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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 7 |
| 1877 | 7 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 2 |
17 stories matching understand
- A Violent Saloon Brawl on the Waterfront
A simmering business dispute over fifty dollars turns into a brutal ambush with a club in a Seattle saloon.
- The Miracle Man of the Tremont House
A Seattle sawmill worker recounts his miraculous recovery from a mysterious 'general nervous debility' thanks to a touring medical lecturer.
- The Seasonal Slump Hits Seattle’s Commerce
While lumber and coal exports have dipped, city leadership maintains a hopeful stance on the resilience of the local economy.
- Building a Future: The 1876 Fight for Seattle’s School Sites
As Seattle’s population swelled in the 1870s, city leaders scrambled to secure prime real estate for education amidst a booming, land-hungry frontier town.
- The Great Flood of 1876: Seattle’s River Runs Wild
A historic deluge swells the Duwamish River ten feet above normal, washing away timber and threatening the fledgling city.
- The Skagit Stand-off: A Survey Interrupted
When federal surveyors moved onto Skagit lands without a treaty, they were met by 150 armed warriors ready to defend their sovereignty.
- The Steamboat Race for the White River
As farmers in the White River valley struggle to move their produce to market, two rival steamboat captains rush to launch new, shallow-draft vessels to dominate the river trade.
- The Seattle Correspondent’s Gaze on China
A disorienting, 1877 report from a Seattle newspaper explores the rigid social hierarchies and gender dynamics of the Qing Dynasty through a lens of Victorian fascination.
- The Forged Signature and the Legal Loophole of Marriage
A husband accuses his wife of forgery for signing his name, only to have a judge dismiss the case based on the legal doctrine of coverture.
- The Horseshoe Curse: A 1880 Seattle Fable of Fortune
In the pages of the Seattle Intelligencer, a cautionary rhyme warns that even the smallest superstitions can wreak havoc on a settler’s homestead.
- The Transparency Tax: A Seattle Taxpayer Rails Against Red Tape
In 1877, a frustrated taxpayer penned a public letter attacking the County Commissioners for mandating expensive, redundant audits of public records, arguing that government transparency should be an everyday right, not a high-priced administrative burden.
- The Auditor and the Sheriff: A Public Spat Over Corruption
In the lead-up to the 1876 election, a public war of words between King County's Auditor and former Sheriff exposes the messy, opaque, and highly questionable state of territorial bookkeeping.
- The Romantic Ruin of a Seattle Dreamer
A young woman in 1878 Seattle finds her intellectual ambitions derailed by a fleeting, unequal affair with a local 'villain.'
- The Failed Toothpick Empire of Merrihew
A classic tale of a get-rich-quick scheme gone wrong, where a man's attempt to corner the national market on thorns turned his farmland into an impassable fortress.
- The Mid-Straits Fare Dodge of 'Kaintuck'
A would-be passenger who slipped aboard at Seattle without a ticket tries to bargain his way across Puget Sound—until the captain marches him to the gangway.
- The Engineer’s Ash-Box Ghost: A Tale of New Year’s Eve Peril
In a column dated October 1870, the Seattle Daily Intelligencer reprints a harrowing tale from an old engineer about surviving a wreck by hiding under his locomotive's ash pan during a blizzard.
- 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.