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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 10 |
| 1892 | 6 |
16 stories matching difficulti
- A Faculty Feud Shakes Olympia Collegiate Institute
Students and faculty were assembled to hear Rev. Dr. Ford explain a dispute between two instructors; Professor Jones resigned and two students were dismissed for “unbecoming conduct.”
- The Trolley That Had to Buy a Gulch
A streetcar line blocked by a ravine gets its way to Harrison Avenue — for the price of a $1,630 strip of C. M. Moore's block 48.
- One Coal-Oil Dealer Is Holding Olympia's New Electric Railway Hostage for $10,000
The streetcar line is contracted, the rails are shipped and the crews are ready — but George Marvin Savage's outfit sits squarely in the middle of Main Street, and he will not budge for less than ten thousand dollars.
- Three Children Die in Seattle Fire as Father's Rescue Fails
A morning blaze destroyed John Simpson's Seattle home, killing three children asleep upstairs while Simpson and his wife escaped with their baby. Simpson was badly burned in several failed attempts to reach the children.
- Streetcar Standoff in Olympia
A power struggle between the local light company and the street railway threatens to stall transit expansion.
- The State Can't Find Its Land — and Timber Companies Got There First
A state land cruiser reports that Washington's 670,000-acre capitol grant is mostly poor land already claimed by squatters working for big lumber outfits.
- Olympia Puts Its Bond Mess on Ice—and the Mayor Objects
A council committee recommends leaving the 1891 bond tangle to the next administration; the mayor warns the city is “in a mud hole” and wants the courts to force a decision.
- Settlers Beat the State to the Best School Lands
Washington's land commissioners say squatters are claiming the best parcels before the state can select them for schools, putting millions at risk.
- The Sewer Plan That Imagined a City of 200,000
Engineer J. S. Camp presented Olympia’s council with a tide-powered reservoir and automatic flush tanks, a system meant to grow with the capital city.
- A Mayor, a Rigged Lottery, and the Fight for Olympia's City Hall
A month out from the municipal election, the Tribune accuses Mayor J. C. Horr of quietly fixing his fences for a second term — and the drawing of lots that handed one councilman a longer seat looks to a good many people like a put-up job.
- The Ten-Foot Map That Would Sewer Olympia
In 1891, an engineer drew a room-sized map and planned a drainage system for a city of 20,000—if the council could get around the Seventh Street tunnel.
- The Brick Blocks That Told Olympia It Had Arrived
In 1891, three pressed-brick buildings rose along Olympia’s business streets—and boosters read them as proof the wooden capital was becoming a real city.
- The Electric Gate: An Olympia Father Declares War on Front-Gate Courting
A gadget-minded Eastside householder wires his front gate to deliver a jolt to lally-gagging sweethearts — and proves it first on an unwitting dog and a cabbage-loving cow.
- Olympia Bought a $1,500 Sewer Map Critics Called Worthless
A letter to the editor accuses the city council of buying a stranger's sewer plan without scrutiny—complete with a harbor reservoir already condemned in San Diego.
- The $70,000 Rebellion: Olympia Refuses to Pay Its Railroad Bill
Northern Pacific missed its promised deadlines, so the citizens who pledged land and cash to bring the line to town decided the contract was void—and headed to court.
- He Kept a Dead Man's Skull as a Souvenir — and the Paper Printed the Story
Writing from North Yakima in 1892, Milburn G. Wills recalls the 1855 volunteer campaign that broke the Yakama resistance — the forced marches, the starving commands, the men shot beside him, and the trophy he carried home.