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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 44 |
| 1877 | 35 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1880 | 10 |
92 stories matching complet
- The Unending Grading of Front Street
Seattle's downtown thoroughfare is locked in a cycle of costly miscalculations, mud, and construction delays.
- Seattle’s First Great Street: How Denny Hill Became Front Street
In March 1877, the city is racing to finish the brutal grading of Front Street, transforming a muddy slope into Seattle’s first grand thoroughfare.
- The Duwamish River's Unexpected Log-Clearing Service
A winter flood on the Duwamish River brought chaos to local farmland, but farmers found a silver lining in the disaster.
- The Iron Road Presses Through the Swamp
As Seattle expands its industrial footprint, laborers battle the elements to push a new railroad through a boggy frontier.
- The Front Street Bottleneck
A classic tale of early Seattle infrastructure, where a proposed bridge at Seneca Street was deemed 'a fifth wheel to a wagon' by a fed-up local editor.
- The First Real Map of Seattle
Before the city could be built, it had to be measured—an 1876 engineering project that defined the street grades of early downtown.
- The Fertile Hidden Valley of Squak
A glimpse into the agricultural potential and growing pains of the Issaquah Valley, a remote settlement struggling for steamship connectivity in 1878.
- The Pennsylvania of the Pacific
How the coal mines of Renton and the Cedar River Valley became the engine of early Seattle’s industrial expansion.
- The Jail-Breaking Drunkard of 1877
A rowdy arrest in Seattle leads to a display of destruction inside the city lockup.
- 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.
- Waddell & Miles Stocked 50 Stove Styles in 1876 Seattle
A look back at the bustling commercial district of 1876 Seattle, where hardware stores like Waddell & Miles fueled a rapidly growing frontier city.
- The Original Seattle Starter Home
A 1876 real estate listing highlights a property near the University, complete with fruit orchards and multiple dwelling houses, showcasing the early layout of the growing city.
- The Hidden River Beneath University Street
When Seattle’s early engineers paved over a local creek, nature fought back during the autumn rains.
- The Struggle for a Safer Seattle Waterfront
As the city rapidly expands its harbor, a push for a new railing along the waterfront aims to protect nighttime travelers from accidental falls.
- The Midnight Hazard on Front Street
A pedestrian falls into an open trench, highlighting the lack of basic safety measures in a growing, construction-heavy Seattle.
- A Dangerous Labor in the Sawmills of 1876
A worker suffers a debilitating injury at a local wharf, highlighting the routine hazards faced by laborers in Seattle’s industrial infancy.
- The City's Medical Frontier
Dr. A. Weed advertises a new, state-of-the-art infirmary in Seattle, promising superior care and modern comfort for the sick.
- The Checkerboard Trap: How the Northern Pacific Railroad Hoarded Washington’s Land
An editorial in The Daily Intelligencer exposes how the railroad company used federal land grants to block settlers from claiming homesteads, leaving thousands of acres in legal limbo and stalling the growth of Seattle and Tacoma.
- Life and Sport at a Puget Sound Mill Town
Dispatch from Port Gamble captures the rhythm of mill life, local politics, and a crushing victory on the baseball diamond.
- The Political Battle for Seattle’s Soul in 1880
A rare glimpse into the intense, hard-fought campaign that cemented Republican power in late 19th-century Seattle.
- The Peril of the Palouse Trail
A Spokane County postmaster is left partially paralyzed after a grisly highway accident caused by a horse carcass left rotting on the mountain road.
- The Unsung Pioneers Clearing the Skagit River
While the territory hailed the opening of the Skagit Valley to navigation, the men bankrolling the arduous labor of clearing the massive log jam were left bankrupt.
- Stagecoach Chaos on Mill Street
A frightened team of horses sparks a wild ride through downtown Seattle, leaving a lone passenger clinging on for dear life.
- The Wife Who Built a Saloon to Save Her Marriage
When her husband blamed his drinking on a 'dull' home life, a Seattle woman staged a radical intervention that turned their parlor into a cabaret.
- 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.