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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 7 |
| 1877 | 8 |
| 1878 | 8 |
| 1879 | 2 |
25 stories matching origin
- Debating the Northern Railroad's Route to Puget Sound
As the Northern Pacific Railroad eyed a Portland terminus to maximize its land grants, a fierce editorial demands the company fulfill its promise to connect the Columbia River to Puget Sound or forfeit its territory.
- 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.
- The Sermon of Science in Snohomish
A local lecture series bridges the gap between theology and natural history, framing evolution not as a conflict with the divine, but as the 'eternal reign of law.'
- The Great Sheep War: Seattle’s Political Flocks and the Independent Goats
A satirical letter to the editor uses a bizarre allegory of sheep herds and wild goats to critique Seattle's political parties, corporate wolves, and the emerging independence of women in public life.
- 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 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 Newspaper Wars of 1878
A Snohomish editor accuses a rival publication of blatant plagiarism, citing the biblical commandment against stealing.
- Snohomish Land Claim Dispute Heads to Probate Court
A legal summons from 1877 reveals the precarious reality of early Washington settlers who vanished from their claims, leaving behind only government paperwork and public notices.
- The Foundation of Washington State’s Civil Liberties
A look back at the original constitutional guarantees of free speech, property rights, and due process that shaped early Snohomish and the state.
- A Glimpse of the Snohomish Schoolroom in 1880
A traveling visitor praises the discipline, music, and literary talent of students in a small Snohomish classroom.
- The View from the Frontier: How the Old World Saw Pacific Coast Science
A visiting British scientist praises American ingenuity, from the innovative naval mapping of the Pacific depths to the reliable accuracy of 'Old Prob'—the precursor to modern weather forecasting.
- 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 Snake Oil of Snohomish
A century-old miracle cure for man and beast that promised to heal everything from rheumatism to ‘hollow horn’.
- 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.
- The Shadow of the Indian Wars in the Snohomish Valley
As rumors of conflict and uprisings on the upper Columbia stir the frontier, Snohomish locals organize a volunteer militia to defend their settlements.
- The Weight of Responsibility: A Victorian Lesson for Snohomish Parents
In an 1877 editorial, a Snohomish observer argued that character was a hereditary and domestic inheritance, placing the burden of societal progress squarely on the shoulders of the home.
- Sultan River Prospectors Build a Half-Mile Flume
Deep in the Snohomish backcountry, a group of determined prospectors labors to divert the Sultan River in hopes of striking it rich.
- The Great Legislative Mess of 1877
A scathing editorial reveals how Washington Territory lawmakers spent their time sight-seeing instead of legislating, resulting in a chaotic pile of 'undigested' laws.
- The Victorian Era's Original 'Manosphere' Rant
A satirical lecture from 1879 captures the era's obsession with policing women's appearances and the absurdity of 'social performance' in the Pacific Northwest.
- The Day Snohomish Became a Ghost Town: A Fatal Accident and the Paper That Got It Wrong
A logger’s tragic death in Holmes Harbor was so widely reported that it appeared in newspapers across the territory—except for one crucial error: they all got the location wrong.
- 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.
- He Sailed Around the Horn in '49. Thirty-One Years Later, He Went Home.
S. S. Bassett, who farms at the mouth of the Snohomish, has come back from six months east — a boyhood village he could no longer read, a Centennial he will not stop describing, and a hard-times East that sent him home more convinced than ever about Washington Territory.
- The First White Woman of the Skykomish
In the rugged valley north of Snohomish, pioneer settler Mrs. Furtun stands as a solitary female figure in a male-dominated frontier, marking the slow, steady growth of a region destined to become a timber and mining hub.
- The Town That Wouldn't Sleep: Snohomish’s Fourth of July Overflow
When the steamers arrived with guests from Seattle and upriver, two hotels couldn't hold them all. The town celebrated with a reading by a woman, a poem by a local man, and a boat ride that nearly capsized on the Skagit.
- Anything to Beat Stretch: The Whole County Ticket, Man by Man
The Sun walks Snohomish County's 1876 ballot from sheriff to coroner, and finds a whaling skipper turned pile-driver, a college-trained logger, and a sheriff whose enemies have a slogan of their own.