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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 11 |
| 1877 | 9 |
| 1878 | 3 |
23 stories matching numer
- The Perils of the Victorian Parlor
A late-night rumination on the changing customs of romance in 1876 Seattle, where the 'exclusive' courting of young lovers in the family home was already starting to baffle the older generation.
- 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 Price of Building a City: 1877 Tax Defaults
As Seattle began to rapidly expand, a long list of property owners faced the loss of their land for unpaid taxes—revealing the precarious nature of early urban ownership.
- The Dream of Homeownership in 1878 Seattle
A century and a half ago, the Intelligencer urged Seattle residents to anchor themselves through property ownership as a moral and familial duty.
- The Circus Comes to Town: Montgomery’s Queen’s New Brings the 'Wonderful Kenebels' to Seattle
In October 1876, the largest and most brilliant circus company in the West descended upon Seattle, offering a night of acrobatics, animal acts, and high-flying daredevils for just one dollar.
- The Pioneer Dream: Settling Seattle as an Organized Colony
In 1877, Seattle newspapers championed the idea of 'colonizing' the Washington Territory to solve the isolation of homesteading, mirroring today's debates over density and regional growth.
- Blood on the Tracks: The Renton Saloon Brawl of 1877
A card game, a wrestling match, and a concealed knife turned a quiet evening into a deadly tragedy in Renton.
- The Professional Pessimists of Early Seattle
A 19th-century editorial takes aim at the 'croakers'—the local doomsayers who claimed the town's prosperity was always on the verge of collapse.
- The Death-Trap at Front and Seneca
A dangerous, makeshift bridge over a Seattle construction site is leaving pedestrians scrambling for their lives as the city struggles with incomplete grading.
- The Bankruptcies of 1878: A Wave of 'Fraudulent' Insolvency?
As financial panic grips the Pacific Coast, Seattle editors decry a suspicious surge in businesses filing for bankruptcy before new laws take effect.
- The Boomtown That Outgrew Its Directory
In 1876, Seattle's rapid expansion left business directory fact-gatherers in the dust.
- The Engineering Fever of 1876
As bridge-building projects skyrocket across the nation, Seattle looks toward the ambitious, iron-willed future of American infrastructure.
- 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.
- The Unclaimed Frontier of the Central Valleys
An 1876 editorial reflects on the economic potential of the Yakima and Kittitas valleys, eyeing the end of tribal reservation boundaries for land settlement.
- The Great Egyptian Mystery: Living People Dissolve Into Air
Seattle audiences are treated to a 'London Sensation' at Yesler's Hall this week, featuring the world-renowned Mademoiselle Ilma and illusions that defy nature.
- The Engineer Who Vanished Into the Sound
A respected steamboat captain’s sudden disappearance in October 1878 sparks a desperate search and a grim theory of accidental drowning.
- The Hidden Destroyer of Seattle’s Waterfront
In 1877, Seattle property owners faced a silent maritime menace: a wood-boring mollusk called the 'Teredo' that could collapse a wharf from the inside out.
- The Chinese Question: Seattle’s Editorial War Over Labor and 'Vermin'
In October 1876, the *Seattle Daily Intelligencer* published a blistering editorial defending Chinese laborers while simultaneously dehumanizing them as carriers of disease, revealing the complex economic dependencies and racial tensions of early Washington Territory.
- The Mail Monopoly Hurting Washington’s Pioneers
Settlers in Snoqualmie and Fall City faced weeks of delays because a contractor prioritized convenience over the needs of isolated rural communities.
- The Iron Giant of Seattle: How a Local Foundry Fueled the City’s Rapid Rise
In 1876, Seattle’s industrial heart was beating with molten metal. As the Puget Sound Iron Works churned out rails for expanding railroads and coal mines, local leaders predicted a future where Seattle would rival San Francisco as a Pacific coast manufacturing hub.
- The Road to Nowhere: How Seattle’s Leaders Left Lake Washington Residents Stranded in Mud
In March 1877, residents living between the city and Lake Washington found their commute impossible. The city council ignored petitions for a proper road, offering only fir boughs and gravel dust as solutions.
- The Day Seattle Woke Up: A Traveler’s Rave Review of the 'Metropolitan' Future
In July 1870, a San Francisco correspondent returns from a voyage down the coast and is stunned by the rapid transformation of his hometown into a booming commercial hub.
- The Father Who Stopped a Play to Steal His Daughter
A wealthy Indianapolis patriarch tracks his romantic daughter to Seattle in 1876, only to find she has eloped with a lawyer and vanished into the West.