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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 17 |
| 1877 | 9 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 4 |
31 stories matching concern
- The Puyallup Valley's Hop Boom
Pioneer farmers in the Puyallup Valley expect a massive harvest as hop cultivation surges.
- The Tragedy of the Seattle Coal Docks
A tragic industrial accident at the local coal incline leaves a community in mourning as safety standards remain a distant concern.
- The Boy Who Stole a Four-Bit Piece: A Warning to Seattle Parents
An elderly man was surrounded by a gang of youths on Main Street yesterday. While the theft itself was minor, the paper uses the incident to launch a moral panic about juvenile delinquency and the influence of San Francisco.
- Seattle’s Cultural Desert: A Plea for a Theater
An 1877 editorial laments that while Seattle citizens invest heavily in private homes, the city remains 'negligent and tardy' in providing a decent venue for public performance.
- The Boom Town of La Conner
A report from 1878 highlights the explosive agricultural potential and rapid development of the Skagit Valley's 'thrifty little town.'
- The Seattle-Walla Walla Rail Ambition
An 1877 editorial proposes leveraging global capital gluts to fund the critical narrow-gauge railway connection, a lifeline for the territory's economic future.
- The Lost Cook of Lowell
A camp cook vanished from the logging woods near Snohomish, leaving behind his belongings and fueling local rumors of desertion or death.
- Seattle Incorporates Northern Pacific Iron Works
A look at the birth of the Northern Pacific Iron Works, a grand manufacturing dream that once promised to turn Seattle into a regional powerhouse.
- The Tax War That Almost Killed Seattle's Economy
In 1877, a federal order threatened to strip Seattle of its tax base by forcing steamships to register their 'home port' in Port Townsend. The local press warned that without this revenue, the county would collapse.
- The Battle for Seattle's Soul: Who Owns the City?
As the Northern Pacific Railroad, wealthy speculators, and the City of Seattle clash in Olympia over a massive land claim, the future of Seattle’s streets and growth hangs in the balance.
- The Ghost of Belltown and the Battle for the Ballot
In 1880, as Seattle’s population swelled, the newspaper sparred with shipping reports over the identity of a neighborhood that 'did not exist' and the urgent need for more polling stations.
- The Hanging Sentence of John Thompson
A condemned man stands in a crowded Seattle courtroom, maintaining his innocence while awaiting the gallows for a fatal brawl in Renton.
- The Wild Fertility of the Sammamish Valley
A local settler reports on the rapid agricultural development and the urgent need for river navigation to bring produce to market.
- The Struggle for a Fire-Safe City
Early Seattleites grapple with the slow, expensive process of organizing a volunteer fire department to protect a rapidly growing town.
- The Original Seattle Growth Strategy
In 1877, business leaders debated how to fund a private office to lure immigrants from 'grasshopper-stricken' regions, mirroring today's debates over attracting talent and industry to the Pacific Northwest.
- The Great Mountain Road Debate of 1877
As Seattle dreamed of a transcontinental railroad, settlers in the Kittitas Valley argued that a simple wagon road was the true key to their economic survival.
- The Miracle of the Scalped Man
A brush with death on the frontier: a survivor recounts the chilling moment he was scalped by Indians and miraculously saved by his traveling party.
- 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 Lure of the City and the Reality of Hard Times
A frontier editorial warns local farm families that the 'fancied comforts' of Seattle often end in unemployment and vice.
- The Angel of Pestilence: Seattle’s War on Rot and Ruin
In May 1877, a local merchant’s complaint about piles of carrion near the sawmills sparked an editorial outcry against civic negligence, declaring that 'malarial vapors' were generating poison and death in the growing town.
- The Forged Signature and the Legal Loophole of Marriage
A husband accuses his wife of forgery for signing his name, only to have a judge dismiss the case based on the legal doctrine of coverture.
- The Skagit Gold Rush Mirage
When the promise of easy riches on the Skagit River sparked a frantic, ill-fated mining boom, Seattle’s local press faced accusations of peddling a dangerous myth.
- The Auditor and the Sheriff: A Public Spat Over Corruption
In the lead-up to the 1876 election, a public war of words between King County's Auditor and former Sheriff exposes the messy, opaque, and highly questionable state of territorial bookkeeping.
- The Sawmill Scandal: Henry Yesler’s Long Legal War
Before the city grew, Seattle’s founding titan was locked in a decade-long, bitter courtroom battle over his sawmill, revealing the ruthless undercurrents of the frontier economy.
- The Struggle to Clear the Skagit River
Loggers and settlers face a massive, shifting timber jam on the Skagit River, with locals debating the impact of land ownership on the future of the valley.