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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1882 | 7 |
| 1883 | 37 |
| 1884 | 16 |
| 1885 | 39 |
| 1886 | 22 |
| 1887 | 16 |
137 stories matching need
- Mrs. Dine, Aging Teacher, Needs Community Support
An aging Seattle resident, who once helped build the foundations of the city, now struggles in penury—prompting a call for civic support.
- Seattle Baseball Team Issues Call for Support
Local players aim to uphold their record against the Victoria club, but they need the community’s help to make the trip across the border.
- Catholic Order Plans Expansion in Olympia
Religious orders in the territorial capital announce plans for a new academy for boys, the platting of Priest's Point, and the construction of a much-needed hospital.
- The Oregon Railway & Navigation Company’s Seattle Bottleneck
Caught between a local captain’s limited authority and a slow-moving corporate bureaucracy in New York, the steamboat company faces a potential collapse of its Puget Sound trade.
- The Forgotten Wreck of the St. Stephen
For six weeks, the federal revenue cutter Wolcott sat idle while the public clamored for a search for survivors of a shipwreck off the Washington coast.
- Protecting the Immigrants on the Northern Pacific
Railroad officials implement new dining standards for emigrant passengers to prevent exploitation and food price gouging.
- The $75 Smallpox Bill: A Theater Manager’s Mercy in the Face of Plague
When a member of the Nellie Boyd Dramatic Company contracted smallpox upon arriving in Seattle, his employer stepped up to cover half the medical costs, setting a precedent for worker care during a public health crisis.
- The Need for a Reform School
A local editorial argues that Seattle’s juvenile justice system is failing, treating young offenders as criminals rather than rehabilitation candidates.
- The Promised Valley: A Land of Promise and Grit
A detailed dispatch from Kittitas County outlines the rapid transformation of the wilderness into a grain-producing powerhouse and the desperate need for rail infrastructure.
- Seattle’s Looming Epidemic
Facing a potential outbreak of cholera, the city council debates the urgent need for drainage and cleaning up the ‘rank smelling’ slums of Seattle in 1885.
- The Crumbling Sidewalk of James Street
For three weeks, a gaping hole on James Street has left residents navigating a mess, leaving neighbors to wonder if the city has forgotten the street commissioner exists.
- The Struggle for a Road from Duwamish to Seattle
A local settler demands a plank road to town, arguing that poor infrastructure is stifling growth and discouraging new arrivals.
- Navigational Neglect at Shoalwater Bay
Local mariners demand better buoy systems to avoid future shipwrecks on the treacherous bar.
- A Mounted Inspector for Eastern Washington
The Treasury Department increases customs presence near Fort Colville to enforce Chinese exclusion laws.
- The Tyranny of the Rails
For years, Seattle merchants have endured the 'thralldom' of the Northern Pacific Railroad; now, local business leaders are looking to the Canadian Pacific to break the monopoly.
- The Fight for Public Land
Seattle activists organize to challenge the Northern Pacific Railroad's control over vast swaths of Washington Territory.
- The 'Hard Times' of 1888: A City in Stagnation
As Seattle families struggle with unemployment and the high cost of living, the local press captures a city gripped by a financial slump.
- The Great Cigar-Maker Swindle
A labor organizer lured 200 workers to Seattle with promises of steady jobs in California, only to abandon them penniless after pocketing their displacement costs.
- The Fight for a New Land Office
Citizens of the Eastern Sound protest a proposal to center federal land business in Port Townsend, arguing it is inaccessible and indifferent to their needs.
- The Race to the Summit
Seattle and Yakima men compete to see who can finish the mountain pass wagon road first.
- The 'Social Curse' Argument: A Seattle Paper Builds the Case Against the Chinese
An 1883 editorial sounds the alarm over opium dens and 'heathen hordes,' casting Chinese immigrants as a menace to be legislated out of existence — the ideological groundwork for the expulsions to come.
- The Great White River Bridge Feud
A fiery letter from a resident exposes the political squabbling and local power struggles behind a seemingly mundane infrastructure project in King County.
- The Logging Camp Swap: A Labor Struggle in 1885
A Snohomish camp owner’s decision to replace a white couple with a Chinese laborer ignites a local dispute over working conditions and labor equity.
- Seattle’s Thirst: A Winter Warning
A deep freeze has exposed the city's crumbling, inadequate water infrastructure.
- The Seattle Dry Goods War: A 19th-Century Boycott
When local merchants began using circulars to undercut their competition and 'boycott' a local newspaper, the P-I fought back by calling on the moral, law-abiding citizens of Seattle to take a stand.