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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 18 |
| 1877 | 13 |
| 1880 | 1 |
32 stories matching cheap
- The Boomtown Pulse of 1876
A booster’s-eye view of a rapidly industrializing Seattle, where housing was cheap, the bay teemed with fish, and laborers arrived by the steamer-load.
- The Chinese Question: Seattle’s Editorial War Over Labor and 'Vermin'
In October 1876, the *Seattle Daily Intelligencer* published a blistering editorial defending Chinese laborers while simultaneously dehumanizing them as carriers of disease, revealing the complex economic dependencies and racial tensions of early Washington Territory.
- The Coal King’s Dilemma: Seattle vs. the World
As global markets crash and foreign rivals flood San Francisco with cheap fuel, local miners and merchants scramble to save their industry from extinction.
- The Steamboat Race for the White River
As farmers in the White River valley struggle to move their produce to market, two rival steamboat captains rush to launch new, shallow-draft vessels to dominate the river trade.
- The Great Seattle Straw Hat Swindle
A smooth-talking grifter fleeced the crowds of Seattle by promising cheap hats, only to leave them holding handfuls of worthless paper.
- The High Price of the Cedar Harvest
An 1876 editorial from Seattle critiques the 'disproportionately large pay' of loggers, blaming high wages for the financial instability of the industry.
- The Radical Doctor of Seattle
An 1876 lecture at the local Opera House challenges the city's elites, railing against the morality of wealth, the indignity of labor, and the hypocrisy of the church.
- The Vampire of Hard Times: Why Seattle's Banks Are Starving Its Growth
An editorial in the March 1877 *Seattle Intelligencer* blames the region’s economic stagnation not on a lack of enterprise, but on predatory lending rates that are strangling local industry.
- Building a Future: The 1876 Fight for Seattle’s School Sites
As Seattle’s population swelled in the 1870s, city leaders scrambled to secure prime real estate for education amidst a booming, land-hungry frontier town.
- The Paper War: Port Townsend vs. Seattle
In 1876, a small rival town accused Seattle of economic sabotage over who printed their business cards.
- The Original Seattle Real Estate Hustle
In 1876, a pioneer developer lured buyers with the promise of 'a lot for nothing,' provided they were willing to build their own future on his terms.
- The Great Fill: Seattle’s First Major Land Reclamation and the Fight for White Labor
In October 1876, workers are frantically raising Front Street to save it from the Duwamish River. The local press frames this massive public works project not just as engineering, but as a moral victory for 'white labor' over cheap Chinese competition.
- The Free Real Estate Gamble of 1876
Facing a housing crunch, a prominent developer offers free land to anyone willing to build—a desperate move to spur growth in North Seattle.
- The Satchel Swindle: How a Miner Outsmarted a Seattle Landlord
A crafty miner used a bag of lead pipe to play on his landlord’s greed and secure two months of free room and board.
- The Hidden Fortune of the Seattle 'Miser'
A young man arrives in the Territory with a half-million-dollar inheritance, yet lives in total poverty—until a secret letter reveals his true, noble motive.
- The Next Pittsburg: Seattle’s Coal Rush
A new mine opens across the Cedar River, fueling hopes that the young city of Seattle will soon become a major center for iron and coal production.
- The Case for 'Made in Seattle' Ships
An 1877 editorial argues that Seattle’s abundant timber and cheap labor should make it a maritime powerhouse rather than a consumer of imported vessels.
- The Great Meat Safe: How Seattle’s Fishermen Could Have Rivalled London’s Beef Trade
A July 1876 dispatch from the Agricultural Gazette reveals that fresh American beef was successfully shipped to London in refrigerated holds. The Daily Intelligencer editor sees a parallel opportunity for Puget Sound halibut, which currently spoils before reaching San Francisco markets.
- The Unending Grading of Front Street
Seattle's downtown thoroughfare is locked in a cycle of costly miscalculations, mud, and construction delays.
- The Mill That Stopped: A City Holds Its Breath
When Colman’s sawmill ceased its daily roar for repairs, the silence was so profound it forced Seattleites to confront their terrifying dependence on industrial machinery.
- The Canal That Could Freeze England: A Climate Warning from the Isthmus of Panama
In 1877, Seattle’s press warned that digging a canal through Central America might divert the Gulf Stream, plunging Europe into an ice age—a bizarre but prescient look at early environmental anxiety.
- The Gambler’s Gamble: How a Frenchman’s ‘Little Bit’ Sparked a Seattle Riot
In the early days of Seattle, a dispute over a small sum of money at a boarding house escalated into a violent brawl involving three gamblers and a local resident, highlighting the volatile nature of frontier justice.
- The Struggle to Launch Seattle’s Shipbuilding Future
A century and a half ago, Seattle’s local editors argued that the city’s vast timber resources should have made it a global marine power, but capital and labor were held back by East Coast monopolies.
- The Struggle for Home Ownership in Early Seattle
An 1877 editorial argues that the city's growth is being stifled by speculative land hoarding, keeping affordable homes out of reach for the working class.
- The River vs. The Rails: Walla Walla’s Plea for a Seattle Link
In 1877, Eastern Washington leaders warned that relying on the Columbia River was a fatal mistake, urging the federal government to subsidize a railroad connecting their region directly to Seattle.