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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 5 |
| 1877 | 5 |
| 1878 | 4 |
| 1879 | 2 |
| 1880 | 1 |
17 stories matching branch
- The audacious railroad land grab that made Seattle's delegate a target
Facing attacks from the Tacoma Herald, Judge Orange Jacobs is praised for blocking a Northern Pacific claim to 783,600 acres — land the railroad tried to take for building just 31 miles of a 'branch road' to a coal mine.
- The Perilous Path to Nowhere
A survey team's disastrous expedition into the Cascades exposes the grand delusions of railroad barons chasing land grants.
- The Bankrupt Giant and the Tacoma Land Ring
A skeptical editor exposes the Northern Pacific Railroad's questionable finances and a suspicious telegraph campaign used to inflate land values in Tacoma.
- The Brutal Survey of Cedar River
Engineers and directors trek through 20 miles of 'impenetrable thickets' to survey a potential rail expansion for the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad.
- The Brick Fortress on Commercial Street
In 1872, Bailey Gatzert and Schwabacher Bros. erected a $26,000 commercial landmark that signaled Seattle’s arrival as a financial hub.
- The Search for Fruitful Soil in the Seattle Basin
A pioneer orchardist shares a nineteen-year struggle to master the stubborn, clay-heavy soils of the Duwamish Valley and the Puget Sound region.
- The Pirate King of Seattle
A real-life adventure of a man who survived a childhood on a pirate ship and returned to Seattle to recruit a crew for a treasure hunt.
- The Gateway to the Skagit Gold Fields
Developers race to establish a supply town at the head of navigation as miners push into the remote wilderness of the Skagit River.
- The Black Pall Over Washington’s Future
A proposed decade-long extension for the Northern Pacific Railroad threatens to monopolize the territory's vast timber and mineral wealth while stifling independent settlement.
- The Fallen Commander: Major Thornburgh’s Frontier Legacy
Remembering the life and service of the military officer who served in Washington Territory and met a tragic end on the frontier.
- The Railway Land Grab: Seattle's Growth Tied to Northern Pacific Expansion
A new congressional bill promises to extend the Northern Pacific Railroad's deadline by a decade, while stripping away land grants intended for the vital link to Puget Sound.
- When a Railroad Held the Territory Hostage: The 1877 Fight Over the Northern Pacific Land Grant
Governor Ferry's message to the Legislature proposes a 10-year extension for the Northern Pacific—but warns the territory will be crippled if the western terminus lands in Portland instead of Puget Sound.
- The 'Seattle Way' of Building a Railroad
By shunning outside capital and high-salaried officers, local boosters claim they are carving a path through the Cascades using nothing but 'Seattle money and pluck.'
- The Silent Men of the Powder Mill
Working in the volatile shadow of Seattle's 1872 gunpowder industry, men labored in constant, hushed fear of an accidental explosion that could erase their existence in an instant.
- The 'Veneer and Sham' of 19th Century Schooling
A historic critique of a curriculum overstuffed with 'smatterings' and fancy subjects, arguing that public schools were failing to provide the basic, useful education required for life.
- The Delegate Who Sold Seattle’s Future for Five Thousand Dollars
A scathing editorial in the Puget Sound Dispatch accuses Territorial Delegate George Freeman Willard of betraying Seattle’s interests—specifically the mud flats of Duwamish Bay—to secure his own political and financial gain, while simultaneously accepting bribes from rival railroad companies.
- Seattle's 1877 Plea: Build a Wagon Road Over the Cascades Before Portland Steals the Inland Empire
With no railroad yet across the mountains, a Seattle newspaper argued the city's future depended on a wagon road to Yakima—before Portland grabbed the inland trade forever.