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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 10 |
| 1876 | 7 |
| 1877 | 4 |
| 1878 | 8 |
| 1880 | 1 |
30 stories matching feel
- The Great One Thing: Seattle’s First Bid to Stop Strangers from Leaving Empty-Handed
In 1876, a group of local citizens proposed an 'Immigration and Labor Bureau' to help newcomers find work and land, recognizing that Seattle was losing potential residents because they didn't know where to start.
- The First Teachers’ Institute: A Battle for Seattle’s Soul
In September 1872, the Territory’s top educators gathered in Seattle to debate everything from corporal punishment to the role of women in teaching, laying the groundwork for public education in Washington.
- 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 Midnight Bells of Olympia
When two Northern Pacific agents arrived at midnight to announce the rail terminus, the town of Olympia erupted in a celebration that would define its future.
- Thrown Into a Saw at Colman's Mill — and the Law Looked the Other Way
When Peter Feeney attacked a Chinese coworker in a Seattle sawmill, the man's foot was mangled beyond repair. The justice of the peace declined to hold Feeney, the prosecutor dismissed the case, and the town's paper argued the injury was just an accident.
- The Mudflat Standoff: A Political Tug-of-War for Seattle’s Waterfront
In 1872, Seattle’s local press accused the Territorial Delegate of suppressing a crucial memorial to cede Duwamish mudflats to the city for his own electoral gain.
- 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.
- 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 Great Seattle Homestead Fraud
A whistleblower exposes how workers were swindled out of their hard-earned money by a predatory land development scheme.
- The Ball That Shook Seattle: A Night of Masks, Money, and 'Transposed Sexes'
In the damp cold of February 1877, Seattle’s elite gathered for a masquerade ball that defied social norms, featuring cross-dressing performers and a prize for the 'best sustained character'—a rare glimpse into the territory's vibrant, chaotic social life.
- The Mayor Who Bought His Seat with Lottery Money
In Seattle’s first hotly contested municipal election of 1876, the newspaper publisher who ran for mayor lost to Dr. Weed—not because he lacked support from mechanics and laborers, but because his opponent mobilized the city’s notorious lottery gamblers.
- The Day the Pigs Needed Life Jackets: Seattle’s Great Duwamish Flood of 1876
As the Duwamish River swells and farmers flee to their attics, local merchants rally to clear the Skagit River, betting on a waterway that could transform the territory's economy.
- 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.
- Three Children Dead in a Week: Diphtheria Stalks a Legislator's Family
Called home from the legislature by a telegram, Hon. Joseph Foster buries three children in a single week as his wife lies gravely ill with the same disease.
- The Battle for the Territory: Judson vs. Jacobs in the 1876 Election
As the nation grapples with the disputed presidential election of 1876, Washington Territory voters head to the polls to decide their own future, pitting Republican J.P. Judson against Democrat Judge Jacobs in a fierce contest for territorial supremacy.
- The Wooden Walls of Puget Sound
A survey of the booming fleet of vessels built in Washington Territory in 1877, and why the local economy was missing out on the profits of its own timber.
- The Unlikely Hero of the Fire Escape
When a local doctor patented a new fire escape in 1878, he had to prove it could survive the ultimate test: a 'timid' gentleman from the New England Hotel climbing down from a third-story window.
- The Unlikely Remedy for the Smallpox Outbreak
When a Seattle-area family faced a smallpox contagion in the winter, they bypassed medical uncertainty for an old household mixture—and claimed a miraculous recovery.
- The Automatic Suitor-Smacker
A fed-up father builds a booby-trapped gate to drive away his daughters' persistent suitors, turning a domestic headache into a mechanical triumph.
- The Ghostly Return of Mr. Folliott
A Seattle husband returns from a harrowing journey in India to find his 'widow' has remained faithful—despite the local gossips who were eager to see her remarry.
- The Pied Piper of Seattle: The Policeman Who Controlled Animals
Before Seattle became a sprawling metropolis, a local officer reportedly possessed a magnetic, inexplicable influence over stray dogs and wild creatures.
- 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.
- A Printing Office Blunder
A romantic visit to a printing office turns disastrous for a typographer when his fiancée accidentally destroys his hours of labor.
- 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.
- The Empathetic Pup of Idol Hill
A local carpenter finds comfort in a loyal companion who mirrors his own physical struggle.