workers with Chinese laborers at subsistence wages.
- 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 Girl Who Danced on the Boom: A Seattle Near-Miss
In October 1876, a young girl’s reckless game on a floating log boom in Elliott Bay nearly ended in tragedy, sparking warnings about parental neglect and the dangers of Seattle’s waterfront.
- The Con Artist of the Y.M.C.A.
A smooth-talking grifter exploited the goodwill of Seattle churchgoers by playing on his 'sick wife's' needs, until an umbrella heist landed him in the city jail.
- Exploiting Labor at Grays Harbor
A scathing report reveals how labor contractors are cheating workers with predatory 'discounts,' abysmal living conditions, and wage theft on harbor improvement projects.
- The Terrors of Belltown: Youth Gangs and Civic Chaos in 1870
Before it was a bustling neighborhood, Belltown was a site of 'villainous' youth pranks and neighborhood disturbances that left residents clamoring for order.
- The Drunken Rampage of a North Seattle Man
After a mysterious tumble down a steep Seattle staircase, a local man terrorized his neighborhood until police intervention.
- The Dispossession of Josephine Hatch
A Snohomish widow, unable to speak English, sues a powerful land conglomerate for swindling her out of a multi-million dollar stake in the founding of Everett.
- The Shackled Sailors of the Karoo
A federal judge in Tacoma intervenes to protect a crew 'inveigled' onto a British ship, exposing a brutal system of forced labor and maritime exploitation.
- The Wage-Theft Struggle of 1887 Seattle
Working women in the late 19th century fought back against exploitative employers who withheld pay, turning to labor unions to recover their stolen wages.
- The Girls Who Walked Out: Seattle’s Hidden Labor War
While the city boasts of its booming manufacturing sector and 'local industry,' a quiet but significant portion of its workforce—women in garment factories—are fighting for survival wages, revealing the stark gender divide in Seattle's economic boom.
- The Girl Who Ran Away: A Seattle Hotel Trap and a Lawyer’s Complicity
In May 1882, a 16-year-old runaway from the Puyallup River found herself stranded in Seattle, only to be exploited by a local attorney who deposited her stolen savings in his own name. Chief of Police Woolery intervened, recovering the funds and exposing the legal professional’s unethical conduct.
- The Case for Decentralizing the Timber Industry
An 1870s editorial argues that Snohomish County loggers are being exploited by giant corporations and proposes a localized milling model to ensure economic independence.
- Seattle Builds a World's Fair on the University's Front Lawn
A month before the gates open, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition is nearly finished — and when it closes, seven buildings and a $300,000 auditorium stay behind for the University of Washington.