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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 40 |
| 1877 | 33 |
| 1878 | 24 |
| 1880 | 8 |
105 stories matching run
- The High-Stakes Rivalry of the Seattle Racetrack
After a controversial 'dead heat' left spectators threatening violence, two local favorites prepare for a definitive $150 rematch.
- The Lockwood Claim and Washington's 1880 Gold Rush
Reports from Ellensburg described a profitable 1880 season at the Lockwood claim and other quartz mining operations in the region.
- The Tragedy of the Seattle Coal Docks
A tragic industrial accident at the local coal incline leaves a community in mourning as safety standards remain a distant concern.
- The Wild Foot Race on Commercial Street
Before the city grew, Seattle’s main thoroughfare hosted a high-stakes sprint that drew crowds to the rooftops and left bettors stunned.
- The Political Cost of War
A wounded veteran discovers that his war stories are ironically costing him votes in his run for Congress.
- The Dog Who Drowned Twice: A Seattle Tragedy in the Slip
A large black Newfoundland met a bizarre and fatal end at Stone & Wharf last week, plunging into the water twice in a spasm of terror before being rescued by witnesses.
- The Midnight Escape from the War Hawk
A maritime labor dispute turns into a dramatic midnight jailbreak from a leaky ship at the Seattle waterfront.
- The Steam Laundry That Would Save Your Clothes (And Your Wallet)
In May 1877, Seattle businessman L.D. Frank announced a bold new venture: a steam-powered laundry on Commercial Street that promised to clean clothes faster and cheaper than the traditional Chinese method—while explicitly excluding Chinese workers.
- A Child’s Hazard in a Smoky City
A young girl is severely burned after stepping into a smoldering coal bunker in Belltown, highlighting the dangerous urban conditions of a rapidly growing Seattle.
- The Smoke of Industry at Newcastle
An anonymous correspondent reports on the boom-time conditions, mining accidents, and the arrival of curious elites at the coal-rich settlement of Newcastle in 1878.
- 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 Runaway Wife and the Saloon-Keeper's Fury
When a miner from Newcastle charged into Seattle hunting his wife, he found a city that prioritized refuge over his domestic control.
- The Flooding of the Talbot Coal Mine
A sudden rush of water from a subterranean reservoir halts production, leaving the company to debate expensive drainage tunnels versus imported pumping gear.
- The Clam-Seller and the Street-Car: A Seattle Reckoning
When a man was killed by a train on a Seattle street, a bystander's callous comment sparked a confrontation that exposed the deep-seated tensions of the city's growing industrial landscape.
- Hard Times and Scientific Farming on the Stillaguamish
While the local economy struggles under an influx of job-seekers, a Snohomish County rancher embraces the march of progress with new steam machinery.
- The Unstoppable Rail Builder of 1877
How James M. Colman bet his personal fortune to push the Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad through the mountains, defying skeptics and funding the project on his own terms.
- The Silent Dangers of Seattle’s Early Boarding Houses
A 19th-century public health warning reveals the grim reality of sanitation in early Seattle, where overcrowded and poorly drained boarding houses became breeding grounds for typhoid fever.
- The Fairview Dream: Installment Housing in 1878 Seattle
A real estate advertisement for the 'Fairview Addition' highlights the city's early embrace of the installment plan to help working-class families buy land.
- The Fairview Addition: A 19th-Century Real Estate Pitch
An 1878 advertisement for a 'rich, level' tract of land reveals how early Seattle developers used the installment plan to sell the dream of homeownership.
- The Seattle Nurseries of 1877
A glimpse into the blossoming commercial landscape of early Seattle, when local agriculture and ‘city-hardy’ fruit trees were the foundation of a growing frontier town.
- The Fire That Built a City: Seattle's Timber Boom Rises from the Ashes
Three years after the Great Fire of 1889 devastated the waterfront, Seattle’s lumber mills are running at full capacity, shipping millions of feet of wood to Hawaii and beyond to rebuild not just this city, but the Pacific.
- The Man Who Mistook the Dock for a Bath
A intoxicated sawmill driver nearly drowned in Seattle’s harbor after mistaking the dark water of Yeager's Wharf for a swimming hole.
- The Unpolished Potential of the White River Valley
A traveler’s 1880 excursion into the agricultural heart of King County reveals a land of 'enormous yield'—and farmers who leave their hogs to eat their own profits.
- The Perils of the Snohomish Slough
A grain-laden schooner runs aground in the treacherous river mud, highlighting the risks of shipping in the early days of Washington Territory.
- 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.