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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 73 |
| 1877 | 43 |
| 1878 | 13 |
| 1880 | 11 |
140 stories matching much
- 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 Ghost of Belltown and the Battle for the Ballot
In 1880, as Seattle’s population swelled, the newspaper sparred with shipping reports over the identity of a neighborhood that 'did not exist' and the urgent need for more polling stations.
- The Bachelor’s Secret: Why He Loves a Crying Baby
A humorous anecdote from the May 5, 1877, *Seattle Daily Intelligencer* reveals the cynical charm of a local bachelor who finds comfort in infant noise because it clears the room.
- Seattle’s First Great Street: How Denny Hill Became Front Street
In March 1877, the city is racing to finish the brutal grading of Front Street, transforming a muddy slope into Seattle’s first grand thoroughfare.
- The Ghostly Search for a Lost Sailor
When a sailor drowned at the mouth of the Columbia River in 1876, his grieving colleagues turned to a grim folk remedy to recover his body.
- The Boomtown That Was: A Glimpse of Seattle in 1876
A survey of the territory paints a portrait of a frontier Seattle defined by the roar of sawmills, the promise of coal, and the ambition to conquer the Cascades.
- The Minister and the Mysterious Cartload of Produce
A thrifty frontier couple surprises a local minister with a literal 'garden' fee for his services, proving that a modest beginning can grow into a generous legacy.
- The Logging Logjam: A Close Call on the Seattle Waterfront
When a chain of logs broke loose on the Seattle waterfront, a sudden collision nearly spelled disaster for a steamship navigating the dark bay.
- The Roads of Seattle: A Grumbling Legacy
A wealthy traveler’s sharp assessment of Seattle’s infrastructure in 1880 highlights a civic struggle over street quality that feels strikingly familiar to modern residents.
- Seattle’s Surprisingly Mild Winter of 1876
While outsiders imagined the Pacific Northwest as a frozen, inhospitable tundra, locals were enjoying a 'genial' December filled with blooming garden flowers.
- The Lumber Mistake: Why Seattle's Founders Chose the Bay
A local businessman argues that the early sawmills on the White River are doomed by geography, championing the waterfront as the true hub for Seattle's industrial growth.
- The Perilous Journey of the Little Brown Jug
A logger's desperate, tipsy attempt to retrieve his prized whiskey jug from the Seattle harbor makes for a chaotic afternoon on the waterfront.
- The Iron Vein: Seattle’s Gamble on the Railroad
In 1876, local leaders rallied behind a desperate bid to connect the young city of Seattle to the interior coal mines and grain lands, arguing that the railroad was the only path from frontier outpost to global port.
- The Soap King of Commercial Street
A scrappy local manufacturer stakes his claim on the burgeoning Seattle market with a pitch for home-grown goods.
- The Victorian Anxiety Over 'Fat Babies'
An 1880 advice column warns parents that 'excessive fat is really a disease' and cautions against the physical toll of oversized toddlers on their own developing bones.
- The Great Mountain Road Debate of 1877
As Seattle dreamed of a transcontinental railroad, settlers in the Kittitas Valley argued that a simple wagon road was the true key to their economic survival.
- The Swarm That Stalled the Trains
A plague of army worms in a Washington swamp grew so thick they brought a locomotive to a grinding, slippery halt.
- The City’s Dirty Secret: A Plea for Seattle’s Health
In 1870, a local editorial warns that Seattle’s lack of sewage infrastructure is poisoning the community with disease, urging citizens to prioritize public health over fiscal caution.
- The City That Forgot Its Sidewalks: Seattle’s Shameful Neglect of Cherry Street
In October 1878, the Seattle Daily Intelligencer blasted local property owners for leaving a major commercial intersection in a state of dangerous disrepair, highlighting the early struggle between private neglect and public safety.
- A Night at the Hall Ruined by Rowdyism
A gratuitous public entertainment in Seattle is brought to an abrupt and disorderly end by an unruly crowd, leaving the organizer out of pocket.
- Rain Turns Early Seattle's Front Street to Mud
When heavy rains turned downtown thoroughfares into impassable quagmires, residents demanded better engineering than the temporary, 'penny-wise' patch jobs of the 1870s.
- 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 Miracle Cure at the Yesler Sawmill
In 1877 Seattle, a local laborer offers a glowing, desperate endorsement for a traveling 'nerve doctor' promising to cure the ills of the industrial grind.
- The Miracle Tonic of Seattle's Mill Workers
In an era of snake-oil medicine, a sawmill worker swears by a mysterious 'physician' to cure his industrial fatigue.
- 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.