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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 13 |
| 1877 | 13 |
| 1878 | 4 |
| 1879 | 2 |
32 stories matching field
- The Great Log Jam: A River of Lost Timber
In March 1877, a sudden rise in the Skykomish River swept away thousands of feet of logs belonging to local sawmills, turning a potential fortune into driftwood.
- The Hard-Won Coal of Wilkeson
A persistent mining operation in Wilkeson struggles with geological faults and shifting veins to keep the fuel moving toward the Puget Sound.
- Darwin, Agassiz, and the Snohomish Pulpit Wars
A fiery editorial from 1877 Snohomish takes on the local clergy for their public ridicule of scientific discovery and the theory of evolution.
- Twelve Miles Down, Twelve to Go: Seattle Bets on a Railroad to the Coal Fields
Stockholders reorganized the Seattle and Walla Walla road, re-elected their officers, and then turned on the subscribers who have not paid their bonds — because twenty-four miles of track would open the Cedar River coal and the valley's bottom land.
- The Inn-Wide Hotel: A Foreclosure in Disguise
W. Tirtlot offers the town's oldest hotel for sale on terms that guarantee his income for four years—revealing the precarious financial state of local commerce in 1876.
- The First Cigar in the Territory: A Local Industry Takes Root
Snohomish entrepreneur T.P. Patton has begun manufacturing tobacco, growing his own crop and rolling it into black shag—a sign of economic self-sufficiency in Washington Territory.
- The Great Snohomish Church Fight: Who Owns the Soul of the County?
A Presbyterian minister arrives in Snohomish to find a fractured community. With two rival congregations already formed and the Probate Judge playing both sides, can outside help unite the town—or just deepen the divide?
- The Neighbors Who Saved the Harvest
When an ill farmer and his preacher could not tend their fields, the community of Semiahmoo mobilized as one to save their livelihood.
- The Lovers’ Lane of Snohomish
A newly constructed plank road, intended for industrial timber transit, becomes an unlikely promenade for the town's romantic youth.
- The Unsolicited Burden of the 'Young Man's' Future
An 1875 newspaper advertisement in Snohomish promised a cure for the 'uncertainties' of life, reflecting a 19th-century obsession with self-improvement and the fear of personal stagnation.
- The Paper War of Snohomish: How One Man’s Canoe Trip Launched a Newspaper
In January 1876, editor Eldridge Morse navigated the Snohomish River by canoe to secure his printing press, launching the *Northern Star* amidst fierce competition from rival publishers.
- The Editor Who Walked 15,000 Miles to Save the Snohomish Star
While most men stayed home for Christmas, Mr. Eldridge Morse crisscrossed Washington and Oregon on a grueling tour that has turned his struggling weekly paper into a regional powerhouse.
- The Great Diking Effort of Swinomish
Farmers on the Skagit and Swinomish are transforming thousands of acres of marshland into fertile fields through a massive, coordinated engineering effort.
- The Professor and the Boston Butterfly
A college professor disguises himself as a farmhand to avoid social pretension, only to be caught in a high-stakes comedy of errors after a train wreck brings his secret—and his stubborn romantic interest—to a head.
- The Final Edition of the Snohomish Sun
After three years of chronicling the growth of Puget Sound, the publisher of the Snohomish Sun shutters his paper, citing bankruptcy, personal heartbreak, and the 'paralyzed' logging industry of 1879.
- A Dangerous Journey Home from Church
A quiet Sunday excursion in Snohomish takes a terrifying turn when a startled team of horses crashes, leaving a daughter critically injured.
- The Dream of Ship Harbor
A speculative report on a new settlement near Fidalgo Island that promised to control the wealth of the Snohomish and Skagit valleys.
- The Boomtown Frontier: A Traveler's Account of New Tacoma and the Puyallup Valley
As the Northern Pacific Railroad carves its path into the frontier, a correspondent journeys from Snohomish to witness the rapid, chaotic, and industrious birth of New Tacoma and the hop-heavy Puyallup Valley.
- Taming the Snohomish Valley Marshlands
A look at the settlers turning the muddy, fertile banks of the Snohomish River into a bustling agricultural hub through sweat and engineering.
- The Unending Mountain: The Promise of the Newcastle Coal Mines
A detailed 1878 report on the labor, engineering, and seemingly limitless coal wealth of the Newcastle mines, then the engine of Seattle’s industrial future.
- The Governor’s Visit and the Militia’s March: July 1877 in Snohomish
Governor Perry addresses a rapt crowd on Independence Day, while local men scramble to organize volunteer companies for the Nez Perce War.
- The Reverend’s Unholy Reputation
A former San Francisco pastor arrives in Washington to lecture on 'morality' while dodging local rumors of scandalous affairs.
- Taming the Skagit Tide Lands
Early farmers in the Skagit Valley share sworn affidavits proving the extreme fertility of reclaimed tide lands, boasting of massive grain harvests.
- The Marsh That Swallowed the Land: A Call to Drain Snohomish
Local farmers face ruin as winter rains turn fertile bottomlands into impassable swamps; experts propose a collective drainage project to save the region's agricultural future.
- 1876 Snohomish Court Targets Indigenous Gatherings and Brothels
In March 1876, Judge Lewis charged the first Snohomish County District Court grand jury to address public nuisances, including Indigenous gatherings and brothels, while also holding county officials accountable for fee books.