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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 12 |
| 1877 | 9 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1880 | 4 |
27 stories matching content
- 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.
- Arson Attempt Targets Chinese Business District
A deliberate fire set in the basement of Wah Chong's store nearly triggers a catastrophe for the city's business sector.
- A Deadly Encounter at Holmes' Harbor
A logger's simple attempt to protect his food from local wildlife ends in a tragic, accidental shooting.
- The Man Who Paid for Nothing
A witty anecdote from Seattle's early days captures the city's growing confidence and irreverence toward authority.
- The Farming Pioneer of Protection Island
A bold settler bets on agriculture in the San Juan Islands, finding a thriving home where others saw only isolation.
- The Lottery That Built Seattle: How a $5 Ticket Bought a Sawmill and City Blocks
In 1876, the Washington Territory authorized a massive state lottery to fund a road through the Cascades. The prize? A steam sawmill worth $100,000 and prime real estate in downtown Seattle.
- The $100,000 Gamble: Yesler’s Great Lottery
To fund a mountain road, Seattle pioneer Henry Yesler turned to a massive, state-sanctioned lottery, putting his own saw mill and downtown lots on the line.
- The Saloonkeeper’s Open Letter to Seattle’s 'Hounds of Malice'
A local business owner fires back at the city’s political elite, accusing them of using moral grandstanding and the threat of liquor laws to dismantle his livelihood.
- Quarantine in the Pioneer City: A Smallpox Scare in 1880
When two cases of smallpox arrived by steamer from San Francisco, Seattle authorities acted with swift, hard-edged precision to contain the contagion.
- An Invitation to a Celestial Feast
An 1877 dispatch offers a rare, albeit patronizing, glimpse into the intricate social etiquette and lavish dining culture of Seattle’s Chinese mercantile class.
- The Counterfeiters of 1877
An expert assayer at the U.S. Mint offers local shopkeepers a masterclass in detecting 'whitish brass' counterfeits circulating in the Pacific Northwest.
- The Bartender Who Saved a Life
A skeptical Seattle saloon keeper prevents a man from swallowing a mysterious powder, leading to a strange and poignant discovery.
- The Price of Discontent: A Warning from the 1877 Panic
While Seattle thrives on the steady hum of mills and logging camps, a Seattle editor warns citizens against petty grievances by recounting the harrowing hunger and unemployment plaguing the rest of the country.
- The $100,000 Mill: Seattle’s Legalized Lottery for a Fortune
In 1876, the Washington Territory authorized a massive public lottery to fund a road across the Cascades. The grand prize? A fully operational steam sawmill and prime real estate in downtown Seattle.
- The Unlikely Sweep of 1880
When King County became the 'banner county' for the GOP, local editors credited a clean campaign and a rejection of the 'mud-slinging' tactics of their rivals.
- The 1878 Dream of Building Societies
A look at the early mutual loan movement, promising that the average working man could escape the cycle of high rent and finally own his home.
- The Waterfront Showdown of 1877
A mob attempts to forcibly eject Chinese laborers from a coal ship, but is repelled by a quick-thinking mate and his revolver.
- The Hyena of Seattle: A 'Herculean Woman' Leaves a Man Sprawled in the Dust
In a rare display of physical dominance that defied Victorian gender norms, a local woman engaged in a public brawl so fierce it was described as 'fiendish delight,' leaving her male opponent screaming for mercy.
- The Con Artist’s Benevolent Hustle
A smooth-talking stranger visits a Seattle tobacco shop, spins a yarn about a tragedy at sea, and leaves with more than just a sympathy donation.
- The Ethics of the Sting
A century before modern debates on police entrapment, Washington courts were already grappling with the line between preventing crime and creating it.
- The Silent Dangers of Seattle’s Early Boarding Houses
A 19th-century public health warning reveals the grim reality of sanitation in early Seattle, where overcrowded and poorly drained boarding houses became breeding grounds for typhoid fever.
- The Unlucky Fisherman of Seattle
A satirical poem from 1878 chronicles an angler who spends a week sitting by a local sawmill, only to become a living piece of landscape architecture for the local insect population.
- The Million-Dollar Ticket: How Seattle Bet Its Future on a Lottery
In 1876, the city’s most prominent businessman launched a massive lottery to fund a mountain road, offering a steam sawmill valued at $100,000 as the grand prize.
- The Road Less Traveled: Seattle’s Shameful Contrast with Victoria’s Fine Highways
In 1876, the local press lambasted King County’s broken road system, praising British Columbia’s turnpikes as a model for Seattle’s own stagnant development.
- The Great Seattle Lottery: A $100,000 Sawmill and a Road to Nowhere
In 1876, the Washington Territory legislature authorized a massive public lottery to fund a road through Snoqualmie Pass. The grand prize? Yelver’s Steam Saw Mill. It was a bold gamble on infrastructure that reveals how early Seattle funded its growth.