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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 8 |
| 1877 | 9 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
19 stories matching root
- The Sap is the Life of the Tree
A Seattle nurseryman’s fiery critique of poor shipping practices reveals the fragile reality of pioneer-era gardening.
- The Rising Waters of the Talbot Mine
An underground spring floods a local mine, threatening to halt operations just as the town's industrial future takes root.
- The Shell That Survived the Fire: A Seattle Man’s Close Call with a Civil War Artifact
An eccentric local resident discovers a live cannonball in his firewood, leading to a terrifying explosion that sends him tumbling down a hillside.
- The Industrial Heartbeat of 1876 Seattle
A glimpse into the daily churn of a rapidly growing frontier town, where hardware, coal, and steam power built the foundation of the Emerald City.
- 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.
- The Duwamish River's Unexpected Log-Clearing Service
A winter flood on the Duwamish River brought chaos to local farmland, but farmers found a silver lining in the disaster.
- The Butter Paradox
Why is Seattle, surrounded by some of the world's richest grazing land, importing its butter from California?
- The Perilous Plank at Front and Seneca
For months, Seattle residents braved a treacherous, unlit crossing near the waterfront, until a cook’s brutal fall finally forced a call for accountability.
- The Unmasking of a Mason
A tense, public confrontation in a local Seattle establishment reveals the social friction surrounding the secret society's reputation in the 1870s.
- The Great River Flood of 1876
As heavy rains inundate the Duwamish Valley, Seattle settlers and livestock struggle to survive the rising waters.
- British Co-operative Building and the Goal of Homeownership
Before the age of the modern mortgage, Seattle’s early pioneers looked toward international cooperative building societies to help working citizens plant roots in the city.
- The Boomtown That Almost Wasn't: Seattle in 1876
While the rest of the nation struggled through a deep economic depression, a local newspaper reflects on the unprecedented industrial and infrastructure expansion that transformed Seattle from a village into a bustling coal and lumber hub.
- The Sacred Garden of the Frontier
A look at the sentimental and pious customs of 1878 Seattle, where the living turned to the Victorian language of flowers to honor the dead.
- The Miracle of the Scalped Man
A brush with death on the frontier: a survivor recounts the chilling moment he was scalped by Indians and miraculously saved by his traveling party.
- The River’s Revenge: How a Flood Saved the Jam Company Millions
While laborers toiled for months to clear the Snoqualmie Falls log jam, a sudden freshet swept away their equipment and valuable timber—yet paradoxically cleared the river faster than human hands ever could.
- The Seattle Doctrine: 'Live and Let Live' in 1876
An editorial from the pioneer era argues that local business growth shouldn't be a zero-sum game, warning against the 'vampire' spirit of monopoly.
- The Road to Riches: Seattle’s $33,000 Gamble on the Snoqualmie Pass
In March 1877, local editors urged citizens to fund a toll road through the mountains, arguing that the vast grain fields east of the Cascades were Seattle's only true economic future.
- The Grasshopper Exodus: How a Plague in Nebraska is Filling Seattle's Streets
As locusts devour the Midwest, desperate farmers look to Washington Territory for salvation—and the *Intelligencer* sees an opportunity to boost settlement.
- The Moss-Cloaked Giants of Bay Center
A teacher’s letter from the Pacific Northwest frontier describes a landscape of colossal trees and lush undergrowth, challenging the myth of the harsh pioneer struggle.