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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 5 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 12 |
| 1887 | 3 |
22 stories matching devast
- The Seattle Iron Works Tragedy
A devastating structural collapse and fire at a downtown factory leaves dozens of workers dead or critically injured in a haunting industrial disaster.
- Chinatown Ash and Ember: A City Under Siege
A devastating fire levels the Chinese quarter in Tacoma, leaving the community in ruins and stoking the fires of anti-Chinese agitation.
- The Great Seattle Land Office Fire
A devastating blaze sweeps through downtown, destroying irreplaceable public records and a local church.
- Fire Ravages Olympia’s Government Buildings
The Surveyor General’s office, the Land Office, and a historic church are destroyed in a devastating overnight blaze.
- A Night of Ruin: Olympia’s Business District Ravaged by Fire
A catastrophic blaze tears through a full city block in Olympia, leaving shopkeepers and residents devastated in its wake.
- The Tragedy on Trestle No. 4
A father's desperate attempt to walk his children to safety during a heavy snowstorm ends in a devastating train accident on the outskirts of Tacoma.
- The Day the Slash Hills Burned
A devastating fire sweeps through the rural settlement, consuming homes, crops, and winter stores, leaving families to pick through the ashes.
- Drought and Forest Fires Gripping the Inland Empire
A grim report from the Colville Valley details parched crops, ruined timber, and a sun obscured by thick smoke.
- The Great Nooksack Flood
Heavy rains and melting snows have devastated the Nooksack Valley, leaving farmers homeless and destroying livestock.
- Steamer Josephine Boiler Explosion Remembered a Year Later
A haunting one-year retrospective on a boiler explosion that devastated a local crew and passengers near Port Hadlock.
- The Tragic Cost of a Railroad Crossing
A young bride’s life is cut short in a harrowing rail accident while rushing to her husband.
- The Perilous Wreck of the Steamboat at Ozette
After a devastating storm, a ship's crew and passengers faced a harrowing survival on the coast, clinging to the remnants of their vessel and the lighthouse keeper's mercy.
- The Battle for Belltown's Fire Engine
A citizen's fiery demand that the city stop hoarding firefighting resources in the business district and grant the northern residents the protection they pay for.
- The Midnight Blaze That Leveled Seattle’s Largest Sawmill
A devastating fire at the Stetson & Post mill in 1885 left 40 men unemployed and destroyed a vital industrial hub, all while a night watchman pointed fingers at a scapegoated worker.
- Rising from the Ashes: A Seattle Sawmill's Rapid Rebirth
After a devastating fire, the Stetson & Post Mill Company leverages modern fire-safety technology and local community support to rebuild better than before.
- The Great Timber Fires of 1887
As drought conditions persist, devastating fires tear through the logging camps and timberlands near Seattle.
- The Christmas That Almost Wasn't
A local carpenter's struggle to collect payment before the holidays highlights the precarity of working families in early Seattle.
- The Unseen Perils of the Puget Sound Fog
An experienced mariner describes the harrowing reality of navigating steamships through the thick, impenetrable mists of the late 19th-century Sound.
- The Lakeside House Fire at Hot Springs
A devastating midnight blaze destroys the A. T. & S. F. Railway-owned hotel, marking the second such disaster at the site in less than two years.
- The Day Seaton Went Up in Smoke
A devastating fire tore through a Washington sawmill town, proving how quickly the industrial heart of the frontier could vanish.
- The Narrow Escape of the Ship Spartan
A historic vessel remains in Port Townsend Bay, a survivor of a devastating waterfront fire that nearly cost its captain his life.
- The Price of Harvest: A Walla Walla Farmstead Lost to Fire
A devastating blaze sweeps through the property of a Walla Walla farmer, erasing months of labor in an instant.