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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 13 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 6 |
| 1886 | 10 |
| 1887 | 6 |
40 stories matching rival
- The Iron Stranglehold on Seattle’s Waterfront
A powerful railroad uses its monopoly on transportation to freeze out competitors and strangle the city's independent growth.
- The Seattle Laundry Feud of 1887
A violent, years-long business rivalry between two rival laundry operators erupts in court, revealing the precarity of immigrant life and business in early Seattle.
- The Unlucky Entrepreneur of Seattle
A hopeful man attempts to launch a steamship business in Seattle, only to be outmaneuvered by a rival and left with a rotting boat.
- A Steamboat Showdown on the Sound
When two rival steamers raced from Tacoma to Seattle, the smaller vessel left its larger competitor in its wake.
- The Northern Pacific Railroad's Sudden Respect for Seattle
For years the railroad ignored Seattle, but a shift in power has forced a grudging acknowledgment of the city's potential to rival San Francisco.
- The Rival Ports of the Northwest
A look at the growing competition between Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle as the Northern Pacific Railroad nears completion.
- The Battle for Seattle's Soul
On the eve of a contentious city election in 1886, two rival political factions clashed at the Opera House, setting the stage for a fight over the future of labor, law, and the anti-Chinese riots.
- The Steamship Race of the Century on Puget Sound
A high-speed duel between two rival steamboats turns into a thirteen-mile grudge match across the Sound.
- A High-Stakes Footrace Challenge
Two rivals trade insults and deposit cash wagers for a sprint contest to determine the 'fastest man on the Sound.'
- The Deadly Rivalry at the Bargetown Lake
Two farmers, blinded by their competition for the hand of a local woman, met at daybreak for a fight that ended in blood and arrest.
- A War of Words Between Rival Seattle Newspapers
The Post-Intelligencer hits back at the Seattle Herald, denying accusations of bribery and defending its editorial independence.
- The Captain's Feud on the Neah Bay Frontier
A seafarer and trade negotiator publicly spars with a rival over the treatment of Indigenous laborers and local business ethics.
- The Struggle Against the Telegraph Monopoly
Public frustration with the Western Union monopoly mounts as strikes cause service delays, sparking a national debate over the necessity of a government-run postal telegraph system.
- The Mirror in the Half-Dollar: A Gambling Cheat's Downfall
A man arrested for theft in Seattle was found carrying a doctored coin designed to help him win at cards.
- The 'Law and Order' Battles of Old Seattle
As municipal elections approached in 1885, rival factions clashed over the 'principle' of regulating vice, revealing a city struggling with its own moral identity.
- The Gloves Scandal of Front Street
A bitter public dispute erupts in 1886 Seattle between dry goods merchants over the authenticity of French-imported kid gloves.
- The Looming Rivalry Between Seattle and Portland
A visiting correspondent examines the high-stakes battle for Pacific Northwest dominance as the Northern Pacific Railroad nears completion.
- The Steamer Collision That Divided the Waterfront
After two rival steamers collided in the Tacoma harbor, an official inquiry revealed a comedy of errors and stubborn seamanship.
- Black Diamonds in the Backwoods
A look back at the chaotic, accidental, and often cutthroat early days of coal mining in the Washington Territory.
- The Steamship That Wouldn't Stay Put
A narrow, peculiar steamship, once a riverboat on the Columbia, arrives in Seattle to take on the Olympia-Seattle route.
- The Railway Heartbeat of Walla Walla
When a railroad bypasses a growing town for a smaller rival, the economic stakes—and the town's survival—hang in the balance.
- The 'Seattle Idea': A Warning Against Corporate Territorial Grabs
In an 1885 editorial, local papers sounded the alarm over the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company’s attempt to claim vast swaths of Seattle’s waterfront and tide lands.
- Seattle’s Relentless Boom
A rival paper questioned Seattle's future without a railroad, but the Post-Intelligencer argues that the city's growth is too rapid to ignore.
- The Great Seattle Streetcar Race
Two competing groups of prominent businessmen rush to City Council, proposing a sprawling network of cable and horse-drawn streetcars to reshape the city's growth.
- The Great Terminal Tug-of-War
Henry Villard's railway strategy promises to connect Seattle to the Pacific, but local pride turns the terminal question into a bitter race between rival cities.