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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 4 |
| 1877 | 7 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 3 |
15 stories matching extrem
- 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 City’s Panic Over a Smallpox Outbreak
When an infectious disease arrived on the Seattle waterfront in 1876, the City Council and local editors turned to extreme rhetoric, calling for the forced removal of the city's vulnerable populations.
- The Northwest's Silver Lining in the California Drought
As farmers in California face a 'famine year' due to extreme dry weather, Puget Sound agriculture stands to gain from a surge in demand and profit.
- The Meteorology of the Woods
An 1880 meteorologist argues that deforestation is responsible for the drying of rivers and the loss of rainfall, a warning from the early days of Washington Territory.
- The Professional Pessimists of Early Seattle
A 19th-century editorial takes aim at the 'croakers'—the local doomsayers who claimed the town's prosperity was always on the verge of collapse.
- The Dog Tax That Barked Back: Seattle’s First Crackdown on Strays
In 1876, the City Council passed a law requiring every dog to wear a numbered collar and pay a tax—or face execution. The result? A chaotic hunt for unlicensed mutts and a grim new reality for the city's half-starved strays.
- 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 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 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 Science of Life Comes to the Coal Mines
When a traveling medical lecturer visited the coal town of Newcastle in 1877, the entire community turned out to witness a performance that mixed professional medical advice with public heckling of the town's elite.
- The Unsung Genius of the Barrel
A deep dive into the history of an everyday object that the 1880s public took for granted, tracing its utility from Egyptian antiquity to modern Seattle.
- The Struggle for the Northern Pacific Rails
As Congress debates extending the deadline for the Northern Pacific Railroad, local settlers face the double-edged sword of promised prosperity versus the loss of homestead land.
- The Silent Epidemic: Diphtheria in 1880 Seattle
A harrowing, vivid account of the early stages of diphtheria, a 'perplexing theme' of illness that terrorized families and baffled medical practitioners in the Washington Territory.
- The Mother-in-Law’s Vengeance
A cantankerous encounter at the local recorder's office reveals a domestic dispute that turns violent, involving a skillet and a very narrow escape.
- The Moss-Cloaked Giants of Bay Center
A teacher’s letter from the Pacific Northwest frontier describes a landscape of colossal trees and lush undergrowth, challenging the myth of the harsh pioneer struggle.