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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 22 |
| 1877 | 10 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 3 |
36 stories matching lower
- The Ferry Fight on the Duwamish
A contest over a river crossing franchise exposes the competition for infrastructure and land rights along the lower Duwamish in 1876.
- The Great Cedar Jam: How Settlers Cleared the Skagit River by Hand
In September 1876, a group of determined farmers and loggers took on the massive timber jams blocking the Skagit River, hoping to unlock sixty miles of navigation for their struggling community.
- The 'Little Hatchets' of Commercial Street
Vandals are destroying shade trees in downtown Seattle, prompting local residents to demand authorities intervene against the neighborhood boys.
- The Great Jam: Seattle’s Gamble on Clearing the Skagit River
As a massive log jam threatens to stall trade in the fertile Skagit Valley, enterprising locals are betting their fortunes on a dangerous engineering feat to open the river for commerce.
- The Day Seattle’s Streets Became a Minefield
In September 1876, the city’s main commercial artery was so full of potholes and water that officials warned it would become 'deplorable' before winter set in.
- Harvesting Begins on the Skagit Flats
Farmers in the Skagit Valley report massive yields, even as they face challenges with potato blight and the historic Skagit River 'jam.'
- 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 Gateway to the East: Why Snoqualmie Pass Won the Race
Decades before the modern highway, historical surveys and trade routes proved Snoqualmie Pass was the vital artery for Seattle’s expansion across the Cascades.
- The Wages of Growth: Seattle's 1876 Economic Anxiety
As Seattle struggled to establish a foothold in a rugged, isolated frontier, local business owners lamented the 'high' cost of labor and warned that economic survival depended on lower pay.
- 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 Struggle for a Fire-Proof Seattle
In 1876, a local editor warns that Seattle’s reliance on wood-frame architecture is a dangerous gamble for a growing city.
- The Art of Boosting: How Early Seattle Built a Territory
In an era before mass media, Seattle’s newspaper editors viewed themselves as the primary architects of immigration, using booster journalism to lure settlers to the Pacific Northwest.
- Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad Takes Land-Grant Case to Congress
A legislative battle brews in Congress over land-grant endowments that could finally connect Seattle to the interior.
- The Madman with the Million-Dollar Conspiracy
A wandering stranger’s frantic claims of a plot to rob him in Seattle lead to his arrest and a stark reminder: the city is growing too fast for its own good.
- The Boy Who Saw His Own Death: A Seattle Tragedy of Premonition and Fate
In October 1876, a young professor driving near Seattle experienced a chilling vision of his own demise just days before he was killed in a runaway carriage accident.
- Seattle’s 1876 Anti-Chinese Riot Targeted Chinatown
A white mob swept through Seattle’s Chinatown in 1876, destroying property and threatening residents amid economic fear and racial hatred.
- The Boys Who Stowed Away: A Seattle Harbor Adventure
Two young stowaways from the Yakima country were discovered hiding in the coal bunkers of a tugboat bound for Olympia. Rather than turning them away at sea, the captain and crew took pity on the frightened youths, feeding and clothing them until their relieved parents could send a telegram.
- The Steamboat Race for the White River
As farmers in the White River valley struggle to move their produce to market, two rival steamboat captains rush to launch new, shallow-draft vessels to dominate the river trade.
- The Boomtown Blueprint: Seattle's 1877 Real Estate Pitch
As lumber prices cratered and labor became cheap, local papers urged investors to stop building shoddy shacks and start constructing 'neat, commodious cottages' for high-interest returns.
- The Political Stump in Old Seattle
A skeptical local editor critiques a 1880 Democratic congressional candidate’s visit to Seattle, dissecting his oratory, his 'Solid South' rhetoric, and the harsh realities of campaigning in a territory without a vote.
- The Seattle Correspondent’s Gaze on China
A disorienting, 1877 report from a Seattle newspaper explores the rigid social hierarchies and gender dynamics of the Qing Dynasty through a lens of Victorian fascination.
- The Industrial Heart of Pioneer Seattle
A look at the bustling shops and specialized trades fueling the growth of the town, from ironworks to the newly opened brick storefronts on Front Street.
- 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 Promised Land of North River
A booster advertisement in 1878 paints the North River Valley as a hidden agricultural utopia awaiting two hundred families.
- 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.