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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 11 |
| 1876 | 9 |
| 1877 | 5 |
| 1878 | 21 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 3 |
51 stories matching commenc
- The Bridge That Bound the Bay: Seattle’s Race to Connect with the World
As the final piles are driven for the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway, local magnate Henry Yesler and his partners bet their fortunes on a railroad that will turn this muddy port into a continental hub.
- The Great Boat Chase of Seattle Harbor
A drunken sailor's attempt to visit his sick wife ends in a high-seas brawl, a capsized skiff, and a daring escape.
- Seattle’s Short-Lived Ambition to Become a Whaling Hub
A newly formed San Francisco company eyes Seattle as the base for its North Pacific whaling operations.
- The Newspaper War of 1878
Before the digital age, Seattle's editors fought their battles in court and print, trading accusations of corruption and forgery.
- The Glass Master of Occidental Square
A traveling exhibition of delicate glass artistry offers a whimsical distraction to 1870s Seattleites.
- The Arrival of the First Ice Shipment in Seattle
A historic crowd gathers at the wharf in 1872 to welcome the bark 'Osmyn' and its cargo of frozen luxury, signaling a new era of chilled comforts.
- The Tyrant of the High Seas: A Sailor’s Knife vs. a Mate’s Revolver
In a dramatic trial before U.S. Commissioner D.S. Smith, witnesses describe how the first mate of the brig *Sampson* beat a sailor into paralysis with an iron bar and revolver, sparking outrage over maritime abuse.
- The Great Sound Mill Slowdown of 1879
A secret price-fixing agreement in San Francisco forces local mills to cut production, threatening the livelihoods of workers across the region.
- Seattle's 1878 Auction of Property for Unpaid Taxes
When the city of Seattle moved to liquidate the private property of its citizens to cover a year of unpaid taxes.
- The Rails That Built Seattle
Civic leaders convene to expand the Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad, the ambitious line designed to link the growing city to the bounty of the east.
- Seattle’s 1878 Auction of Delinquent Tax Properties
When the city's growth outpaced its residents' pockets, dozens of Seattle properties were put on the auction block to cover delinquent taxes.
- The Human Spider of Occidental Square
A sailor scaled a 135-foot flagpole in downtown Seattle to keep the city’s Fourth of July celebrations on schedule.
- The Capsized Boat and the 'Male Kind' Rescue
A trio of young men testing their luck on Lake Union learn a harsh lesson in buoyancy, social embarrassment, and the precariousness of Victorian masculinity.
- The 1878 Great Seattle Tax Auction
Before the skyline, there was the spreadsheet: A massive public auction of delinquent Seattle properties reveals the names, debts, and land-holdings of the city's pioneer founders.
- The Last Stand of Yesler’s House: Seattle’s First Skyscraper Rises on the Site of a Pioneer Home
In November 1876, King County Commissioners approved the demolition of Henry Yesler’s historic residence to make way for a three-story artificial stone business block, marking the end of an era and the beginning of Seattle's commercial boom.
- The Miracle Cure of 1872
A Seattle resident documents his miraculous recovery from twenty years of deafness under the care of a visiting traveling physician.
- Divorcing the 'Unsuitable': Seattle Legal Notices from 1872
Public legal notices reveal the stark reality of marital dissolution in early Seattle, where 'incompatibility' and 'neglect' served as grounds for separation in the King County District Court.
- The Great Spelling Bee of 1873
Before high-speed internet and digital debates, Seattle’s social life centered on the grand Spelling Match, a community competition held at Yesler’s Hall.
- The Gold Rush to Ruby Creek
A local merchant receives a singular order for gold scales from miners in the North Cascades, signaling a major mineral boom on the Upper Skagit.
- The Copper Bonanza on San Juan Island
Local entrepreneurs Morgan and O'Bryant strike it rich with a silver-laced copper vein, promising to transform the rugged island into a major mining hub.
- The Redemption of a Public Servant
A young man sheds a life of idle indulgence to find purpose as a prosecutor, sparking a debate over the value of public integrity in the Washington Territory.
- The Great Seattle Land Foreclosure of 1878
A sweeping list of hundreds of local property owners faced with losing their land to the county for unpaid taxes, signaling the precarious nature of early Seattle real estate.
- 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 Rules of the Game: How Seattle's First Lawyers Codified the Fight for Land
When the Washington Territorial legislature overhauled the rules of civil procedure, they essentially wrote the blueprint for how Seattle’s developers and land speculators would battle over the city’s footprint for decades to come.
- The Governor and the Libel Suit: A Battle for Political Character
When Governor Elisha P. Ferry sued the 'Democratic Press' for accusing him of selling pardons, he ignited a fierce debate about the limits of press freedom and the nature of public character.