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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 36 |
| 1877 | 26 |
| 1878 | 4 |
| 1880 | 10 |
76 stories matching practic
- The Pioneering Female Physician of Seattle
Dr. S. D. Hewes, the first woman graduate in medicine to establish a practice in the Washington Territory, brings a decade of experience to the frontier.
- The Pioneer Farmer Who Wanted to Represent King County
In the lead-up to the 1870 election, the local press championed a practical farmer from the Black River valley to bring common sense to government.
- The Fragile Earth Beneath Our Feet
An 1877 editorial from the Seattle Daily Intelligencer warns that the city's obsession with waste and its failure to return fertility to the land mirror the downfall of Rome.
- 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 Pioneer Race Through the Snoqualmie Pass
Nineteen men embark on a daring expedition to map a route through the Cascade Mountains, seeking a passage where none had been found before.
- The Practical Joke of the Frontier
A settler’s terrifying encounter with two armed Indigenous men concludes not with the massacre he feared, but with a surreal—and expensive—demanding of his household supplies.
- The Struggle for Better Roads in 1870s King County
Frustrated residents call for a centralized superintendent to replace the inefficient and disjointed road-building system of the Washington Territory.
- The Art of Living Well in 1877 Seattle
While Seattle’s pioneer merchants touted their iron stoves and fine whiskies, the local press offered practical, timeless advice on navigating life’s demands.
- 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 Seattle Front Street Excavation of 1876
As teams and scrapers descend on the heart of the city, laborers begin carving out the steep terrain between Cherry and James to make way for the future.
- The Artisans of the Foundation
A glimpse into the heavy labor and craftsmanship that quite literally built the streets and structures of early Seattle.
- The Doctor Is In, and She's Taking Patients by Mail
Mrs. S. D. Hewes, one of the first female medical practitioners in Seattle, opens her doors to the sick in 1878.
- Seattle’s Endless War Against the Hillside
In 1878, city officials scrambled to grade Mill Street to fix dangerous mudslides—a challenge that continues to plague Seattle’s topography today.
- The Bullet That Traveled Half a Mile
A quiet morning in Seattle turns into a medical mystery when a stray bullet from a distant rifle finds a local man in his own shop.
- The Crackdown on 'Fast Riding' in Old Seattle
When rowdy horsemen turned Front Street into a racetrack, the city police decided the era of reckless riding in the city center had to end.
- The Iron Arteries of Early Seattle
A look inside the 1874 industrial engine of the city, where blacksmiths, carriage builders, and machinery experts kept the gears of a growing frontier town turning.
- 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 Waterfront Gunfire Crisis of 1877
An urgent plea from Seattle’s waterfront workers to stop the reckless recreational shooting that was putting lives at risk.
- The Industrial Infirmary of the Frontier
Dr. G.A. Weed opens a hospital in Seattle to treat the frequent, brutal injuries sustained in the region's burgeoning sawmills, coal mines, and logging camps.
- The Forgery That Saved a Corrupt Judge
In May 1877, Washington Territory’s Chief Justice J.B. Lewis was nearly ousted by a fake resignation letter—only for the President to reverse course after Lewis himself exposed the fraud.
- The Shadow Over Seattle's Growth
A look at the 1876 struggle between the promise of development and the ‘incubus’ of land monopolies.
- Raising the Barn: A Frontier Memory
A look back at the communal labor and rough-and-tumble celebrations that defined building a new life in early Washington Territory.
- The Church of the Pacific Northwest
As the Episcopal Church gathered in 1880, its internal struggles over mission work, inclusion, and the 'Indian question' revealed a rapidly expanding organization looking toward the frontier.
- 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 Sound's Freight Wars
Seattle merchants sound the alarm as steamboat companies hit the city with discriminatory freight rates that favor Tacoma and Tumwater.