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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 3 |
| 1876 | 4 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1878 | 4 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
16 stories matching delay
- The Bureaucratic Standoff at Point-No-Point
A federal effort to build a lighthouse on Puget Sound hit a wall in 1878 when landowners demanded 'exorbitant' prices, sparking a debate over the government's power to acquire land.
- The Mail System is Broken
In 1880, Seattle residents faced endless delays and 'willful neglect' from the postal service—an early grievance about failing public infrastructure.
- The Great Railroad Delay: Washington Territory’s Fight for the Northern Pacific
Federal lawmakers in Washington D.C. have rejected a proposal to settle land claims in Washington Territory, opting instead to grant the Northern Pacific Railway an eight-year extension to complete its tracks.
- The Struggle to Build the First King County Jail
After years of delay, the King County Commissioners finally moved to secure land for a permanent jail—using $3,500 in county warrants to purchase a lot between Jefferson and Mill Streets.
- The Fight for Seattle’s Railroad Future
In 1878, Seattle’s civic leaders battled Northern Pacific rail monopolies to secure the city's future as the region's commercial engine.
- 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 Jail That Took Too Long
A Snohomish correspondent laments the bureaucratic foot-dragging that delayed the construction of the county's first lock-up.
- The Failed Poison Dinner of Seattle
A meticulously planned attempt at mass murder by a man named Perry Dunfield was thwarted when his intended victims missed their appointment—but the tragedy still unfolded at home.
- The Boom Before the Boom: Forecasting Washington's Future
An 1878 report predicted that Washington Territory’s natural resources and rapid population growth would soon make it a Pacific Northwest power, even as early settlers braced for statehood.
- The Olympia Safe Heist and the Culture of Corruption
A government agent discovered a $39,000 deficit in the Olympia sub-treasury, only for the missing funds to vanish entirely after the agent allegedly returned control to the defaulting official.
- The Dream of the Rail: Seattle’s Missed Connection
In 1876, a proposal to fund the first fifteen miles of a local railroad promised economic salvation, but petty greed and local infighting stood in the way of the city's growth.
- The Industrial Gamble That Defined a City
How local visionary James M. Colman pushed Seattle into the future by betting his fortune—and demanding the town follow suit—on a critical rail link to the coal mines.
- The Man Who Built a Road on His Own dime
While Seattle’s leaders debate and delay, a Walla Walla pioneer proves that private enterprise can conquer the wilderness where public funds fail.
- The Shadow of the Gallows in Early Seattle
A crowded courtroom watches as a man is sentenced to hang for a murder on San Juan Island, marking a grim moment in the early administration of justice in Washington Territory.
- The Territory's Legislative Snake
A scathing critique from 1877 exposes the 'headless and tailless' chaos of newly minted Washington tax laws, exposing a system designed to strip residents of their property through administrative incompetence.
- The Captain’s Silence: A Seattle Court Rules on Brutality at Sea
In a landmark Admiralty case heard in Seattle in 1872, Judge Jacobs holds ship owner E.A. Nickels liable for the brutal beating of sailor Frank Griffin, establishing that a captain's failure to stop abuse is an endorsement of it.