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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 468 |
| 1877 | 317 |
| 1878 | 91 |
| 1880 | 97 |
973 stories
- The Right to Testify
A Seattle magistrate clarifies that Indigenous people in Snoqualmie Precinct have the legal standing to sue in civil court and testify in trials.
- The Great Olympia Mill Fire: A City's Heart Stolen by Flame
In the early hours of October 16, 1876, a devastating fire consumed the steam sawmill and all its property in Olympia, Washington Territory, leaving the community to wonder how they will replace their primary source of timber processing.
- The Dignity of the Oyster Bar
A young woman, destitute after her father's death, finds that the labor market is far more welcoming than her former social circle.
- The Great Walla Walla Freshet of 1876
After unseasonable rains decimated the region's infrastructure, locals wondered if a waterspout had carved a path of destruction through the mountains.
- The Struggle for the Northern Pacific Rails
As Congress debates extending the deadline for the Northern Pacific Railroad, local settlers face the double-edged sword of promised prosperity versus the loss of homestead land.
- The Great Seattle Land Grab: How the Maynard Donation Claim Stalled City Growth
A legal dispute over the Catherine Maynard Donation Land Claim reveals the messy, high-stakes battle for ownership of Seattle’s central waterfront in the late 19th century.
- Blood on the Tracks: The Renton Saloon Brawl of 1877
A card game, a wrestling match, and a concealed knife turned a quiet evening into a deadly tragedy in Renton.
- The City’s First Legal Battle: Seattle vs. the Man Who Owned the Water
In April 1877, just months after Seattle was incorporated, the new Common Council authorized a lawsuit against Henry Yesler—the very man who built the city's first mill and gave it its name—over a dispute that would define municipal power.
- The Tax War That Almost Killed Seattle's Economy
In 1877, a federal order threatened to strip Seattle of its tax base by forcing steamships to register their 'home port' in Port Townsend. The local press warned that without this revenue, the county would collapse.
- The Boom That Busted
Reflecting on the 'mushroom' growth and subsequent economic fallout of 1870s Seattle, a local editor recounts a tale of over-speculation, debt, and the volatile reliance on steamship-driven growth.
- The Letter Lost in the Cracks
For twelve years, a village woman waited for a lover who never called, unaware that her promise to join him in China had been trapped behind a post office counter all along.
- The Mayor’s Peaches and the City’s Panic: A Night of Burglary in Pioneer Square
Burglars break into Mayor Gattert’s home on Third Street, fleeing with nothing but a can of peaches, while public outrage over crime reaches a fever pitch.
- The Stinking Gutters of 1876
While Seattle promoters bragged of a salubrious climate, a local newspaper editorial exposed the reality of deadly, stagnant cesspools lining the streets.
- The Radical Doctor of Seattle
An 1876 lecture at the local Opera House challenges the city's elites, railing against the morality of wealth, the indignity of labor, and the hypocrisy of the church.
- The Centennial Fourth: Seattle's 1876 Independence Day Extravaganza
Before the skyscrapers, Seattle celebrated the nation's 100th birthday with a massive, carefully choreographed procession of coal miners, firemen, and laborers winding through the dusty streets of a growing frontier town.
- The Spirit of '76: Seattle’s Grand Centennial Celebration
A meticulous guide to how Seattleites organized their first massive city-wide celebration of the American Centennial in 1876, featuring a parade, a regatta, and grand fireworks.
- A High-Stakes Adventure on the River
A young woman's terrifying ordeal while navigating the dangerous waters of the Snohomish River.
- The Miracle of the Scalped Man
A brush with death on the frontier: a survivor recounts the chilling moment he was scalped by Indians and miraculously saved by his traveling party.
- The Centennial Fourth: Seattle's 1876 Celebration
On the eve of the nation's hundredth birthday, Seattle grapples with patriotic fervor, civic fire safety, and a growing political divide.
- The Centennial Vision for a Frontier Metropolis
On the 100th anniversary of American Independence, a local orator laid out a grand—and strikingly prescient—economic blueprint for the future of Seattle and Washington Territory.
- The Day Seattle Woke Up: A Traveler’s Rave Review of the 'Metropolitan' Future
In July 1870, a San Francisco correspondent returns from a voyage down the coast and is stunned by the rapid transformation of his hometown into a booming commercial hub.
- The Great Escape: Professor Baldwin’s Spectacular Deception in Seattle
In July 1876, a traveling spiritualist and escape artist took over Yeager's Hall, challenging the public to witness his 'human agency' escapes from handcuffs and pillories, exposing the mediums of the day as frauds.
- The Narrow Escape on Whidbey Island
A quiet Sunday trip to church turns to tragedy for the Kellogg family after a pair of startled horses wreck their wagon in a field of stumps.
- Broken Bones at the Capstan
A dangerous industrial accident aboard the steamer Chehalis nearly claims a life in Lake Washington.
- A Sharp Critique of Christian Patriarchy
A biting anonymous editorial lampoons the hypocrisy of Seattle’s clergy regarding women’s rights.