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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 140 |
| 1877 | 220 |
| 1878 | 187 |
| 1879 | 49 |
596 stories
- A Correspondent Reports on the Nez Perce Conflict
Writing from Olympia in 1877, a local correspondent describes Nez Perce leaders’ refusal to relocate and the surprise attack that sparked a war many understood as a defense of home.
- The Snohomish Assassination Plot: A Lottery of Death
In February 1877, a local deputy reveals that Governor William Pickering was the target of a sinister lottery scheme to determine who would carry out his murder.
- Ice Breaks: Two Young Men Drown in Snohomish River Tragedy
Horace Low and Arthur Butt, employees of the local newspaper office, lost their lives after ice gave way beneath them while skating on the river.
- The Man Who Laughed Through the Flames: A Snohomish Tragedy of Love and Loss
When a gas leak ignited his home in Fruitland, Washington, Chandler Chandler didn't run for safety—he shielded his wife from the blast. His subsequent conversation with the doctor reveals a stoicism that defies belief.
- The Beggar’s Plea: How an Old Man’s Tears Won a Judge’s Mercy
In a touching scene at the Snohomish County Courthouse, John Burner, a destitute laborer of 73 years, pleaded guilty to grand larceny not for greed, but because his starving family had no other way to eat.
- The Hangman's Verdict: John Thompson Convicted of Murder in Snohomish
A trial that captivated the entire Territory ends with a death sentence for a man accused of killing his friend during a drunken brawl over a card game.
- The Price of Growth in Early Snohomish
While town elites built elegant homes and secured university futures for their sons, a diphtheria outbreak devastated the river settlements, revealing the stark human cost of frontier expansion.
- The Ghost of Tacoma's Original Downtown
Before the railroad turned Tacoma into a boomtown, the city's future was fought over by competing pioneers and land speculators.
- Smallpox Outbreak in Port Townsend
The port faces a health crisis after an Indian crew member is landed ashore with smallpox, sparking panic and strict quarantine measures.
- The Great Skagit Jam: How Local Men Tried to Unplug the River
In 1876, a massive logjam blocked the Skagit River for miles. While officials debated expensive dredging projects, local loggers took matters into their own hands with picks and dynamite.
- The Great Land Grab: How Speculators Stole Washington's Public Lands
A new federal ruling threatens to invalidate thousands of land claims in the Pacific Northwest, exposing innocent buyers to ruin and revealing a system rigged by attorneys and speculators.
- Turning Marsh into Gold
Farmers on the Swinomish flats have completed a massive infrastructure project to reclaim thousands of acres of marshland for agriculture.
- The Great Land Grab: Citizens Unite to Stop the Railroad's Theft of Public Soil
In a packed meeting at Reinig’s Hall, Snohomish leaders condemn the Northern Pacific Railway for hoarding millions of acres while building a secret coal line, vowing to fight Congress to return the land to settlers.
- The Railroad That Stole Our Land: How Seattle’s Interests Blocked Snohomish’s Future
A furious letter to the editor exposes how political maneuvering in Washington D.C. and Seattle kept vital federal lands locked up, denying homesteaders their rightful homes while railroad tycoons played games with territory.
- The Fortress of Timber: How Mill Barons Bought the Land to Buy the Town
In 1877, a local editorial warned that Port Blakely’s massive timber companies were cornering the market on real estate, creating an economic monopoly that would stifle independent growth and keep workers dependent on their employers.
- The Last Voyage of Arthur Phinney: A Fleet of Steamers Bids Farewell to a Pioneer
In June 1877, the death of Port Ludlow founder Arthur Phinney triggered an unprecedented maritime funeral procession on Puget Sound, uniting rival steamship lines and hundreds of mourners in a tribute to a man who championed labor and community.
- The Hop Gold Rush of the Puyallup Valley
In 1877, a booming agricultural industry turned the Puyallup Valley into a high-stakes arena of heavy capital, immigrant labor, and unpredictable environmental risks.
- The Swift and Terrible Justice of the Gallows
A condemned man is rushed to the gallows in just five days, sparking outrage over the speed of the judicial process in Snohomish.
- The 'Whisky Trade' at Port Townsend
A British gunboat captures twelve Indigenous prisoners following violent disorder fueled by the illegal supply of American spirits across the border.
- The Great Land Grab of 1878: A Territorial Tug-of-War
While D.C. legislators bickered over the Northern Pacific Railroad's land grants and portage routes, Washington Territory settlers fought to secure their homestead rights against corporate expansion.
- The Monopoly That Almost Killed the Nooksack
Before the valley flourished, settlers fought to break the stranglehold of absentee speculators and corporate monopolies that kept the river choked with logs and local trade shackled.
- The Mother of Discontent: Abigail Scott Duniway’s Rally for Rights
In an impassioned 1878 address to the Territorial Convention, activist Abigail Scott Duniway demanded Washington women be granted the vote, framing the domestic 'insurrection' of disenfranchised wives as a parallel to the American Revolution.
- The Tulalip Residents' Stand
A group of residents of the Tulalip Reservation sign a collective protest against an Indian Agent's interference in their logging operations and relationship with their white neighbors.
- The River That Swallowed a Steamboat: A Brave Attempt to Reach Snohomish Falls
Twenty-five passengers and tons of freight battled the treacherous Snoqualmie River on the steamer *Columbia*, only to be stopped by a massive landslide just miles from their destination.
- A Critique of Preachers' Neglect of Practical Reform
A biting editorial calls out local clergy for focusing on the 'unknown future' while ignoring the immediate sanitary crises, poverty, and vice plaguing the streets of Seattle.