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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 7 |
| 1884 | 4 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 3 |
19 stories matching outlet
- Surveyors Map a Path for the Lake Washington Ship Canal
A mysterious but well-funded crew begins the long, arduous work of designing a canal to connect the Sound to Lake Washington.
- The Promised Land of Hayview
A new town platted on Padilla Bay promises a boom in lumber, and land-seekers are urged to stake their claims.
- The Log Jam in Lake Union
How an innovative timber operation cut a channel through the lake to reach salt water, forever changing the Seattle landscape.
- The Proposal to Import 'Young Scotch Girls' to Seattle
A territorial official proposes a controversial plan to remedy the labor shortage by bringing hundreds of young women from Scotland to work in local households.
- Mapping the Gateway to the Chehalis
An official 1883 engineering survey reveals the natural promise of Gray's Harbor.
- The Dream of a Boat-Accessible Seattle
Contractor J.J. Cummings prepares to connect the lakes, promising a future where residents can row entirely around the city.
- The Northern Pacific's Iron Grip on the Territory
An scathing editorial decries the railroad monopoly for partitioning Washington into 'trade territories' to serve their own interests.
- The Fight for Gig Harbor Timber
A local settler exposes a land-grabbing ring in Pierce County, accusing them of fraudulent timber claims.
- The Railway War for the Snake River
A brutal corporate chess match plays out across the wilderness as the Union Pacific and local navigation companies fight for control of the Pacific Northwest's lifeline.
- The Bold Plan to Create an Island City
Prominent citizens incorporate the Washington Improvement Company to carve a canal linking Lake Washington to Lake Union, promising to reclaim marshland and shift the city's geography.
- Who Should Own the Canal That Would Make King County?
In a long letter to the editor, a Seattle correspondent takes apart the bill letting King County buy the Washington Canal — and warns that handing the region's only outlet to a private company would 'sell the birthright of the future citizens.'
- The Perilous Depths of the Newcastle Mine
A rare eyewitness account from 1,000 feet below the earth, where miners fight 'black damp' and underground fires to power a growing Seattle.
- 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 Governor’s Vision: Washington Territory in 1885
A wide-ranging interview with Governor Watson Squire details the rise of the Cascade division of the Northern Pacific Railroad and the economic optimism of a growing frontier.
- The Rush for the Big Bend
A new gold and grain boom on the Columbia River, driven by railroad expansion, promises to transform the Washington Territory.
- The Dream of a Seattle Ship Canal
Proposals to link Lake Washington, Lake Union, and the Puget Sound via canals promised to unlock vast timber and coal riches, but the path forward remains a tangled mess of congressional bills and engineering hurdles.
- The Unfinished Promise of the Lake Washington Canal
In 1882, a concerned citizen urged Seattle's 'capitalists' to stop ignoring the massive economic potential of linking Lake Washington to the Puget Sound.
- The Lonely Life of the Seattle Bachelor
A local writer laments the lack of respectable social outlets for unmarried men, arguing that the city’s saloons and variety shows offer nothing but 'hardening influences.'
- Steaming Through the Puget Sound Boom, Town by Town
A Seattle traveler’s 1883 voyage aboard the Idaho finds crowded wharves, railroad dreams, and real-estate prices high enough to check the very boom they fed.