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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 9 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 34 |
| 1886 | 6 |
| 1887 | 6 |
58 stories matching border
- The Underground Path to Puget Sound
A look at the porous maritime border between Victoria and Washington Territory, where the business of smuggling Chinese laborers flourished despite federal exclusion laws.
- The Renegade's Return: A Confederate Exile's Seattle Confession
Decades after the Civil War, an expatriate recounts his painful realization of displacement while watching the American flag from across a border.
- The Mob Rule That Swept Tacoma
While city leaders in Seattle urged calm, residents in Tacoma forcibly expelled the Chinese community, marking a dark escalation in the regional movement to purge Asian workers.
- The Governor’s Plea for Order During the Anti-Chinese Riots
Governor Watson C. Squire issues a stern warning against the vigilante violence sweeping across Puget Sound in 1885.
- Border Smuggling Crisis
Revenue officers report nearly one hundred Chinese laborers crossing the northern frontier by boat as current enforcement resources prove inadequate.
- The Great Washington Land Grab
A federal investigation reveals how the Northern Pacific Railroad manipulated land office officials to claim 600,000 acres of prime territory in the Walla Walla Valley.
- The Rogue of the Sound
A smuggler on the Puget Sound recounts a brutal night of human trafficking and violence, offering a chilling glimpse into the lawless reality of the 1880s maritime border.
- The Sheriff and the Slip-Up at the Border
A two-year-old political scandal re-emerges regarding the escape of two fugitives from Sheriff McGraw's custody in British Columbia.
- The Pig War: How a Single Foraging Hog Nearly Triggered a Border War
A look back at the bizarre diplomatic standoff between the U.S. and Britain on San Juan Island, sparked by a hungry pig in a settler’s garden.
- The Fraser River Gold Rush and the Fear of 'Foreign' Highways
How the 1858 gold fever in British Columbia forced the United States to confront its own regional expansionism and the presence of a 'foreign highway' at its northern border.
- The Dream of a Lake Washington Canal Takes Root
Prominent businessmen incorporate the Washington Improvement Company to link the lakes, eyeing a future of farm-rich expansion and city growth.
- Extradition Granted for 'Lone-haired' Harris Murder Case
A brutal killing in Blaine leads to a cross-border legal battle as the accused is committed to custody in Victoria.
- The Knights of Labor Demand Action on the Border
A fiery 1885 exchange reveals deep tension between Seattle's labor unions and federal officials over the lax enforcement of Chinese immigration restrictions.
- The Exclusionist Debate in 1885 Seattle
An editorial from the Post-Intelligencer outlines the legal arguments used to justify the early efforts to bar Chinese residents from owning land in Washington Territory.
- The Buried Wealth of King County: Seattle’s Industrial Rise
How a series of accidental discoveries and ambitious railway projects transformed the coal industry around Seattle, turning the region into an industrial powerhouse of the Pacific Northwest.
- The Point Roberts Dinner Party Murder
A celebratory dinner at the border turned fatal when a drunken argument over whiskey escalated into a stabbing, leaving one man dead and a community in shock.
- The Imperial Ambition: Seattle’s Role in a Nicaragua Canal Scheme
Military and political elites weigh the costs and grand strategies of controlling a trans-oceanic canal as the United States shifts toward a global power posture.
- A Father's Desperate Act in the Tacoma Streets
A Victoria man crossed the border to reclaim his daughter from a fractured home, sparking a public confrontation.
- The Dilemma of the Stranded Immigrants
Twelve Chinese immigrants abandoned on a rock near Stewart Island highlight the ongoing border crisis.
- The Shadowy Arrival at Port Townsend
Federal authorities intercept two young Chinese men smuggled into Washington Territory as 'contraband,' exposing the illicit human trafficking trade operating under the noses of border officials.
- The Great County Border War of 1886
When Pierce County attempted to poach King County's townships to bolster its own size and wealth, the local press didn't mince words about the 'unauthorized' territorial expansion.
- The Unintended Migrant: An International Diplomatic Headache
When a destitute man seeking work was deported from Washington back to British Columbia, he sparked a minor diplomatic crisis that tested the porous borders of the Pacific Northwest.
- The Seattle Rail Boom of 1888
A massive new contract with a Canadian firm promises to connect Seattle to the transcontinental rail line, fueling the city's rapid, foundation-building growth.
- The Waterfront Property War
A high-stakes legal battle over Seattle's tide lands pits powerful developers against squatters in a fight for the future of the harbor.
- The Open Secret of Puget Sound Smuggling
A Treasury agent investigating the border dismisses reports of Chinese smuggling as 'exaggerated,' revealing the complicity of local lumbermen who view the law as a joke.
Also about this, in other words
- Tragedy at the Border
A report from the boundary between Washington Territory and British Columbia details a fatal accident and a local economic failure.