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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 40 |
| 1877 | 49 |
| 1878 | 28 |
| 1879 | 6 |
123 stories matching work
- The Struggle for Steady Employment in Snohomish
An 1880s call for local labor to secure work before the winter freeze, highlighting the seasonal instability of early frontier life.
- 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.'
- 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.
- 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 River Jam of 1877
How three determined settlers cleared a quarter-mile of timber that engineers said would take years to move.
- The 'Easy' Job That Wasn't
A classic tale of a hotel proprietor in Snohomish trying to hoodwink a miner into an impossible, unpaid-labor arrangement.
- The Brutal Labor of Clearing the Snohomish River
For over two years, crews braved the most dangerous and grueling work in the territory to clear the river for navigation, battling everything from treacherous snags to a lack of promised payment.
- The Ironworker of Snohomish
How a local blacksmith hammered out a living for the logging camps of the frontier.
- The Hustle of the Frontier Mercantile
A deep dive into the aggressive marketing and 'work-from-home' schemes that fueled Snohomish's early economy.
- The Loggers' Stand Against the Mill Cartel
Facing a coordinated effort to depress timber wages, loggers in the Snohomish valley chose to halt production, sparking a classic confrontation between labor and capital.
- The Hustle of the Territorial Frontier
A glimpse into the 19th-century mail-order economy, where ambitious merchants sought to capitalize on the labor and curiosity of working-class families across the Pacific Northwest.
- The Iron of Snohomish City
Before the concrete arrived, the pulse of the town beat in the forge of L. Hanson.
- The Industrial Heartbeat of Snohomish
Before the town was a bedroom community, it was a frontier hub of iron, wood, and hard labor.
- Forging a Frontier Living
A glimpse into the daily trade of a local blacksmith in 19th-century Snohomish, serving the loggers and farmers who carved the town from the wilderness.
- The Struggle for Dignity in the Logging Camps
A historic appeal from 1880s Snohomish invites laborers to seek fair wages and better conditions amidst the grueling demands of the frontier timber industry.
- The Beggar’s Plea: How an Old Man’s Tears Won a Judge’s Mercy
In a touching scene at the Snohomish County Courthouse, John Burner, a destitute laborer of 73 years, pleaded guilty to grand larceny not for greed, but because his starving family had no other way to eat.
- The Newspaper Built from Scraps
After relocating to Vancouver, a resourceful publisher faced a printing dilemma and solved it by engineering their own custom press from repurposed timber and discarded iron.
- The Persistent Promise of Easy Money
A classic 19th-century 'work from home' pitch promises Snohomish laborers a fortune for minimal effort.
- The Town That Rose from the Jam: Mount Vernon’s Wild Start
A new settlement is sprouting along the Skagit River, fueled by loggers, surveyors, and a patriotic name change.
- Surveyors Blocked by Federal Red Tape
A new federal funding measure renders land surveying in Western Washington practically impossible, stalling pioneer settlement expansion.
- 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 Jam That Stalled a Territory: How Local Men Tried to Clear the Skagit River
In 1876, Snohomish residents rallied to fund the removal of massive log jams blocking the Skagit River, arguing that clearing the waterway was essential for settling the vast timber-rich lands of Washington Territory.
- 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 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 Man Who Lost His Mind to a Will: A Snohomish Tragedy
A wealthy local man, stricken with paralysis after a legal dispute over his inheritance, is now confined in the Washington Asylum for the Insane. His family’s fortune may have cost him his sanity.
Also about this, in other words
- The Human Machine: An 1876 Warning on Burnout
A century-and-a-half-old editorial from Snohomish reminds us that the pressure to keep working is not a modern invention.
- 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.