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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 3 |
| 1876 | 6 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1878 | 6 |
| 1880 | 2 |
19 stories matching central
- The Midnight Round-Up at the Central Police Station
A night of arrests in late 1870s Seattle lands a group of local characters in the city's lock-up, marking an ordinary, albeit unrecorded, night of territorial justice.
- The Riverside Hotel and Logging Outfit Up for Grabs
William Romines lists his Snohomish hotel and a complete logging setup for sale in a 1878 advertisement.
- The Desert Town That Finally Found a Well
For years, the residents of Port Townsend relied entirely on collected rain for drinking water, fearing the earth held nothing but salt.
- The Pioneer Hospital of the Puget Sound Frontier
In an era of dangerous labor and little social support, Dr. G. A. Weed opened a hospital in Seattle designed to serve the 'sick and disabled who have no homes' in the growing mill and mining industries.
- The $6 Million Secret: How Seattle’s Future Railroads Were Sold to Washington Politicians
A shocking dispatch reveals that the Northern Pacific Railroad and its associated land companies were secretly divided among top U.S. Senators, Grant, and a 'army of lobbyists'—proving that the infrastructure shaping Puget Sound was built on political patronage.
- Snowed In: The California Mail Famine of 1872
For thirteen days, the telegraph was the only connection to the outside world, leaving businesses and citizens reeling from the silence of the snow-blocked passes.
- The Courthouse That Never Was
A desperate plea to build a modest county seat on a 'high ridge' between Seattle and Belltown before the city outgrows its footprint.
- The City That 'Surprised' the Supreme Court
A Seattle editor's fiery defense of the city's potential, calling out San Francisco's economic blockade of Puget Sound.
- 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 Industrial Peril of Early Seattle
A newly established hospital opens its doors on Commercial Street to treat the rising toll of injuries from the region's expanding sawmills, coal mines, and logging camps.
- The Great Seattle Homestead Fraud
A whistleblower exposes how workers were swindled out of their hard-earned money by a predatory land development scheme.
- The Fight for Rail Dominance: Seattle vs. Portland
In 1877, Seattle newspapers were already sparring with Portland over land grants and regional infrastructure, revealing the early economic anxieties of a growing port city.
- The Struggle for Equitable Taxation in Early Washington
An open letter from 1878 explores the difficulties of managing state revenue and the inherent failures of centralized 'equalization' boards.
- Seattle’s First Call for a Seamen’s Bethel
In 1877, a local captain campaigned in New York to build a refuge for the thousands of sailors arriving in the 'future storehouse of the Territory'—a young, booming port that lacked any formal shelter for the maritime labor force.
- The Rowdy Election of 1872: When Seattle Politics Was a Bare-Knuckle Brawl
A stormy Republican County Convention in 1872 exposes the messy, insider-heavy machinery behind early Seattle's local government.
- The Political Mess of 1880
A biting, satirical critique of the factions coalescing around the Republican party's nominee, James A. Garfield.
- The Partisan’s Price: How Civil Service Reform Cost a Delegate His Seat
In 1876, King County’s Republican establishment turned on Judge O. Jacobs for refusing to hand out federal jobs to party loyalists, revealing the brutal mechanics of the spoils system in early Washington Territory.
- The Natchez of Puget Sound: A Commercial Hub Rising from the Mist
A dispatch from Port Townsend reveals a bustling port city defined by its Customs House and steamship trade, sharply contrasting with Seattle's own rapid development.
- 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.