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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 4 |
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 4 |
| 1878 | 13 |
| 1880 | 2 |
26 stories matching article
- The Trunk in the Belltown Earth
Two prospectors looking for a brickyard site uncovered more than clay when they stumbled upon a hidden trunk containing a man’s remains.
- The Midnight Pork-Thieves of Belltown
A wave of petty food thefts from residential pantries has Seattle neighbors on edge, prompting warnings about the 'nocturnal nippers' prowling the city's outskirts.
- The 'Disgusting Custom' of Victorian Child-Kissing
As diphtheria claimed lives along the Pacific Coast, public health experts in 1877 issued a stark warning against social rituals that helped the contagion spread.
- A Frontier Library Lost to Flame
When fire gutted the residence of a prominent territorial family, a community rallied to replace the lost comforts of a home built through years of industry.
- The Pen and the Pistol: A Seattle Saloon Brawl
When an editor’s satirical writing sparked a public confrontation on Mill Street, a local developer settled the score with a revolver—until his target managed to disarm him.
- The Bold Daylight Heist in Squak Valley
A trio of highwaymen, fresh from a lunch break, are captured after a brief pursuit in the rugged wilderness of the Squak Valley.
- The Glass Master of Occidental Square
A traveling exhibition of delicate glass artistry offers a whimsical distraction to 1870s Seattleites.
- Sheriff Blocks 28 Miners From Landing — a Newspaper Calls Out the 'Chronic Pauper Hunter'
In 1877, a steamboat captain brought 28 out-of-work miners from Victoria to Port Townsend. The sheriff said they were paupers and refused to let them off the boat. This Seattle editor wasn't having it.
- The Unheard-of Honesty of Captain Starr
In an era of public distrust, a Seattle steamer captain surprises the city by compensating a passenger for a stolen trunk without the threat of a lawsuit.
- The Great Legal Squabble of 1871
A simmering territorial dispute over the 'Big Wigs'—the lawyers and judges—debating exactly when a law becomes a law.
- The Steam Engine Scandal of 1878
When Seattle’s city government faced accusations of graft over a new fire engine, the paper stepped in to defend the city council against 'personal defamation.'
- The Great Greenback Tug-of-War
A Seattle reader squares off against national editors over the power of the government to define the value of money itself.
- The Miracle Cure-Alls of 1870s Seattle
Before modern medicine, newspaper columns were filled with aggressive marketing for 'Pain Eradicators' and 'Radical Cures' that promised to fix everything from catarrh to death itself.
- The Fight Against the 'Two-Percent Shylocks'
A fierce 1878 constitutional debate in Washington Territory pits anti-monopoly reformers against banking interests.
- The Pig That Pays the Bills: How Swine Became Puget Sound’s Secret Wealth
In 1876, while Seattle looked to timber and fish for its future, a local article argued that raising hogs on wheat stubble was the most reliable path to prosperity.
- The Bold Dream to Remake Seattle's Waterways
In 1880, a group of prominent citizens proposed a canal between Lake Union and Puget Sound to drain Lake Washington, reclaim farmland, and create an industrial powerhouse.
- The City Clerk’s Sharp Rebuke to the Intelligencer
In 1878, Seattle’s local government publicly called out the city’s leading newspaper for 'misrepresentation' regarding the municipal debt.
- The Legal Scramble for Maynard’s Land
A bitter newspaper feud reveals the messy reality of early Seattle’s land titles, where a complex divorce and a 'lost' first wife sparked a struggle over ownership in the city’s heart.
- The Newspaper War of Port Townsend
When a local political faction decided they needed a newspaper organ, the resulting publication became a scandal-mongering scandal itself.
- The 'Fanatical Old Ass': A Local Political Feud in 1876
A fiery editorial from the Seattle Daily Tribune attacks the federal appointment of General Robert H. Milroy to a territorial post, painting him as a moralizing carpetbagger who failed to earn the respect of his own neighbors.
- The Unwritten Laws of Seattle’s Press
When a local paper targeted young women in its columns for 'assuming social superiority' at a dance, a vigilante citizen took matters into his own hands.
- The Fight for Seattle’s Soil
A 19th-century editorial warns that land monopolies and timber speculation threaten to turn Washington into a land of feudal tenants, sparking a civic debate on who truly owns the future of the Northwest.
- The Wild West Gold Rush at the Border
When the federal government refused to station customs inspectors at the Skagit gold fields, Seattle merchants feared a massive influx of untaxed British Canadian competition.
- The Shoe That Could Save Seattle: Why We Must Stop Exporting Our Hides to San Francisco
An editorial in the Puget Sound Dispatch argues that Seattle’s economic survival depends on manufacturing its own boots and shoes locally, rather than shipping raw hides south for a 10% premium.
- The Scandal That Shook Seattle: The Arrest of Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin
In November 1872, two women were jailed for 'obscenity' after sending publications to a prominent broker. Their arrest sparked a frenzy in the young city, drawing crowds and highlighting the clash between radical feminism and Victorian morality.