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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 7 |
| 1876 | 15 |
| 1877 | 13 |
| 1878 | 20 |
| 1879 | 2 |
| 1880 | 5 |
62 stories matching per
- The Price of Survival in 1871 Seattle
A rare glimpse into the grocery and labor economy of the Washington Territory through the lens of a local market report.
- Seattle’s First Steam Fire Engine
Facing a growing city's vulnerability, Seattle’s leadership authorized a massive expenditure in 1878 to modernize the local fire brigade.
- The Price of Panic: Foreclosures in 1878 Seattle
A wave of Sheriff’s sales, spurred by defaulted debt and legal judgments, reveals the precarious financial reality of Seattle property owners during the late 1870s.
- The Skykomish Gold Rush
A reported discovery of river-bed gold near Snohomish sparks a local frenzy, leading prominent citizens to abandon their businesses to stake a claim.
- An 1877 Plan for Workers to Buy Seattle Homes
As Seattle rents rise, the paper outlines a radical, cooperative vision for workers to escape the landlord's grip through building associations.
- Seattle’s Tinderbox: A Warning from the Ashes of Reno
As a massive fire ravages Nevada, this Seattle editor sounds the alarm over the city’s wooden buildings and exorbitant insurance costs, urging brick construction before disaster strikes.
- The Lumber Blockade: A Plea for Economic Sovereignty
An 1878 editorial argues that Seattle’s timber and the inland prairies are two halves of a whole, choked by a 'grinding monopoly' of railroads and steamship companies.
- The Price of a Smuggled Vice
Two brothers arrested with thirty pounds of opium off the steamer California face the cold reality of a federal court judgment.
- The Debt of 1877: A Seattle Legal Notice
A court summons in 1879 offers a rare, granular glimpse into the personal credit and legal entanglements of pioneer-era Seattle merchants.
- The Railway Land Grab: Seattle's Growth Tied to Northern Pacific Expansion
A new congressional bill promises to extend the Northern Pacific Railroad's deadline by a decade, while stripping away land grants intended for the vital link to Puget Sound.
- The Great Land Sell-Off
The Northern Pacific Railroad begins dumping vast swaths of Washington Territory land onto actual settlers for $2.60 an acre.
- A.A. Denny's Addition Property Sold for 1878 Judgments
A wave of sheriff's sales across King County in 1878 signals the brutal fallout of debt and property litigation in a young, boom-and-bust frontier city.
- When a Railroad Held the Territory Hostage: The 1877 Fight Over the Northern Pacific Land Grant
Governor Ferry's message to the Legislature proposes a 10-year extension for the Northern Pacific—but warns the territory will be crippled if the western terminus lands in Portland instead of Puget Sound.
- The Shoe That Could Save Seattle: Why We Must Stop Exporting Our Hides to San Francisco
An editorial in the Puget Sound Dispatch argues that Seattle’s economic survival depends on manufacturing its own boots and shoes locally, rather than shipping raw hides south for a 10% premium.
- The Baker’s Strike: Twelve Hours for $12
In a bold move against grueling labor conditions, Seattle’s bakers are contemplating a strike to demand shorter hours and fair wages, challenging the era's standard of 18-hour workdays.
- 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 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 Great Railway Gamble of 1878
Territorial lawmakers drafted a sweeping plan to bind Washington’s counties together with a railroad, tasking local voters with footing the bill through massive debt.
- 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 Great Mill Auction: A Kingpin’s Empire Divided
In December 1876, the District Court in Seattle ordered the liquidation of a massive timber and land empire owned by A.M. Simpson, offering hundreds of acres and a high-capacity sawmill to the highest bidder.
- The Unsparing Champion of Right
In 1878, the Weekly Puget Sound Dispatch positioned itself as the 'Fearless Champion' of the common citizen, promising to be the cheapest and most comprehensive source of news in the Washington Territory.
- The Tax Swindle: How Seattle’s Printer Defrauded His Neighbors
In 1872, the publisher of the *Puget Sound Dispatch* exposed a collusive scheme between local tax collectors and a rival newspaper to overcharge delinquent taxpayers for legal notices, sparking a bitter war of words in the territorial press.
- The Price of Panic: Mass Foreclosures in 1877 Seattle
As the territorial economy tightens, a single Sheriff’s notice reveals the vast, liquidated assets of early Seattle real estate speculators.
- 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.