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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 5 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1887 | 7 |
20 stories matching obstruct
- The Unbeatable Fence of Old Town
A standoff between property owners and the city government plays out on an obstructed public thoroughfare, mirroring the modern tensions of land access in a growing metropolis.
- The Salvation Army Jailbreak
When Nooksack officials imprisoned Salvationists for the crime of 'obstructing the highway,' the town rose up to tear down the jail.
- The Price of Protesting a Road
Two men learned the hard way that testing the government's authority in court cannot be done by breaking the law first.
- The City Council vs. The Slaughterhouses
In an early effort to clean up the city's streets, the Seattle City Council orders the immediate abatement of butcher-shop nuisances.
- A Tangle Over Tacoma Land
A legal dispute emerges in the southern part of Tacoma over the alleged 'unlawful' development and obstruction of property.
- A Frontier Expedition to the Snoqualmie
A military detachment treks into the rugged wilderness near Snoqualmie to rescue travelers stranded by heavy snow.
- A Lodged Tree, a Fatal Step: Logging’s Toll Near Ferndale
W. N. Roberts was planning how to bring down a hung tree when it fell on him—a sudden death in the woods north of Ferndale.
- The Ghostly Burglar of Main and 12th
A Seattle household tried everything to stop a persistent intruder—from chair barricades to tin-pan alarms—but the culprit bypassed every obstacle, leaving the family baffled.
- Seattle's W.H. White Takes Settlers' Case Against Railroad Land Grab
A Seattle emissary confronts the House Committee on Public Lands over the railroad's massive, multi-decade obstruction of homesteading in Washington Territory.
- The City Under Martial Law: Seattle's 1886 Expulsion
A presidential proclamation from Grover Cleveland arrived in Seattle, authorizing the use of federal troops to suppress 'domestic violence' and restore order after anti-Chinese mobs took to the streets.
- Seattle Declares War on the Northern Pacific
A packed town hall votes to demand the forfeiture of unearned railroad land grants, signaling a shift from boosterism to populist revolt.
- The Great Smuggled Salmon Caper
When federal agents boarded the steamer Idaho, they didn't just find barrels of fish—they found a desperate, high-stakes attempt to smuggle opium into the Pacific Northwest.
- The Waterfront Cold War: Seattle’s Battle Over the Tideflats
As railroad companies choked off the tideflats with unpermitted pilings, local manufacturers fought to keep their water access open in a clash between industrial expansion and small business survival.
- The Struggle for the Promised Land of Washington Territory
While Washington pioneers clamored for the development of government-held land to build a state, political gamesmanship in Washington, D.C. left the local economy in limbo.
- Mayor Struve Disputes Plummer's Waterfront Land Claim
Mayor H. G. Struve acts against a squatter who fenced off city-claimed land on the Seattle waterfront.
- Trapped by the Skagit River's Winter Fury
An eyewitness account from January 1885 describes the deadly isolation of the Skagit Valley as the river choked with ice, cutting off pioneer settlers from the outside world.
- Northern Pacific Piles Block Commencement Bay Landing
Business owners clash with the Northern Pacific Railroad over the blocking of a vital waterway, forcing a community to fight for their access to the harbor.
- The 75-Foot Coal Chute Plunge
A dock worker survived a terrifying descent through a ship's coal bunker, landing 75 feet below in the hold.
- The 3,000-Foot Log Shute That Fed the Lumber Boom
With logs growing scarce, mill men near Cathlamet planned a railroad and a mile-long timber chute down a 700-foot bluff.
- A Night at Brown's Hall: Seattle's Military Gala
In 1886, the city's militia hosted a lavish, high-society dance at Brown's Hall, complete with visiting dignitaries and a display of precision drills.