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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 6 |
| 1877 | 6 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1880 | 1 |
16 stories matching flow
- Washington Territory Moves Toward a Constitutional Convention
Before Washington became a state, residents debated the necessity of a constitutional convention and the potential riches of federal land grants.
- The Dairy Dilemma of 1876
Before high-tech factory farming, Seattle's early settlers navigated the delicate, labor-intensive art of managing livestock health by hand.
- The Swamp That Was: How a Drainage Project Threatened to Reclaim King County’s Wetlands
In 1876, local farmers petitioned the county to drain the marshes between White and Black rivers, arguing that reclamation would boost public health and add millions to the region's wealth.
- The Hustle of 1876 Seattle: A Frontier Mercantile Mosaic
Before the skyscrapers and tech giants, Seattle was a bustling town of blacksmiths, brickmakers, and steamboat agents—here is how the city’s early commerce actually worked.
- Raising the Barn: A Frontier Memory
A look back at the communal labor and rough-and-tumble celebrations that defined building a new life in early Washington Territory.
- The Governor’s Unacknowledged Son
A condemned prisoner in the city jail delivers a final, shattering letter to the Governor, revealing a secret connection that exposes the cruel indifference of the ruling class.
- The Settlers’ Plea for the Skagit River
Without government support, early pioneers are manually clearing massive river logjams to open the Skagit Valley to trade and development.
- The 'Nile of the Occident' Demands a Road
A settler from Kittitas Valley writes a fiery open letter to Seattle, advocating for a direct mountain passage to boost the region’s agricultural potential.
- A Call to Harmony at the Territorial University
A visiting lecturer proposes a city-wide fundraiser to gift a Steinway grand piano to the University of Washington, arguing that music education is a moral imperative for a frontier territory.
- The Sacred Garden of the Frontier
A look at the sentimental and pious customs of 1878 Seattle, where the living turned to the Victorian language of flowers to honor the dead.
- The Struggle to Save the Harbor
Engineers and locals debate the best way to keep Seattle's waterfront from choking on silt and debris in 1876.
- 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 Tribune Editor and the Colonel: A Duel of Paper and Fists
A simmering political grudge in 1878 Seattle boiled over into a public brawl on the street after an editor criticized a local Colonel in print.
- The Transformation of Whidbey’s Bottomlands
A local correspondent dispatches a vivid account of agricultural modernization on Whidbey Island, capturing the shift from back-breaking scythe work to the era of mechanized farming.
- 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 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.