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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 2 |
| 1872 | 15 |
| 1876 | 15 |
| 1877 | 9 |
| 1878 | 21 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 8 |
71 stories matching high
- The Traveling Show at Yesler’s Hall
A rare Seattle appearance of the Lilliputian Comic Opera Company promises a spectacle of stature—from 28-inch performers to a 600-pound giant.
- Acquitted: A High-Stakes Business Feud at the Occidental Hotel
A local partnership dispute ends in court, leaving the complaining witness to foot the bill for legal costs.
- The Perils of Coasting: A Sidewalk Smash-up
Two local boys narrowly escape tragedy after a high-speed sledding accident on a steep Seattle street.
- Sheriff Offers $250 After Five Escape King County Jail
When five prisoners escaped from the King County jail in 1878, the local sheriff issued a bounty for their capture—a high-stakes display of frontier justice.
- Holiday Revelry in Early Renton
A historic gathering of pioneer families at the new schoolhouse marked a high-water mark for the young coal mining settlement.
- The River That Ate Seattle: How High Water Threatened the Railroads and Left a Gift of Dirt
In December 1876, the Duwamish River swelled to dangerous levels, threatening the Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad embankments. But as the waters receded, they left behind a rich layer of alluvial soil that would soon feed the region's agricultural boom.
- The Courthouse That Built Itself
As Seattle transitioned from a frontier lumber outpost into a formal city, the County Commissioners finally took the 'bull by the horns' to replace scattered offices with a grand civic monument.
- 7,000 Miners Head for the Skagit, But High Water Halts the Diggings
Spring freshets wash out the wingdams on Ruby Creek while hundreds of men wait at the Portage for a trail and pack animals — and California newspapers predict a stampede of thousands.
- 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 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 Legal Scramble for a Seattle Property Claim
A standard legal notice in the Seattle Weekly Intelligencer reveals the tense, high-stakes nature of territorial property disputes in 1880.
- 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.
- The Northern Pacific Compromise: A Bitter Road Through the Cascades
After intense lobbying in Washington, D.C., a new railroad deal forces a high-stakes ultimatum for the Columbia River corridor.
- The Workingman's Protest Against Seattle's 'Class Tax'
An early Seattle citizen takes to the press to challenge a municipal licensing ordinance, arguing it unfairly shifts the tax burden from the wealthy onto the backs of laborers.
- The Dangerous Burden of Judging a Seattle Baby Show
Five of Seattle’s leading citizens face social catastrophe and financial ruin after being unwillingly drafted as judges for a high-stakes baby competition.
- The Mud of Commercial Street
Seattle’s main commercial artery was once a treacherous gauntlet of 'semi-fluid mud' and rats, nearly impassable for the city's horse-drawn wagons.
- The Perilous Path to Nowhere
A survey team's disastrous expedition into the Cascades exposes the grand delusions of railroad barons chasing land grants.
- A Frontier Homestead Lost to Debt
When a small-scale farm on the outskirts of 1880 Seattle becomes a casualty of high-interest credit, the Sheriff moves in to settle the accounts.
- 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 New Year’s Eve Rebellion
When a husband dismisses his wife's domestic responsibilities with a callous remark, she plots a glittering, high-society revenge that forces him to reconsider his marriage.
- The Dog in the Manger: How Seattle’s Landlords Are Killing Its Future
An editorial in the 1876 Puget Sound Dispatch warns that greedy real estate owners are pricing out workers with usurious rents, comparing their tactics to Shylock and urging them to lower prices before the city stagnates.
- The Original Tech School of Seattle
A look back at the Puget Sound Business College, an institution that promised students practical training in the age of rapid telegraphy and trade expansion.
- The Unwritten Laws of Seattle’s Press
When a local paper targeted young women in its columns for 'assuming social superiority' at a dance, a vigilante citizen took matters into his own hands.
- The Claret Rebellion in 1870s Seattle
At a meeting of the King County Farmers Club, a local leader tried to replace the frontier staple of 'bald-face' whiskey with homegrown wine, igniting a fiery debate about culture and grit.
- The Price of Industrial Expansion: A Sheriff's Sale on the Duwamish
In 1878, a court-ordered auction of land near the Duwamish River revealed the high-stakes debt and legal entanglements defining early Seattle development.