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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 61 |
| 1877 | 32 |
| 1878 | 12 |
| 1880 | 8 |
113 stories matching half
- The Unwelcome Guest of Port Gamble
A small mill town's tranquility is disrupted by a mysterious, 'half-crazed' outsider offering unwanted critiques of local intellectual life.
- The High Stakes of 1878: A Seattle Sunday Outing
Before the city’s rapid industrialization, residents looked to the local race track for leisure, with the railroad offering half-fare tickets to draw crowds to the spectacle.
- An Early Real Estate Play in Pioneer Seattle
A listing from 1873 offers a glimpse into the housing market of the era, where two dwelling houses and a half-acre lot were marketed as a 'good investment' in the budding city.
- The Saturday Spectacle at the Seattle Race Track
A century and a half ago, the promise of a purse, a ball game, and a rail excursion beckoned Seattleites to the outskirts of town for a weekend of high-stakes play.
- 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.
- The Wild Horse Races and Baseball of 1873
Before skyscrapers and paved roads, Seattle residents gathered for half-mile horse heats and a historic first baseball game.
- Brutal Attack on Seattle Gas Worker
A workman assaulted by a gang of drunken sailors in front of a local hotel, marking a tense night in the city's rougher quarters.
- 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 Forgotten Mother on the Sidewalk
A chance encounter between a group of children and an intoxicated woman in the street reveals a heartbreaking moment of human connection.
- The Price of a Pioneer Homestead in 1877
A modest real estate listing from a century-and-a-half ago highlights the stark contrast between early Seattle’s property market and today's vertical city.
- Seattle’s First Fire Company: A Half-Hearted Start in a City That Needs It
In October 1876, Seattle’s citizens are debating the formation of a volunteer fire engine company. While some jeer at their 'small beginnings,' the paper argues that even a half-hearted effort is better than no defense against the city's greatest fear: fire.
- The Ghostly Tenements of Early Seattle
Before the city’s rapid transformation, Seattle’s housing market was a landscape of cramped, 'little rooms upstairs' and boarding house advertisements catering to the transient laborer.
- The High-Stakes Rivalry of the Seattle Racetrack
After a controversial 'dead heat' left spectators threatening violence, two local favorites prepare for a definitive $150 rematch.
- The Industrial Ambitions of Pioneer Square
How local craftsmen and entrepreneurs began transforming the muddy, frontier-era blocks of Seattle into a professional urban district.
- The Price of a Legacy: The Forced Sale of the Foster Ranch
A legal decree from 1876 reveals the cold mechanics of property loss, as a King County court orders the auction of a local homestead to settle a debt.
- The Schools Run Dry: Seattle’s 1877 Budget Crisis
With the city’s coffers emptied, Seattle's public schools were shuttered mid-semester, forcing teachers to pivot to private tuition just to keep the lights on.
- The Miracle Crop of the Duwamish Valley
In 1876, a local farmer touted the 'Hulless Oat' as an agricultural revolution for the Seattle region, promising heavier yields and sweeter grain than traditional varieties.
- The Giant of Wawawai
A crew grading a road near the Snake River unearths the remains of a man estimated to be thirty feet tall.
- The Sound's Freight Wars
Seattle merchants sound the alarm as steamboat companies hit the city with discriminatory freight rates that favor Tacoma and Tumwater.
- The Ghost Caboose of Seattle
A high-wind storm sends a riderless train car hurtling down the tracks in a moment of unexpected local drama.
- The Dream of a Shortcut to the World
A century and a half ago, Seattle boosters saw a Central American canal as the key to unlocking Washington’s timber wealth and connecting it to the globe.
- The Vanity Trap: Seattle’s 1876 Warning on Materialism
While the city scrambled to build its future, one observer warned that an 'aristocracy of display' was hollowing out the pioneer soul.
- The Brutal Assault of a Seattle Resident
In an era of casual domestic violence, a man was held to account after beating his wife in their home.
- 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.
- The 1878 Case for Buying the Dip in Seattle Real Estate
An editorial from the Seattle Intelligencer advises that despite hard times, the current low prices of labor and building materials make it the perfect time for working families to secure their own homes.