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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 32 |
| 1877 | 23 |
| 1878 | 5 |
| 1880 | 5 |
65 stories matching portion
- 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.
- The Battle for Seattle's Soul: Who Owns the City?
As the Northern Pacific Railroad, wealthy speculators, and the City of Seattle clash in Olympia over a massive land claim, the future of Seattle’s streets and growth hangs in the balance.
- The Transformation of the 'Lava Bed'
A historic Seattle neighborhood known for 'drunken revelry and hellish orgies' faces an impending industrial rebirth.
- The Struggle to Clear the Skagit River
Loggers and settlers face a massive, shifting timber jam on the Skagit River, with locals debating the impact of land ownership on the future of the valley.
- The Land Grab That Built Seattle: How Indian Reserves Held Back the City
In 1877, local editors railed against federal land policies that reserved vast tracts of fertile Washington Territory for Native American use, arguing these 'monopolies' stifled white settlement and speculation.
- The Uncharted Territory: 1877 Washington
A vivid snapshot of a landscape defined by vast timber, free grazing ranges, and the budding commerce of a frontier civilization.
- 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 Fire of Seattle: A City in Ashes
As the dust settles on the inferno that consumed the heart of the young settlement, residents face the daunting task of rebuilding from nothing.
- The Hidden River Beneath University Street
When Seattle’s early engineers paved over a local creek, nature fought back during the autumn rains.
- The Land Grab That Stalled Seattle’s Growth
A local editorial warns that the Northern Pacific Railroad’s hoarding of millions of acres is strangling settlement and development in Washington Territory.
- Arson Attempt Targets Chinese Business District
A deliberate fire set in the basement of Wah Chong's store nearly triggers a catastrophe for the city's business sector.
- The Great Housing Squeeze: Seattle's Winter Crisis of 1876
As the territory prepares for winter, a correspondent reports that only two comfortable dwellings remain vacant in Walla Walla, highlighting the acute housing shortages gripping Washington communities.
- The 'A Co.' Misunderstanding
A linguistic confusion at a Seattle restaurant leads to a partnership change and a new sign.
- The Alpine Music of South Seattle
South Seattle residents protest the discordant 'Alpine music' of roaming livestock that kept the neighborhood awake.
- 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.
- The Makah Nation’s First Harvest of Grass
In an era defined by displacement, a small group of Makah Indians surprised Port Townsend residents by arriving with scythes to offer their labor in the local hay fields.
- The Great Seattle Silence: A Christmas Without Drunks or Arrests
In a rare departure from holiday tradition, the city remained remarkably sober and quiet on Christmas Day 1876, with zero arrests recorded despite the usual festive revelry.
- The Unwelcome Swarm
As Seattle prepares for a railroad boom in 1880, the Chief of Police struggles to contain a surge in vagrancy and arson.
- The Charred Remains of a Pioneer: A Tragic Fire on Commercial Street
In the early days of Seattle, fire was the city's greatest enemy. On October 6, 1876, a blaze swept through the heart of the business district, claiming the life of a man named Hilder and destroying property near Jamison & Prescott.
- 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 Price of Panic: 1876 Seattle Views on Labor and Economic Depression
An editorial from the Seattle Daily Intelligencer explores the deep-seated economic anxieties of the era, blaming trade disputes and 'idle' men for the systemic instability of the Pacific Northwest.
- 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 1877 Seattle Real Estate Boom
A local newspaper editorial from 1877 argues that despite economic 'stringency,' land investment remains the safest bet for the city's future.
- 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.
Also about this, in other words
- The Weight of Little Things
A century and a half ago, a Seattle writer mused on how the smallest details of life—a penny, a word, a drop of water—shape our massive, often overwhelming destinies.