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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 4 |
| 1877 | 23 |
| 1878 | 9 |
| 1879 | 3 |
39 stories matching section
- The Sheriff’s Gavel: Two Families Lose Their Homes in Snohomish
In March 1877, the Snohomish County Sheriff seized and scheduled the sale of real estate for two different local families to satisfy court judgments, marking a stark moment in the territory's early legal history.
- 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 Engineer Who Tamed the Tides: Col. Wilson’s Blueprint for Snohomish’s Future
A master engineer presents a radical plan to dredge the Columbia and Willamette rivers, promising to unlock Seattle's potential by reshaping the very geography of the Pacific Northwest.
- The Ghost Land Claim of Snohomish County
A territorial land office notice reveals the mystery of a missing homesteader and the fight for his claim near the Snohomish River.
- 1877 Olympia Land Office Hears Snohomish Homestead Dispute
A legal notice reveals the abrupt vanishing of a local homesteader, triggering a formal search for his whereabouts after he abandoned his land claim.
- The Disappearing Homesteader of Snohomish County
A government land office issues a public notice to track down a settler who vanished, leaving his claim in limbo and prompting a formal investigation into abandonment.
- The Struggle for a Snohomish Homestead
A legal notice reveals the bureaucratic hurdles pioneers faced to prove their claim to the Snohomish river valley.
- The Moral Gatekeeper: Snohomish’s New Battle Over Who Gets to Sell Liquor
A new state law requires liquor license applicants to prove 'good moral character,' turning county commissioners into judges of private virtue and sparking a fierce debate over who gets to define morality in the Territory.
- The Foreclosure Auction: Snohomish’s Housing Crisis in 1876
As the Territory of Washington grapples with economic instability, three separate Sheriff's sales are scheduled for January 1877, putting local homes and land on the block for unpaid debts.
- Death on the Wire: The Perilous Walk of Snohomish’s Bridge Builders
While politicians scheme in safe offices, local workers are laying footbridges over the Skykomish River at dizzying heights, performing a feat described as 'the most dangerous part of the grand work.'
- The Foreclosure of a Frontier Town: Snohomish’s Land Grab in 1877
As the region's economy shifted, three separate sheriff's sales were scheduled for April 1877, signaling that land ownership was becoming concentrated and precarious for local residents.
- The Ghost of a Homestead Claim
When Charles Henry Vauwy vanished from the territory, he left behind a contested homestead and a legal mystery that required the notice of the courts to solve.
- 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 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 Railroad's Land Grab: How Northern Pacific Hoarded Snohomish’s Future
A local resident exposes the legal loopholes allowing the railroad to retain millions of acres in Western Washington, arguing that this concentrated ownership is strangling settlement and keeping land prices artificially high.
- A Community Under Siege: The Whidbey Island Diphtheria Outbreak
A harrowing account of how a single family was devastated by diphtheria in Oak Harbor during the summer of 1887.
- The Land Grabbers of Snohomish: How Loggers Hoarded Tide Marshes
A local editorial exposes the speculative tactics of transient loggers who are buying up fertile river bottomlands for quick profit, leaving the valley's agricultural potential in limbo.
- The Loggers Who Built a Town: How an Indian Settlement Thrived on the Banks of Port Discovery
While Snohomish debated its own agricultural future, a thriving community of Indigenous farmers and loggers was quietly building a prosperous life in Dungeness, complete with schools, hotels, and dairy herds.
- The Day the Silver Rush Hit Snohomish
Local merchants and miners report a 'considerable excitement' as rich silver ore is discovered near Mud Springs, promising a new boom for the region.
- The Hoodlums of Snohomish: A Night of Guerilla Warfare
In August 1877, a 'protective force' and the police clashed with gangs of young men in downtown Snohomish, destroying saloons and quelling what officials called 'riotous conduct.'
- Forging the Frontier: The Perilous Push for a Stillaguamish Road
A survey team traverses the wilderness from the Snohomish valley to Kent’s Prairie, scouting a path for a wagon road that promised to open the interior to settlement and trade.
- The Promised City on the Sound
Promoters in 1879 painted a utopian vision of New Tacoma, promising a perfectly planned metropolis designed for wealth and grandeur at the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
- The Boomtown Hype of 1870s Tacoma
A booster-style editorial from the Snohomish Eye argues for a direct shipping route to New Tacoma to bypass Seattle's influence.
- 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.