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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 27 |
| 1877 | 22 |
| 1878 | 4 |
| 1880 | 5 |
58 stories matching warn
- The 'Sawdust Swamp': A Public Health Warning for Seattle
A century and a half ago, the Intelligencer warned that Seattle's lack of proper drainage was not just a civic embarrassment, but a lethal threat to the growing population.
- The Heirs of a Ghost: A Legal Battle for Seattle’s Empty Land
In the early days of Washington Territory, three women stepped forward to claim an inheritance in a town that barely existed, warning off any buyers from purchasing land they believed was theirs.
- The Vanity Trap: Seattle’s 1876 Warning on Materialism
While the city scrambled to build its future, one observer warned that an 'aristocracy of display' was hollowing out the pioneer soul.
- The Saloonkeeper’s Open Letter to Seattle’s 'Hounds of Malice'
A local business owner fires back at the city’s political elite, accusing them of using moral grandstanding and the threat of liquor laws to dismantle his livelihood.
- The City Collector’s Year-End Deadline
With the dawn of 1877 approaching, Seattle’s City Collector issues a final warning for delinquent taxpayers: pay up or lose your property.
- The Price of Discontent: A Warning from the 1877 Panic
While Seattle thrives on the steady hum of mills and logging camps, a Seattle editor warns citizens against petty grievances by recounting the harrowing hunger and unemployment plaguing the rest of the country.
- The City Collector’s Year-End Ultimatum
Before the turn of the New Year in 1877, Seattle’s city collector warned residents that delinquent property taxes would lead to the immediate seizure and sale of their homes.
- The Man Who Killed a Neighbor Over a Book
In a quiet moment of domestic tragedy in Walla Walla, a carpenter’s son strikes down a respected citizen with a hammer while the victim was simply reading.
- 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 Boiler That Killed Safety: How Neglect Nearly Sank the Oliver Walcott
A steamboat captain’s repeated warnings about a faulty boiler were ignored by department officials until the vessel burst into the dock at Port Townsend, leaving it stranded for repairs.
- The Great Fire on Washington Street: A Narrow Escape from Ashes
A blaze in the upper story of a building near Pike Street threatened to consume Seattle’s growing commercial district, but the quick arrival of the fire engine saved the day.
- The Perilous Slopes of Columbia Street
A teenage student’s sledding accident sparks a local warning about the dangers of winter recreation on Seattle’s steepest hills.
- A Perilous Game on the Harbor
Local children are testing their luck by building makeshift rafts and navigating the harbor near the depot, to the growing alarm of local observers.
- The Great Seattle Housing Shortage: Why Immigrants Are Skipping Town
Despite a slowdown in new construction compared to last year, the city is facing a critical shortage of boarding houses and homes. Officials warn that without immediate building, the next wave of immigrants will bypass Seattle for other cities.
- The Tragedy of a Desperate Courtship
A jilted suitor’s attempt to force a marriage ends in violence and a desperate shooting near Seattle.
- The Perils of Poor Bookkeeping
A stern warning from the 1876 Seattle business community on the dangers of sloppy accounting and the virtues of labor.
- The Price of a Filthy City
In 1877, Seattle editors warned that stagnant water and neglected gutters were more than just a nuisance—they were a matter of life and death.
- The Fire That Never Came: Seattle’s Barely-Staffed Engine Company
In 1878, the city finally bought a hand engine for fire protection, but with only ten men to crew it, officials warned that a real blaze would leave the town helpless.
- The Meteorology of the Woods
An 1880 meteorologist argues that deforestation is responsible for the drying of rivers and the loss of rainfall, a warning from the early days of Washington Territory.
- The Bank That Ate Seven Men: A Collapse in the Blue Point Claim
In a gruesome industrial accident on April 13, 1877, a bank of earth at the Blue Point mine in Smartsville buried seven miners alive and wounded six more, halting business for miles around.
- The Professional Pessimists of Early Seattle
A 19th-century editorial takes aim at the 'croakers'—the local doomsayers who claimed the town's prosperity was always on the verge of collapse.
- The Centennial Fourth: Seattle's 1876 Celebration
On the eve of the nation's hundredth birthday, Seattle grapples with patriotic fervor, civic fire safety, and a growing political divide.
- 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 Human Canvas of 1876
A traveling marvel of the frontier, a man covered in 360 intricate tattoos, arrives in Seattle to tell his harrowing story of survival.
- The High Price of Marrying Into Nobility
A cautionary editorial from 1877 warns of the 'matrimonial maelstroms' facing stage stars who traded their hard-earned success for aristocratic titles.