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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 10 |
| 1877 | 5 |
| 1878 | 9 |
| 1879 | 2 |
26 stories matching agent
- 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.
- County Board Orders Isolation for Tulalip Reservation
As a smallpox epidemic looms, Snohomish County officials order the Tulalip Indian Agent to restrict movement to contain the outbreak.
- The Oregon Land Agent’s Smear Campaign
When a rival state agent spread wild lies about 'timber forty feet deep' and 'streets of sawdust,' early Snohomish settlers fought back to set the record straight.
- The Great Quarantine: Port Ludlow’s Armed Stand Against 'Commercial Agents'
In a rare display of local vigilante health policy, armed residents of Port Ludlow blocked a boat from Victoria, British Columbia, forcing it away after learning the passengers had smallpox.
- The Mammoth Rye of the Skykomish
A local farmer introduces a giant, high-yield grain variety to the Snohomish Valley, offering hope for regional agricultural innovation in the late 1870s.
- The Neighborhood Sewing Circle of 1880s Snohomish
Before big-box stores, local agents used social proof and name-dropping to sell industrial technology to Snohomish households.
- The Washer Invention at the Snohomish Fair
A local demonstration of a new, lightweight washing machine promises to revolutionize labor for households across the Puget Sound country.
- The Murder on the Train: A Snohomish Mystery
An Indian man is found dead with his throat cut aboard a local train; suspicion falls on two men from Pratt Point.
- The Neighborhood Sewing Circle as Status Symbol
In 19th-century Snohomish, owning a Singer sewing machine wasn't just about utility—it was a public declaration of civic standing and domestic modernity.
- The Logging Land War
A government agent triggers a legal battle by seizing logs over a disputed property boundary.
- The Singer Sewing Machine Takes Snohomish by Storm
A list of prominent citizens signals the rise of mechanized labor in the home as the Singer sewing machine claims its place in Snohomish households.
- The Saw That Conquered the Snohomish Timber Frontier
Before high-tech machinery, local loggers relied on the 'Silver Steel' saw, a tool marketed as the most efficient way to fell the giants of Washington Territory.
- A Temperance Advocate Visits Snohomish
A visiting orator delivers a lecture on the virtues of the Olive Leaf Lodge, aiming to steer local young men away from the 'pernicious habits' of whisky.
- The Invisible Army Under the Microscope
A scientific lecture delivered in Snohomish contemplates the origins of life, the invisible world of bacteria, and the processes of decay.
- The Shadow Market for Public Land
A look at the opaque system of land scrip that fueled Washington's early expansion and the brokers who profited from the hustle.
- 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 Wild West of Washington Land Speculation
A 19th-century land agent pitches the 'script' system for acquiring Snohomish homesteads, revealing the complex, sometimes predatory, machinery behind early settlement.
- The Great Delinquency: Snohomish’s 1878 Tax Auction
A sprawling list of property seizures offers a rare window into the instability of early Snohomish settlers, who faced total loss of their homesteads for debts as small as twenty-two cents.
- An Outrage on the River: Snohomish Demands Reliable Mail
Local business leaders call for a boycott of congressional candidates until they pledge to fix the 'shameful' and intermittent mail delivery to Snohomish.
- A $3 Million Sawmill Goes Corporate on Puget Sound
Port Blakely’s mill owners incorporated in California, putting a $3 million lumber empire under a manager who would run it from the Washington Territory shore.
- The Ring That Ruled: Whatcom’s Postal War and the Coal Company’s Grip
A furious letter from Blaine exposes how the local post office was hijacked to serve the interests of the coal barons, turning a bureaucratic dispute into a battle for democratic survival.
- The Timber Tax Trap: How Snohomish County’s Wealth Was Slipping Away
A local writer warns that mill companies are exploiting a flawed $2.50-per-acre tax assessment to monopolize land, leaving the county with debt and no court house while small loggers go bust.
- 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 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.
- Into the Black: A Descent into Bellingham Bay Coal Mines
An intrepid traveler documents the perilous journey down an 800-foot incline to explore the workings of the Bellingham Bay Coal Company in the late 19th century.