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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 16 |
| 1876 | 8 |
| 1877 | 6 |
| 1878 | 37 |
| 1879 | 2 |
| 1880 | 4 |
74 stories matching offer
- 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 Great Seattle Jailbreak of 1878
Sheriff Lewis V. Wyckoff offers a reward for the capture of five men who vanished from the King County jail in the dead of night.
- The Confidence Men of the Steamer Route
A trio of swindlers fleeing Seattle justice find their match in a wary traveler on the Puget Sound steamship line.
- 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.
- The Roller Rink That Saved Seattle’s Winter Evenings
Before the city lights were bright, the local Pavilion offered a refuge from the damp, offering lessons and laughter to the residents of 1872 Seattle.
- The Delinquent Tax Auction of 1878
A sweeping list of King County residents facing property forfeiture offers a window into the messy, frontier-era accumulation of Seattle real estate.
- 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.
- Homesteading on the Edge of the Forest
An 1878 dispatch from a settler near Lake Washington offers advice to 'respectable' newcomers looking to carve a life out of the untamed timberland.
- The Labor Crisis of 1878: Seattle’s Economic Anxiety
As unemployment rises in the Pacific Northwest, a local reader takes to the press to rail against the displacement of white laborers by Chinese workers, foreshadowing the intense economic tensions that would define the era.
- The Price of Living 'Down on the Sawdust'
A Seattle laborer was fined $5 after evicting his partner for public intoxication, offering a stark look at the criminalization of poverty and survival in the 1870s.
- A Frontier Homestead Near the Snohomish River
An 1877 classified advertisement offers 140 acres of cultivated land near a public school, highlighting the rapid expansion of early Washington Territory settlements.
- The Property Battle for Old Seattle
A lawyer and property claimant fight to secure titles to a sprawling Seattle donation land claim amidst territorial legal confusion.
- The Seattle Dream Home of 1872
A real estate listing offers a glimpse of modest, mid-19th-century frontier living near the original Seattle townsite.
- An Invitation to a Vanished Olympia Homestead
A real estate advertisement from 1872 offers a glimpse into a long-lost residential property on the site of the original Thurston County Courthouse.
- The Great Cigar Heist of Front Street
When a local merchant's inventory went missing in the night, the hunt for the culprits led straight to a city saloon's coal bin.
- The Glass Master of Occidental Square
A traveling exhibition of delicate glass artistry offers a whimsical distraction to 1870s Seattleites.
- Suspicion of Arson After Slaughter House Fire
An early morning fire on the Beach road leaves a local meat business in ruins, with the owner offering a bounty for the arsonist.
- God and the Daily Grind in 1878 Seattle
A glimpse into the moral anxieties and spiritual life of a burgeoning pioneer town, where the pulpit met the realities of guilt and sin.
- The Gold Hunters of Seattle's Backwoods
Three Indigenous men bring fine shot gold to the Puget Sound Banking Company, sparking a rush of speculation about rich deposits in the mountains east of town.
- 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 City’s Coldest Tea: A Prohibition-Era Poke at Seattle’s Saloon Culture
A satirical notice from 1871 captures the tongue-in-cheek public grumbling that followed the closure of a beloved watering hole.
- 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 High-Stakes Custody Tug-of-War
A desperate father flees across state lines with his young son, leading to an international standoff in Seattle between law enforcement and a father armed and prepared to fight.
- The Great Seattle Construction Boom of 1878
Falling material costs spark a building frenzy in the frontier town, signaling a rapid expansion for early property owners.
- The Jailbreak Problem: When Every County Was Its Own Penitentiary
In 1877, Washington Territory struggled with a chaotic, decentralized justice system where county jails were crumbling and prisoners were held for profit.