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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 21 |
| 1877 | 13 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 7 |
42 stories matching note
- The Lawyer, the Boy, and the Five-Cent Lesson
A shrewd Seattle attorney tests a boy’s integrity with a lesson in promissory notes and the value of a promise.
- The Seattle Bond That Broke the Rules
A legal dispute over a $15,000 appeal bond reveals the messy, high-stakes nature of early Seattle commerce and the scrutiny of contract law.
- The $100-a-Month Bosses: Mining Executives Earn More Than Presidents
A new report reveals that the average salary of mining officials in Washington Territory is $100 per month—double that of state legislators and far exceeding the wages of the men who dig the ore.
- The Governor’s Vision of a Boomtown Territory
Fresh from the East, incoming Governor William A. Newell paints a picture of Washington as a land of boundless natural wealth and rapid expansion.
- The Integrity Test of 1876
A young dressmaker, struggling against the poverty of pioneer-era Seattle, faces a life-changing moral dilemma when she discovers a hidden fortune in an old waistcoat.
- The Million-Dollar Ticket: How Seattle Bet Its Future on a Lottery
In 1876, the city’s most prominent businessman launched a massive lottery to fund a mountain road, offering a steam sawmill valued at $100,000 as the grand prize.
- The Alpine Music of South Seattle
South Seattle residents protest the discordant 'Alpine music' of roaming livestock that kept the neighborhood awake.
- The Disappearance of James Goodwin
A cook vanishes from the steamer Yakima while en route from Snohomish to Seattle, leaving behind a mystery that leaves the local authorities puzzled.
- The Peril of Floating Streets
As Seattle's waterfront development grew in 1876, the street commissioner sounded an alarm over the city's vulnerable, buoyant wooden pavements.
- The Forgotten Dreams of Steilacoom City
In 1880, a visionary booster pitched a grand transcontinental railroad terminus that he claimed would transform a quiet Puget Sound town into the 'metropolis' of the Pacific.
- The High Cost of Paving the Frontier
A rare glimpse into the 1880 King County commission meetings reveals bitter political squabbles over road funding that mirror today's infrastructure debates.
- The Tragedy of a Lonely Life in Seattle
A man's desperate act of suicide on Commercial Street illuminates the harsh isolation and economic despair of Seattle’s early frontier days.
- An Invitation to the Timberlands
A New Jersey pattern maker seeks a new life in the Pacific Northwest, prompting a classic territorial pitch for labor and land.
- The City That Never Sleeps: Seattle’s Construction Boom of 1876
Amidst the din of hammers and the rapid rise of new cottages, the young frontier town is transforming from a logging camp into a bustling commercial hub.
- The Night Watchman's Dilemma: A Call for Safety on Seattle’s Dark Wharves
In September 1876, the Seattle City Council was urged to intervene after late-night passengers were forced to navigate dangerous docks alone, highlighting the precarious nature of early urban infrastructure.
- The Seattle Winter That Shocked New York
When a Seattle colonel sent a bouquet of fresh January flowers to a snow-shrouded New York editor, the gesture became a national curiosity about Washington Territory's mild climate.
- The Great Railway Pipe Dream
A century and a half ago, speculators and dreamers were already busy mapping out the future of Seattle's rail lines and debating the superiority of Puget Sound over Canadian ports.
- The Perilous Crossing of the Sound
A young man attempted a midnight sailboat trip from Port Blakely to Seattle during a gale; now, only his empty boat remains.
- 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 Tragic Busking of Mr. Schengler
Inspired by a legend of a famous opera star, a local man attempts to sing his way to fame on the streets of Seattle—with a painful result.
- The Shadowy Business of Patent Medicines
A cynical drug clerk reveals the grisly truth behind 'medical' concoctions and the dangerous incompetence of the pharmacy trade in 1880s Seattle.
- The Looming Financial Chasm of 1877
As Seattle navigates a national economic crisis, editors reflect on the precarious transition from paper 'greenbacks' to gold, revealing the anxieties of a frontier town tethered to a shifting national currency.
- The Letter Lost in the Cracks
For twelve years, a village woman waited for a lover who never called, unaware that her promise to join him in China had been trapped behind a post office counter all along.
- The Apple Orchard Dreams of Early Seattle
Before the city became a tech hub, civic boosters saw the future of Seattle in the 'stately forests' replaced by row after row of fruit trees.
- The Price of Injustice: Seattle’s Jailhouse Debt
A messy legal arbitration reveals how King County’s jail construction spiraled into a financial debacle—and why the city's approach to housing prisoners remained a 'miserable farce.'