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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 11 |
| 1877 | 11 |
| 1878 | 4 |
| 1879 | 6 |
32 stories matching practic
- The Ghost in the Machine: How a 'Practical Little Woman' Tamed the Steamboat Turbulent Sea
In the chaotic early days of Puget Sound steam navigation, one female cook didn't just serve meals—she served stability, calming a terrified crew with her own brand of turbulence.
- The Pioneer Hub for Snohomish's Rising Professionals
Before the age of online degrees, Snohomish’s ambitious youth crowded into the Puget Sound Business College to master telegraphy, mercantile law, and the ledger.
- 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.
- The Business Academy on the Frontier
A look at the professional aspirations of Snohomish in 1888, where ambitious students flocked to learn the complexities of commerce, bookkeeping, and mercantile law.
- The Hustle for White-Collar Success in Old Snohomish
Before the region became a tech hub, nineteenth-century Snohomish was selling the dream of 'commercial education' to a generation of young men and women eager to trade manual labor for the ledger.
- The Secular Send-off
When a Snohomish family rejected the fire-and-brimstone dogmas of the 1880s, they hired a friend instead of a priest to speak at a funeral, sparking a radical discourse on death, reason, and kindness.
- Surveyors Blocked by Federal Red Tape
A new federal funding measure renders land surveying in Western Washington practically impossible, stalling pioneer settlement expansion.
- The Spoils System Must Go
In an 1880 letter of acceptance, a presidential candidate lays out a radical vision to dismantle political patronage and return to a government based on merit rather than party service.
- The Tyranny of the Tracks
An editorial from 1877 warns that railroad monopolies are forcing settlers and laborers into ruin by prioritizing corporate debt and high freight rates over the survival of the community.
- The Candidates’ Campaign Trail on the Snohomish River
As election season heats up in 1878, candidates for the Territorial Assembly trade speeches in the freezing cold and debate the future of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
- The Fight to Save the Stillaguamish Salmon
Long before environmental regulation was common, Snohomish Councilman Ferguson pushed for a law to curb the destructive use of dynamite in Washington’s rivers.
- The Sawmill That Silenced the Doubters
When E. B. Bennett Waters' mill turned out its first lumber, the local skeptics who had called the projectors fools had to hold their peace.
- The Birth of the Snohomish Brass Band
A group of enterprising young men organize to bring music to the Snohomish community, pledging to be performance-ready in just a few months.
- The Unteachable 'Sixth Sense' of Journalism
An 1876 editorial from the Northern Star debates whether the craft of a reporter can be taught in a classroom or only mastered in the heat of the newsroom.
- 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 Struggle for School Space
A call to stop patching the Snohomish public school and instead plan for the city's inevitable future growth.
- The Snohomish River Logjam: A Dispute Over Private Property and Public Waters
In 1878, a Grand Jury investigation into local business practices reveals a tense standoff between lumber interests and the community over the obstruction of the Snohomish River.
- The Forgotten Stakeholders of the Rails
In an 1877 labor manifesto, Wendell Phillips argues that capital has failed the American worker and that mutual committees are the only path to economic peace.
- The Clerk vs. The Judge: A Battle Over Legal Authority
When a clerk in the Third Judicial District overstepped his bounds, a Chief Justice used the case of James Steel to affirm that only a judge possesses the power to declare the law.
- The Logjam at Priest Point
A long-standing practice of mooring logs in the Snohomish River clashes with federal authority, leaving local loggers caught in a bureaucratic net.
- The Brutal Truth of the 'Workaday' Struggle
An 1879 editorial reflects on the universal, grinding necessity of securing a livelihood, observing that even in a 'republic' built on individualistic grit, most people are only one misstep away from ruin.
- The Sheriff’s Hammer: Snohomish’s Last Stand Against the 'Nuisance'
In March 1877, Judge J.R. Lewis and the local Grand Jury launched a coordinated assault on vice, seizing brothels and fining operators, while simultaneously exposing corruption in county bonds.
- 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 Price of Vigilance: Lessons on Parenting and Education
A nineteenth-century essay reflects on the heavy responsibilities of raising children, the failures of the 'crowded schoolroom,' and the timeless struggle between rigid tradition and the pursuit of truth.
- 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.